Labor moves to consolidate council control

COMMENT: THE race for the next mayor of Fremantle will see the Labor party reassert its authority on council through the potential election of a Labor mayor in October.
Three councillors including Labor stalwarts Hannah Fitzhardinge and Frank Mofflin and South Ward firebrand Cr Marija Vujcic are contenting the top job vacated this year by Greens WA MP Brad Pettitt.
Ward challengers include a chook farmer, metallurgist, chartered accountant, lawyer and cleaner from Melville.
Cr Mofflin’s mayoral campaign is supported by former mayor Peter Tagliaferri, who also is backing Melville resident Mia Kriznic in City Ward. (StreetWise readers can revisit Ms Kriznic’s public rants at www.streetwisemedia.com.au/nasty-alert-watch-yourself-we-know-the-same-people).
Ms Kriznic apparently has taken up space above Kakulas to fulfil the electoral requirement of having connection to Fremantle and StreetWise understands Tags will field local fisherman Fedele J Camarda in Beaconsfield where he failed to win twice against Cr Fitzhardinge. Kakulas’ Mike Finn also ran unsuccessfully in City Ward in 2017 when he was supported by Tags and Fremantle Society president John Dowson.
The Society says none of the councillors responsible for Fremantle’s dire financial position should run in the October elections including Crs Fitzhardinge, Mofflin, Andrew Sulllivan, Doug Thompson, Sam Wainwright, Jenny Archibald and Adin Lang.
Crs Fitzhardinge and Mofflin have presided over the City’s perilous finances, Pindan, the dumping of Australia Day and politically damaging stunts such as ‘tent city’ in January this year.
Tim Grey-Smith is a member of Cr Fitzhardinge’s mayoral campaign. In 2019, the City decided to waive the former City Ward councillor’s $17,125 debt because Mr Grey-Smith declared bankruptcy in 2016.
To avoid a by-election, Cr Fitzhardinge has declared she will vacate her seat (which expires anyway in October) to run for mayor. Cr Mofflin, whose term also expires, has not made the same declaration. Cr Vujcic, halfway through her term, will resume her South Ward position if she is unsuccessful.
Ben Lawver will run in Hilton where he lives with his wife, dog, cat and five chickens. He is active in the community and a member of the Hilton Harvest Community Garden and Friends of Samson Park.
StreetWise understands Greens WA will put forward a candidate in South Ward. Liam Carter?
Cr Vujcic launched ‘team Marija’ at the front of the town hall yesterday when she introduced to local supporters commercial lawyer Steven Pynt (South Ward); chartered accountant Craig Ross (City Ward); and metallurgist Jason Amaranti (Hilton).
“This is a historic moment in our local history. This election is fundamentally about choice,” Cr Vujcic said.
“The choice is more of the same or an opportunity for us all to move Freo forward with courage and determination. Our City has great tolerance for different points of view and has embraced inclusion and diversity as guiding principles.  As a Freo community we have each other’s backs.”
Cr Vujcic said her team has a vision to attract 10,000 people to live and work in the port city, including a plan for the homeless and most vulnerable in the community: “We will bring back a city proudly delivering the best value for ratepayers and residents in the maintenance of roads, public buildings, rubbish, lighting, security and local community services.”
She said her ‘wins’ at council include having revealed the $8.5 million loss and devaluation of land assets by $59 million in 2020. She also called out the City and elected members over council’s handling of tent city in January this year.
“The tent city incident this year polarised the council and community. The role of activists, some elected members and administration did not help the homeless nor did it increase long term housing stock. In my view the Council missed an opportunity to show leadership in a difficult situation.
“This team will bring back balance and support to a disconnected council. This independent team has Freo’s Back.”

Redemption

In its July 2017 issue (streetwisemedia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FSW5-July-2017.pdf), StreetWise raised the ‘redemption theory’ which began with the loss of Labor in 2009, the first time since 1924. Asked whether he or Tagliaferri were seeking ‘redemption’ for the loss of Freo, former Labor member for Fremantle Jim McGinty said: “It’s not a two-person redemption, he (Tagliaferri) might well be. I don’t agree with what he is doing, but he has every right to do it.”
Tags said when McGinty asked him to stand, “he knew whoever ran, the chances of winning the seat was remote. I knew it was going to be a tough gig, but at the end of the day, Labor won the seat back. So I’m not sure what I’d need redemption for.”
When McGinty ‘anointed’ Tagliaferri in 2009, “it caused a tsunami in Freo Labor and left the door open for the Greens to move in”. The Libs deliberately offered no contest, with preferences going to the Greens, he said.
First elected to Freo council in 1983, East Freo-born Tags joined the Labor Party shortly before he was endorsed as candidate for the by-election gone bad.
Tags is no fan of the Greens, having been rolled by former Greens MP Adele Carles who has not ruled out rumours she might throw her hat in for mayor. Carles was later dumped by the Greens after her affair with Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell and Labor’s Simone McGurk regained Fremantle in 2013.
As Cr Fitzhardinge will not contest her ward seat, Tags will be tempted to run a candidate (possibly Fedele).
With three candidates on the field, and having supported mayoral candidate Ra Stewart in 2017, Tags is again trying to influence Labor politics in Fremantle, having lost the Labor seat to the Greens.
This is the redemption theory.