Shire of Broome election candidates discuss proposals for positive changes

With the Shire of Broome elections approaching, locals had the opportunity to meet the candidates and ask questions about their ideas to make positive changes for the community.

Held at Lotteries House on Wednesday night, candidates formed a panel to discuss the reasons why they were running for either councillor or president ahead of the elections on October 21.

Economic development, crime reduction and housing were some of the main concerns candidates highlighted, as well as advocating for environmental sustainability, community engagement and better transparency on decisions made by the Shire.

Attendees raised questions regarding the design of future housing in suburban areas, the location of the new tip and what the Shire could have done differently with the Kimberley Mineral Sands trucks transporting produce from the Thunderbird mine site to the Broome Port.

Broome local Wade Freeman attended the event to meet the candidates and see what new ideas were being proposed, hoping for more transparency from the new Council members.

“I think it was great. There was a good cross-section of candidates speaking and a great cross-section of opinions being posed, so it was quite informative,” he said.

“It would have been great to have seen a better turnout of Broome people to come along and to learn and hear about what’s being offered by the different people.

“What I’m hoping for out of this election is probably a more diverse Council, somebody who is going to be more engaged with the public and the residents and ratepayers of Broome, as well as programs and developments that are going to have a better public engagement rather than just a piecemeal ticking-the-box approach.”

This year will be the first time Broome residents will have to directly elect a shire president instead of the role being decided by the Council, as well as councillor numbers being reduced from nine to eight.

Broome resident Diana Mary said she was keen to see what the candidates’ attitudes were towards the direction they’d like to see Broome going.

“It would be good to have a bigger turnout, it felt a little preaching to the converted because a lot of your audience already knew most of the candidates — it’s hard to get a community motivated politically when everyone’s busy,” she said.

“I’d like to see more community consultation and action on the results of community consultation — in the past, we’ve done a lot of consulting over, for example, the Urban Renewal project, and that just sort of sat in a drawer for the last three, four years and there hasn’t been action. There were a lot of good ideas in it.”

Voting for the elections will be held on October 21 at the Shire Administration Building from 8am to 6pm.