INDEPENDENT FREO CANDIDATE DONATES FULL MAYORAL PAY TO COMMUNITY

EXCLUSIVE: Former Fremantle councillor Marija Vuycic will forego her full four-year mayoral stipend of approximately $600,000 if she replaces Hannah Fitzhardinge at the local government elections on October 18.
This includes donating her councillor stipend of approximately $150,000 if she unseats Cr Andrew Sullivan in coastal (formerly south ward).
Ms Vujcic told Freo StreetWise the funds will be given back to the community to support initiatives including a youth homelessness hub, sporting club upgrades and reinstatement of Freo’s annual heritage awards. “Public service should be about giving back,” she said.
The announcement coincides with North Fremantle chef Mark Woodcock and East ward Cr Ben Lawver’s decision to join the five-way mayoral race. As foreshadowed by StreetWise last week, deputy mayor Jenny Archibald has confirmed she will run on October 18.
Mr Woodcock told StreetWise he chose to run for mayor and a north ward seat to ensure voters in Freo received the best representation in local government. No one deserved a free ride nor to stand unopposed, he said.
As mayor, Ms Vujcic said she would raise funds through a new University of Notre Dame lease and $10 Round House entry fee that would raise an estimated $2.5 million a year to restore historic Arthur Head ahead of WA’s bicentenary celebrations in 2029.
Since 2019, Ms Vujcic served as south ward councillor who exposed civic centre blowouts now totalling more than $70 million ($63 million in 2022), fought to keep the CAT bus and championed Freo voters’ rights in two court actions over a dud candidate and disastrous local government election in 2023.
Ms Vujcic is general manager of Jundalya, an Aboriginal owned business that works with Indigenous communities and the WA mining sector.
She said Fremantle deserves independent voices who put people before politics and focused on community outcomes which are practical and invested in ‘basics’ such as roads, rubbish and revenue.
“We were told increased density would revitalise our city, yet empty shops still dominate. We were promised better infrastructure, yet projects are plagued by cost blowouts and delays.
“Ratepayers are paying more and getting less. The basics, roads, rubbish, rates, recreation and regulation, remain a struggle while our suburbs are in managed decline.”
Ms Vujcic added the Fremantle Society’s defamation case against Cr Fitzhardinge and the City shows what happens when leadership chooses conflict over respect and collaboration: “I see the role of Mayor as a custodian for the community, not a career politician.”
Crs Fedele Camarda is running in central ward unopposed.
East Ward candidates include WA Socialists activist Nick Everett, Fremantle College P&C chair Pip Slaughter, sports volunteer Sally McKay and the City’s Aboriginal engagement officer Brendan Moore.
North Ward candidates include business owner Melanie Clark, nurse Tyler Ray and aid worker Peter James Yates.