Premier sacks Pilbara council over liquor ban

The Pilbara council that tore itself apart over how to deal with drunken violence in the prosperous iron ore region has been fired.

Camilo Blanco, centre, has been removed from his position as mayor of Port Hedland. Picture: Kym Smith

The Pilbara council that tore itself apart over how to deal with drunken violence in the prosperous iron ore region has been fired by the McGowan Labor government.

West Australian Local Government minister David Templeman has suspended the entire council, including rebel Mayor Camilo Blanco who campaigned for hard line blanket restrictions on bottle shop sales, and appointed a commissioner to run the iron ore town’s affairs.

MORE: Confronting video that sparked the council war

The council reaped millions by rating big miners and was the envy of councils in poorer areas for it, but the fighting over alcohol restrictions escalated into a war in which Mr Blanco and his councillors began lodging formal complaints about each other to the local government regulator. Most recently, Mr Blanco successfully beat a bullying complaint from one of his councillors in the State Administrative Tribunal last month.

Mr Blanco has previously told The Australian he feels targeted by the McGowan government for his activism on alcohol. Premier Mark McGowan favours a banned drinkers register but Mr Blanco wants more extreme restrictions including a blackout on takeaway sales every Sunday across the region. In 2017, before Labor swept to power in WA, Mr Blanco took council-owned CCTV footage of sickening drunken violence to the office of then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Blanco sided with police who wanted a blanket ban on bottle shop sales across the Pilbara on Sundays, as well as limits to how much a single customer could buy.

But some of Mr Blanco’s constituents opposed this, and so did some councillors. A “mentor” appointed to soothe tensions gave up and recommended they should all be sacked.

“It is with regret I have had to step in as Minister to suspend the council and appoint a commissioner due to significant complaints and concerns over the past 18 months,” Mr Templeman said.

“Despite the appointment of a mentor last year and the assistance of the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, these matters have not been resolved.

“Following the issuing of the Show Cause Notice, I believe the Town has not provided any compelling reasons or justification that allay concerns about the council’s future capacity to govern.

“Ratepayers and residents of the Town of Port Hedland are entitled to expect that their elected members will provide leadership for the community and effectively manage and control operations in the Town.”

Mr Blanco told The Australian yesterday he would not resile from his stance on alcohol sales.

“They get angry with me for it but I don’t care because I grew up here and I see what goes on,” he said.

The commissioner appointed to run the Town of Port Hedland, 1650km north of Perth, is former Labor MP Fred Riebeling.