‘No choice’: Karratha Mayor slams reforms as council endorses voluntary transition to publicly elected mayor

The mayor of one of the region’s biggest councils has slammed the decision to enforce a publicly elected mayor and said the local government had “no choice” but to agree to the transition. In September, Local Government Minister John Carey announced the final changes that would be made under the reforms, which will see preferential voting become mandatory for all council elections. Mr Carey had written to all councils advising of the reforms and encouraging them to immediately begin preparations to enact the changes in time for the 2025 elections. In the Pilbara, the Shire of Ashburton will change to a directly elected president. The City of Karratha and Shire of East Pilbara will move to a directly elected president and reduce council representation by more than one. Those that cannot — or will not — voluntarily agree on such a plan will be forced to “spill” their entire council ahead of the October 2023 council election, at which point all the required changes would be enacted in one hit. At the October 24 meeting, local councillors endorsed a motion to enter a voluntary pathway to a publicly elected mayor. As part of the motion, the City will finalise its ward and representation review to determine changes to the council’s structure to be implemented over the next two elections. Karratha Mayor Peter Long said neither he nor the council agreed with the reforms. “We were only given two options. So one they called the voluntary path —which wasn’t that voluntary really — that the mayor has to be publicly elected by direct vote,” he said. Mr Long said by choosing the “voluntary path”, the City would keep its current ward system, however, the total number of councillors would be reduced by two. “The other option was that the whole council would be sacked. The mayor would then still be publicly elected, and we won’t have wards next time. . . So we thought it was better for everybody to keep the wards and as far as we can and to go with the voluntary pathway,” he said. Mr Long rubbished claims by Mr Carey that the switch to a publicly elected mayor would empower votes. “All ratepayers are empowered now. Only 30 per cent even bother to vote in local government, and they have the power to vote for the councillors who are going to represent them,” he said. “Everybody is allowed to vote for who they want to. And those people get together and vote for who they think is the best person, and they know the person better than the public. “This happens with the Prime Minister, it happens to the Premier, and I can’t get over why it shouldn’t happen for the local government mayor as well.” Mr Long said if the mayor was elected separately, there could be a problem between the councillors and the mayor themselves. “This is a problem if the mayor goes and gets elected on a certain platform, and the rest of the councillors disagree with that platform. Well, nothing happens at all. “So the people are actually led astray. It’s actually not quite honest.” Disputes between councillors and mayor drew attention in 2019 when then-minister for local government David Templeman suspended the entire Town of Port Hedland council after complaints surrounding bullying, poor decision-making, harassment, infighting, and dysfunction. In the Town of Port Hedland, the mayor has always been publicly elected. Mr Long said while scenarios like that did not happen often, it was a prime example of why a publicly elected mayor was a bad idea. Local Government Minister John Carey said it was pleasing to see the City of Karratha taking proactive steps to enact the reforms and undergo the voluntary pathway. “It’s no secret – the local government sector is over governed, with more than 1000 local councillors across the state,” he said. “The reduction in the number of councillors will save ratepayers money, provide greater standardisation and greater efficiency.” However, Mr Carey remained steadfast that the reforms would empower ratepayers. “The role of a mayor or president is a vital community leadership role, and therefore it’s important ratepayers have a clear line of sight and a say in who leads their local government,” he said. “I believe ratepayers should be empowered to select and vote for their mayor and have every confidence in doing so.”