Quick fire Mayoral debate and Minties moments

“WE don’t do deals, we put it out to tender.” Mayoral candidate Marija Vujcic brought down the house last night when she called for Fremantle Markets’ lease to be torn up during the mayoral debate at Notre Dame University.
The packed audience also cheered the South Ward councillor when she suggested reducing by half the number of elected members serving council.
The mayoral debate moderated by Minties master of ceremonies Michael Barker and Chamber of Commerce CEO Danicia Quinlan saw Cr Vujcic and Hannah Fitzhardinge deliver their pre-election pitches and vision for the future of the port city.
Mayoral candidates Adele Carles, Rod Grljusich and Martin Lawrence Douthwaite could not attend the event sponsored by Barker’s Fremantle Shipping News and The Fremantle Network.

Introducing

Cr Vujcic kicked off proceedings: “My vision is to develop a place where people, especially families, can once again return because it is a safe place to shop, live and work,” she said, her plan to attract up to 10,000 people to the port city part of her team of independents’ campaign pitch.
“In my first two years of office my aim is to find savings and new revenue streams to inject an additional $1 million into the repair of roads, drains, footpaths and signage. Under my leadership, we will be the festival city of Australia. In principle, I do not support rate increases beyond CPI. I will champion the development of technology hubs and a virtual online tourism platform that will showcase Fremantle to the world.”
She said she would restore heritage funding and representation and link heritage groups to council’s planning committee: “Importantly, I see a City that listens to its people, a council that answers its citizens’ questions and one that is transparent around its plans and finances.
“We have had a decade of poor financial decisions resulting in the selling of City assets. The decision to invest in a huge bricks and mortar building like the Kings Square project was poorly conceived. My pledge for Fremantle is leadership that is balanced and focused on transparency and good governance. I have a vision for a future as strong as our past. I have Freo’s back.”
Cr Fitzhardinge followed with her vision of values: “I want to talk to you about kindness, inclusivity and respectful public debate. By listening to the great ideas you have and you have and you have and you have, we can actually build a city that is a testament for all our love for the place in which we live. So instead of standing up here and telling you what I will do and I will this and I will that, I want to talk to you about how we might do this together, because really I think that’s what you want and what you need from a mayor.”
The Beaconsfield councillor then turned briefly to the perils of climate change and COVID, “Climate change will really test us”, before adding, “We want to be a true university city, how do we make the most of this asset (Notre Dame)”.

1. Changing the guard, debt forgiveness:
Cr Fitzhardinge said, “I think we are due for a really interesting conversation to have with our community because we have some serious structural problems in our finances. We have a very really small rate base. Financial reporting, all that side of things, yes it gets raised with the office of the auditor general looks at that, finances, you know that stuff happens.”
She added the mayor was only one out of 13 people on council, “and you have to draw on all that energy and enthusiasm in the room to try and fix this stuff and the community.”
Cr Fitzhardinge added: “And I think finally I have worked with State Government and I really feel like Freo is a missed opportunity right now. State Government investment needs to be forthcoming. We have got to sell our story, it’s a fabulous story, it is the place to go in Perth right now.”
Cr Vujcic said she agreed Fremantle had a limited rate base: “I come from a perspective of why not. But on my two years on council, it acts more like a club than a council, in my view. Because once a decision has been made, it’s almost like you don’t speak outside the club. One of my first principles as a councillor was that my job was to scrutinise. I find it really interesting that we forgive debt in the city on our major assets. What I find frustrating, when I ask questions like that, it’s almost like, ‘come on Marija you shouldn’t ask questions like that’.”

2. Rebranding Freo:
“Are we a port, a maritime city, a university city, a festival city, film and creative city or a smart city focused on developing technologies?”
Cr Vujcic said during her campaign she had met creative people who would normally be in New York or LA, not in Freo, because of COVID. “We know people can work from home. There is a big rethink across corporate Australia. I used to get upset about cars and oil and gas and climate change, in 10 years time you will be able to … order your car and it will come to your doorstep and pick up x amount of people … it’s going to create a lot of space in roads and parking areas.”
Cr Fitzhardinge said: “I see us as being an incredibly creative city, I mean arts and culture and design creative but I also mean problem solving creative. And I think, it is one of those intangibles but you know when you’ve got it because you have see people work together, coming up with new ideas, creating beautiful things.” She added: “This is a hotbed of creativity and talent. But we’re also a place for, you know, a good time. A fun time. Everyone brings their family to Freo.”
She acknowledged alcohol was a sensitive subject, “and you look around and there is people coming to them”. Cr Fitzhardinge said as the port moves south, “there is huge amount of land there. What would our community collectively do with that amount of land?” Housing density and suburban infill needed to be done right. She added: “How do we get landlords and people who want to start businesses in Fremantle on the same page? At the moment, there is a list of 30 people who would like to start a business in Freo and there is a list of probably five landlords who might be standing between them and that business opening.”
She said people needed to get behind destination Freo: “Walyalup Koort, the whole new civic centre, that whole space, the playground which is amazing, there is going to be karaoke and ten pin bowling in Freo, who knew? This is fantastic.”

3. Anti-social friction and homelessness:
Referring to ‘tent city’ in January this year when the State Government forcibly closed the illegal homeless camp on Pioneer Park, Barker asked how candidates would address anti-social behaviour and homelessness.
Cr Fitzhardinge said: “Anti-social behaviour or people being loud on our streets, you know there are various versions of it. There is a gap in services generally, and it’s really tough for emergency responders.”
She said as a local government, “I think we can help direct people to appropriate services and we do that at the moment through a partnership with St Pats.”
She added: “I think having better lighting on the streets is really important … shops having their LED lights on at night just makes the street a bit brighter and a bit nicer.”
She said student housing and a bigger physical police presence would deter anti-social behaviour in Fremantle: “In terms of homelessness, as a different issue, I really think we need to get behind what is going on the ground. Get behind what people are already doing well.”
Cr Vujcic offered some sobering statistics: “In our city, we have got approximately 54 rough sleepers. We have 119 homeless people who live out of a car, coach surf or sleep on the streets.”
She said she subscribed to St Vinnies’ successful Passages Youth Engagement Hub model to address and improve services for homeless people in Fremantle.

4. Sustainability:
Cr Vujcic said it was encouraging to see council engaging in sustainability, but she was not a fan of big concrete projects with big carbon footprints nor sending money overseas for carbon credits. She said the council’s truck cleaning fleet was more than a decade old. “As a city we can do better on sustainability, I don’t think we’re a city that should claim we are carbon neutral as we do at the moment.”
Cr Fitzhardinge said she was proud of Fremantle’s record on sustainability. “It has been a community focus for a very long time. We have led the way, like plastic bag bans which now everyone is on board with, balloon bags.” She said: “We need to start planning for a future where storms are more extreme, sea level rises, we cannot ignore this we need to make a plan. That’s hugely important, this area that we’re in, our feet will be wet, and that is really concerning.”

Quick fire topics

1. Australia Day:

Cr Vujcic: “We need an Australia Day festival, I am not hooked up on the date. We have a lot to celebrate as a country. One Day? What are we trying to avoid?”
Cr Fitzhardinge: “So would I support spending $100,000 a year to bring fireworks back to fishing boat harbour that benefits fairly limited businesses. I cannot see myself supporting that. What I would support is a calendar of events the whole year round to make sure there is something for everyone.”
2. Heritage:

Cr Vujcic: “We need some help with the Roundhouse. But we also need to understand that it is also on our doorstep and we need to contribute to that. Going with a begging bowl to the State Government isn’t working for us, obviously, because it is falling down.”
Cr Fitzhardinge: “I think there is a really beautiful opportunity for 2029 to the integrate story of Fremantle Prison, Roundhouse and Rottnest and interlinked histories of those three places. Heritage more generally … I would really like to find a way council could get involved in incentivising owners to do some work and get those heritage buildings to a place where they can be used effectively.”
3. Fremantle Markets:

Cr Fitzhardinge: “It’s an asset of the city that pays rent regularly to the city and needs a lot of work done on it. So it is going to be a challenge that we have to address with the people who lease it to get a good outcome there.”
Cr Vujcic: “It is a destination spot, but Fremantle Markets never went out to tender. I have a real problem with that. What I’d like to see is a conclusion of that lease and the lease to go outside and be tendered like any other business. We don’t do deals, we put it out to tender.” The audience cheers.
4. Transport:
Cr Vujcic: “I have not seen an overarching plan for the north and the south. We talk about rail … but I don’t see a lot of detail.”
Cr Fitzhardinge: “If the freight line goes, which it will if the port moves, we have this incredible corridor that runs through our city. We have to start planning for that. We also need to really think about that connection to Cockburn because increasingly people are moving to Cockburn to be close to Fremantle. I don’t support retention of the old bridge.”
5. Term of office:
Cr Fitzhardinge: “I’m excited about this next little period, I think the next four years are really exciting in Fremantle. At the end of that, I would like to be surrounded by fantastic people in Freo who have a positive vision for the future and want to become mayor. I would be more than happy to say, ‘One of you, please step up’.”
Cr Vujcic: “I think there should be fixed terms. I don’t think it serves council or any institution where you continually get elected on a very small base or unopposed. Why don’t we take leadership on this one and cut our representatives down to six. We are a city of 30,000 people, Cockburn has nine councillors and they have 120,000 people. I don’t know whether we need 13 in a city that has 30,000 residents. I think it’s overkill. There’s your first half a million dollar savings.” The room again erupts with cheers and clapping.

The evening concluded with questions from the audience and a final pitch by each candidate. When asked about the state of the South Beach toilets and why she had not fixed them, Cr Fitzhardinge said: “I’m one vote in 13 and I contribute to the budget processes every year and I absolutely advocate for what I think is right. It is impossible to do all those things.”
Asked for an example where they had reached consensus on council, Cr Vujcic began to answer only to be interrupted by Cr Rachel Pemberton, who earned herself a mint rather than a moderator’s boot out the door.
“Well you know Rachel, actually it was no debate, but by golly you didn’t have much to support you giving away $1.4 million,” Cr Vujcic replied, the room erupting in claps and cheers.
Asked whether her mayoral run was a precursor to a seat in state government, Cr Fitzhardinge said: “Local government is so tangible and that’s what I love about it. Do I want to be in state government? No thank you, I’m really really happy here in Freo. And actually I’ve kind of got a day job that I love too so I will be OK if I’m not your mayor. There are plenty of things I want to be doing, state government isn’t one of them.”