‘Passing the buck’: Harold Tracey hits back at ‘threats’ to return planned Broome Prison to 12 Mile site

Broome President Harold Tracey has hit back at Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston’s “threats” to return the planned Broome Prison to the original 12 Mile site if council did not rezone the current site. In response to questions from Opposition Leader Mia Davies in a Budget Estimates hearing on May 26, Mr Johnston said it had been made clear that if council did not rezone the current proposed site, which sits opposite the Cape Leveque road turn-off, the original 12 Mile site would be chosen. “If the council says we cannot use that site, we will return to the 12 Mile site. We made that clear,” Minister Johnston said in Budget Estimates. “It is up to the council whether it wants a prison on this site or at 12 Mile, because in the end it has to go somewhere. We cannot build it in the sky.” At an ordinary council meeting on the same evening, Shire councillors rejected a Department of Justice proposal to have the land rezoned from industrial to mixed use, saying the request was premature and the proper community consultation had not been undertaken. Shire President Harold Tracey said the proposal was knocked back because the Department had not done their due-diligence in community consultation, and had tried to rush through the rezoning at the eleventh hour. “The proposal was part of a wider review of our local planning scheme, which Shire officers have spent the last three or four years investigating,” he said. “Then, three or four months ago the Department just throws this proposal in, having not done any community consultation. “It amazes me — we’re talking about the exact same issue that arose when they looked at the original site — they aren’t consulting the community.” Mr Tracey said a number of Mr Johnston’s comments were “completely incorrect” in his Budget Estimates response and said it was an attempt to “pass the buck” on the decision. “They know we have a number of sites on offer, we just want the proper processes to be followed in both planning and consultation,” he said. “We’re not knocking this back for the sake of it, we’re making sure they have to follow the same processes every other proposal would have to follow. “Bill’s comments that they’ll return to 12 Mile if we don’t agree are pretty much a threat. He’s trying to shift blame for any site being chosen onto us.” Mr Tracey said should the proper consultation and planning work show the site as suitable, Shire councillors would support the rezoning. It’s the latest hurdle in a drawn out dialogue between residents, the State Government and the Shire of Broome which began in April last year when the State Government announced the facility would be built adjacent to a rural estate outside of Broome, 12 Mile, causing outrage among residents who felt “blind-sided” by the decision.