WA mayors pan PM for not visiting troubled regional towns

Mayors in Western Australia’s Goldfields struggling under booming rates of violence and dysfunction are “extremely disappointed” Anthony Albanese is not planning to visit.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Mayors of regional towns in Western Australia’s Goldfields struggling under booming rates of violence and dysfunction say they are “extremely disappointed” Anthony Albanese is not planning to visit when he flies into the region on Monday.

It follows the mayors of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Leonora, Coolgardie and Laverton revealing in the Weekend Australian their concern that the abolition of the cashless debit card had exacerbated issues in their towns, raising alarm they were headed for crisis without urgent intervention.

The CDC was first introduced by the Coalition at four sites in 2016, with the aim of reducing alcohol-fuelled violence by quarantining up to 80 per cent of welfare recipient benefits.

But Labor axed the card after winning government last year because it was “stigmatising” and thought not to be making any difference to the issues facing the communities.

The Prime Minister is due to visit the Goldfields on Monday, but the mayors of surrounding towns confirmed on Sunday night it seemed he would not be going further than Kalgoorlie.

The Australian understands mayors and councillors from towns like Laverton and Leonora were planning on making the trip to Kalgoorlie – which would mean an almost 400km drive for some – but could not lock in any meeting with Mr Albanese.

Coolgardie Shire President Malcolm Cullen.

Coolgardie Shire President Malcolm Cullen said he was frustrated by the lack of urgency from all levels of government, with “no real plan” to improve the issues facing towns like his.

“We are all frustrated by both levels of state and federal government because there’s really not a lot we can do at our level to change things,” he said.

“It’s a fly in, fly out visit with no interaction with communities, other than senior people in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.”

Mr Cullen said he had been “gobsmacked” at the federal intervention in Alice Springs, where Mr Albanese announced a $250m package to address the issues in Central Australia, and pleaded for the government to take the challenges of towns in WA just as seriously. The federal investment in Alice Springs was accompanied by the Northern Territory government reintroducing grog bans last week after figures showed alcohol-fuelled domestic violence had jumped by more than 90 per cent following the scrapping of alcohol restrictions in July last year.

Laverton Shire President Patrick Hill – a former Liberal Party member – said he had been calling for the Prime Minister to visit his town for months.

“I’m extremely disappointed I haven’t been contacted by the Prime Minister and he doesn’t seem to be willing to come,” he said. “I’ve been telling the Prime Minister to come and see the town for himself and wanting to explain what we need to alleviate a worse situation developing.”

Mr Hill said the CDC hadn’t solved all problems in the town, but anecdotally had helped alleviate some of the most acute issues.

“The way it is right now is not working,” he said. “One government puts something in and then it gets ripped out. We’ve got to put some serious structural long-term planning in place.”

He pointed to investments in social housing and ambulance services as key priorities, and urged the federal government to show leadership in helping the town be better resourced to face its challenges “before it’s too late”.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said Mr Albanese was looking forward to meeting with Western Australians “from all over the state” during his trip.

Mr Albanese will take his ministers to Port Hedland on Tuesday, following a dinner in Perth on Monday night reportedly costing attendees up to $2000 for the chance to get access to government frontbenchers.