Polo rival hasn’t ruled out Broome return

The former joint venture partner of Broome’s Cable Beach polo match says he has not ruled out applying to host the tournament in the future, despite being locked into a string of legal battles over rights to hold the event.

Janek Gazecki, of Polo Enterprises Australia, jointly hosted the event with business partner Marilynne Paspaley in 2010 and 2011.

But the tournament was cancelled in 2012 after the pair failed to agree on how it should run.

Broome Shire Council awarded Ms Paspaley the permit to conduct the event in 2013 and subsequently granted her company, Cable Beach Polo, a permit to conduct the event annually until 2017.

The outcome sparked legal wrangles in the State Administrative Tribunal and Supreme Court, with Mr Gazecki challenging the decision and the handling of his application.

In the latest stoush PEA was landed with a potentially large legal bill after being told its attempt to have the decision of the Supreme Court — to dismiss Mr Gazecki’s appeal — overturned had failed and his application dismissed.

As a result, PEA has been ordered to cover the legal costs of the Shire of Broome and Cable Beach Polo.

But Mr Gazecki said he had not ruled out applying to host a beach polo event in Broome in the future.

“For the moment, we will be launching a new beach polo event in 2017 elsewhere,” he said.

“However, Broome is not ruled out for the future.

“I personally love Broome, and would love to return there with our event. The destination has international potential.”

Meanwhile, Cable Beach Polo has lodged an application with the Shire of Broome to host tournaments in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Ms Paspaley announced in March that the 2016 Broome polo event would not go ahead but plans were in place to host a “mammoth” event next year.

She said the decision to postpone the tournament was to allow for additional time to properly promote the event to make the most of “potential visitation”.

At last month’s ordinary council meeting, Shire councillors deferred consideration of the future events until a council workshop could be arranged to determine council’s direction on the matter.