‘Everyone loves dying children’: Sacked mayor’s bizarre radio rant

A city mayor has unleashed a baffling tirade, claiming everyone loves dying children and telling the ABC host to “think global, act local” as her council was in the process of being ousted by a former Labor leader’s daughter.

Fiona Argyle, mayor of Nedlands in Perth, grew irate in an interview with ABC Perth host Geraldine Mellet, raising her voice repeatedly after telling the host the exodus from her council that led the state government to tip it into administration was a “good day”.

The City of Nedlands, which oversees some of Perth’s richest postcodes, is in limbo while WA’s Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley – daughter of former Labor deputy prime minister Kim Beazley – moves to appoint a three-person panel of commissioners following the resignation of four councillors on Monday.

Ben Hodsdon, Noel Youngman, Fergus Bennett and Hengameh Amiry all tendered their resignation on Monday, leaving the council without a quorum and paving the way for Beazley to intervene.

In her extraordinary interview on ABC Radio on Monday afternoon, Argyle said the resignations marked a fantastic day for the council.

The mayor accused the other councillors of working against her and rubbished the continued controversy over the city’s opposition to a children’s hospice and adjacent play area in Swanbourne.

“No one on this planet is against dying children. No one hates dying children – everyone loves dying children,” she said.

“What I don’t like, and the city doesn’t like, it was a unanimous decision – that is the city’s land.

“It’s like giving away Hyde Park, Jardin du Luxembourg the Royal National Park in Sydney.

“If anyone accuses me of bad behaviour or defamation, I’ll sue them, because I have been nothing but a good mayor.”

The council has been embroiled in controversy for more than 18 months after butting heads with the state government over the children’s hospice under construction in Swanbourne and plans to use the Allen Park A-Class reserve next door as recreation space for the children.

Argyle led the campaign fighting the plans, which included arranging a digital billboard with the Nedlands council logo calling on the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation to keep its hands off the reserve.

Councillors have also walked out of past meetings, leaving it without a quorum.

The Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety is also due to wrap up an investigation into the council dysfunction soon.

WA Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley.Credit: Hamish Hastie

Nedlands’ local government boundaries cover some of Perth’s richest postcodes, including Dalkeith, which is home to billionaires Kerry Stokes and Gina Rinehart.

On Tuesday, Beazley said the dismissed council should take some time to reflect on its behaviour.

“As minister for local government, I’ll be bringing an end to the embarrassing saga of dysfunction and disunity at the City of Nedlands with the appointment of a series of commissioners, which is work I’m undertaking as quickly as possible,” Beazley said.

“I would encourage them to use this opportunity to rest and reset and reflect on the behaviour that they have undertaken, the decisions that they have undertaken for the city, and whether they’ve acted in the best interests of the city during their tenure,” she said.

The minister was unable to say when the new commissioners would be appointed or whether the city would be ready to elect a new council at local government elections in October.

Beazley said she had listened to Argyle’s interview and reiterated her point that the councillors should rest and reset.

In his resignation letter, Hodsdon described the council as consistently toxic and dysfunctional.

“The constant infighting, lack of productive dialogue, bullying behaviours, weaponising the code of conduct that has been rather vexatious in nature and the unwillingness to address serious concerns have made it impossible to effectively represent the community,” he said.

The council’s website was updated on Monday afternoon to list just four councillors: Argyle, Deputy Mayor Kerry Smyth, and councillors Blane Brackenridge and Rebecca Coghlan.

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