Ex-State MP joins Freo mayoral race

GREENS-turned-independent Adele Carles has moved into City Ward to run for the Fremantle mayoral seat in the local government elections in October.
The former State MP joins the race on the same day South Ward Cr Marija Vujcic launches her mayoral campaign at the Croatian Community Centre in North Fremantle.
A former commercial lawyer, government auditor and treasurer of the Fremantle Society, Ms Carles is pitched against Cr Vujcic and Labor candidates Crs Hannah Fitzhardinge and Frank Mofflin. Registrations for eligible candidates close September 9.
“I want to give voters a choice in Freo, the other three candidates are sitting councillors,” she told StreetWise today. “I am independent and I have experience. But if you think Freo is great, well keep voting for the same council.”
Asked why she had not entered the mayoral race earlier, she said: “People know me. I have plenty of time to campaign and am a bit surprised at how early people came out. The word on the street is that the election has dragged on and people are not talking about the issues.”
Ms Carles said her no-thrills campaign, also launched online at adelecarles.com, is entirely self funded: “I’m refusing political donations and I have no political affiliations. My support is from the grassroots. Independence is critical in Fremantle where party politics has taken over at council level.”
Ms Carles represented Fremantle in parliament from 2009 to 2013. Initially elected as a Greens WA member at the 2009 Fremantle state by-election after Labor health minister and attorney-general Jim McGinty retired, she became the first Greens candidate elected to an Australian state lower house of parliament in a single-member seat.
Ms Carles won the seat with 44.06 per cent the primary vote ahead of Labor candidate and former Fremantle Mayor Peter Tagliaferri.
The Liberals did not contest the seat, which had been held by Labor for 85 years. This was the highest primary vote result for the Greens in a state or federal election in Australia and the first time the Greens had outpolled all parties on their primary vote.
In 2010, having acknowledged her highly publicised affair with Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell, Ms Carles left the Greens to sit as an independent. She ran for re-election as an independent at the 2013 state election but was soundly defeated, finishing fourth behind the Labor, Liberal and Greens candidates with 5.49 per cent of the vote. Labor candidate Simone McGurk won the seat with 39 per cent of the vote, reclaiming the seat Labor had held from 1924 to 2009.
Former mayoral candidate Ra Stewart told StreetWise the election so far had been, “very quiet”.
“I launched my campaign on Anzac Day and literally went hammer and tongs, dawn to dusk, door knocking in every single ward,” she said, adding she had no plans to run for mayor even though people still asked her.
“The City is even further down the rabbit hole,” she said, referring to the City’s bleak financial position since she ran against former Greens mayor Brad Pettitt. “I would have had a good crack at turning it around and we could have been in a very different position. But now it is even worse.”
Cr Vujcic told StreetWise today the City had lost its way: “Right now there is a big disconnect with Fremantle council and our grassroots community. How can we forget the impact of tent city? No one, not one councillor has taken responsibility for the lack of transparency and governance in the shameful promotion of the homeless for political mileage. The trashing of the reputation of our Fremantle, the loss of business activity and the criminal activity that took place on Pioneer park this year.
Cr Vujcic added scrapping of Australia Day without proper community consultation would not be forgotten by Fremantle voters.
“Fresh-faced Frank and let’s-have-a-cuppa Hannah want a state or federal seat in parliament and Fremantle is just a stepping stone,” she said. “Both candidates did not support my motion for an investigation into tent city. Even when the State Government took control of the asset, they held the political line for Pettitt.”
Also jogging memories, a StreetWise reader observed: “I would have thought Adele was done with politics. Is she ever going to get out of the Troy shadow? Saying that, this puts colour into a lacklustre election in which Labor will cement its authority in Fremantle.”
They added Ms Carles’ entry into the mayoral race would have little impact on Crs Fitzhardinge and Mofflin’s campaigns and would only succeed in splitting Cr Marija’s votes.
City Ward candidate Mia Kriznic, who lives in Melville and has taken up office space above Kakulas Sister, has put her hopes behind Ms Carles while Mr Tagliaferri, who is supporting Cr Mofflin and Beaconsfield candidate Fedele J. Camarda, says he would not waste his vote.
As reported on July 28, (www.streetwisemedia.com.au/labor-moves-to-consolidate-council-control), Cr Vujcic launched her ‘team’ of candidates at the town hall on July 27 when she introduced commercial lawyer Steven Pynt (South Ward), chartered accountant Craig Ross (City Ward), and metallurgist Jason Amaranti (Hilton).
Election coverage in the October issue of Freo StreetWise, also available at www.streetwisemedia.com.au.