Bunbury council rejects no coal vote

Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said the council’s relationship with stakeholders, including the State Government, could have been damaged if the council opposed coal exports from Bunbury Port.

Deputy Mayor Brendan Kelly’s motion for the Bunbury City Council to oppose the plan, for Griffin Coal to export up to 15 million tonnes a year from the port, was lost 9-2 at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

However, Cr Kelly was able to secure the support of Cr Wendy Giles, forcing a debate on the issue in a public forum.

He made an impassioned plea for the council to support his motion but noted it would have no impact on the State Government’s approvals process for the project.

Cr Kelly argued the plan would damage the marketing of the city as a place to live, work and play.

Cr Giles supported the motion and said it was the obligation of councillors to stand-up for Bunbury and its ratepayers.

During the debate, Mr Brennan used the standing orders to speak before two other councillors, who wanted to oppose the motion.

“Generally I invite councillors to have their say during the debate, ” he told the South Western Times. “But on this particular occasion I felt I needed to respond to Cr Kelly’s motion.

“It required a strong showing of leadership by me in my position of Mayor.”

Mr Brennan said while he understood and respected Mr Kelly’s beliefs, he said there was a risk of sending a negative message to key stakeholders the State Government, the Bunbury Port Authority and communities, including Collie, which relied on coal.

Despite the overwhelming opposition to his motion on coal, Cr Kelly got unanimous support from the council to ask for the State Government to fast-track development of a purpose-built container handling facility at the Bunbury Inner Harbour.

Cr Kelly says the facility could attract the lucrative shipping container market to Bunbury.