New councillor Adrian Mcrae welcomed to Town of Port Hedland fold amid disappointing voter turnout

The Town of Port Hedland has a new councillor following an extraordinary election in which fewer than 1700 residents returned their ballots and the final tally was decided by a margin of just 198 votes. Adrian Mcrae was due to be sworn in to council on Monday after winning the seat previously filled by David Eckhart with a first-preference vote of 643 votes and a last count of 773. However, due to be being overseas the town said he would be sworn in at a later date yet to be set. The total number of formal votes was 1690 out of a possible 9014, which means a turnout of just 18.89 per cent. A far cry from the tally the town had hoped to reach of 27 per cent. Town of Port Hedland mayor Peter Carter said he looked forward to welcoming councillor-elect Mcrae to the team. “It will be great to have a full team of elected members around the table again,” Mr Carter said. “I’m enthusiastic about Adrian coming aboard and look forward to seeing him contribute to the community in this very important role.” Writing on Facebook, Cr Mcrae thanked “everyone in Hedland who took the time to cast their vote”. “Sadly, less than 20 per cent of the town’s residents cast their vote, however, I was extremely lucky to secure a place on the council’s table to represent the people of Port Hedland,” he said. “Whether you voted for me or not, I will do all in my power to ensure that, together, our council focus is on returning some genuine leadership to our community. “As promised, I’ll be doing all I can to deal with our crime issues whilst fighting to bring back the wonderful liveability our town is famous for. “I’d also really like to thank the other four Hedland folks (Jan Gillingham, Gloria Jacob, Jillian Fisher and Henry Lockyer) who threw their hats in the ring to run for an elected position on the council. It’s a thankless job and those who put their hands up to serve their community deserve an enormous vote of thanks from all of us. “I’d especially like to thank Jan Gillingham who has served countless years in this town as both an educator and councillor; her service to the Hedland community over the last four decades is unparalleled. “Although I am currently overseas between Russia and the Middle East, I look forward to returning home to Hedland later this month to serve all Port Hedland people until the end of my term on October 18, 2025.” The election was held following new rules introduced last year which dumped first-past-the-post polls in favour of optional preferential voting and introduced changes in an attempt to avoid future, expensive, extraordinary elections. Under the reforms, should a councillor resign Henry Lockyer will be the first candidate to backfill the spot, after he gained a first-preference vote of 428 and final tally of 575. Former councillor Gloria Jacobs is the “second candidate to backfill” after she gained 277 first-preference votes. The election — for which $73,750 of ratepayers’ cash has been allocated — was called after the shock resignation of former local radio personality David Eckhart in November. It comes after the October 2023 ordinary council election concluded with a narrow margin of 250 votes between the lowest and highest-scoring candidates in first-round preferences. In this election, there was a wider margin of 490 votes between Cr Mcrae and the candidate with the lowest number of votes, former councillor Jan Gillingham. Voter turnout in that election was 23.18 per cent, falling below the average Hedland voter turnout of 27 per cent since 2005. This was despite council officers urging voters to turn out in very strong terms.