Perth Voice Interactive

A COMPANY which paid for a $3300 brunch, lunch, wine and dinner trip to Busselton by Bayswater mayor Filomena Piffaretti appears linked to a possible redevelopment of the historic Maylands Brickworks site.

Ms Piffaretti declared the gift back in March, but she faced a grilling from unhappy council colleagues and ratepayers about the lack of detail at Tuesday’s council meeting after the trip was revealed in the West Australian on Monday.

Ms Piffaretti said she’d accepted an invitation from PT Bayan Resources to attend the meeting as an “opportunity to meet with a potential investor and talk about current investment opportunities across the city”.

“My role as the mayor is to promote our city and to encourage investment in our city; that’s one of the functions as mayor, and I was carrying out my function as mayor,” Ms Piffaretti said.

When grilled by council watcher Harry Bouzidis during question time, the mayor would only detail that her discussions involved “multiple sites” across the city, but when pressed by councillor Elli Petersen-Pik later, she agreed that the Brickworks had been discussed.

PT Bayan is a part-owner of TenGolf which manages the City-owned Maylands Golf Course, which is across the road from the Brickworks.

Council CEO Jeremy Edwards said there had been no “formal proposals” submitted to the council for the Brickworks, but foreshadowed a briefing for councillors about the site in a couple of weeks.

This prompted a response from Cr Petersen-Pik that “I know something else”, but Mr Edwards reitera

ted the lack of any “formal” proposal.

Cr Lorna Clarke then disclosed a passing discussion with a director from TenGolf which revealed the company had some contact with the City about the site.

“I have had mister Sam Lee of TenGolf very briefly raise the Maylands Brickworks site; the fact that it was in some way being considered by the administration; he mentioned it to me in passing,” Cr Clarke said.

Ms Piffaretti also revealed that she had not told her council colleagues about the March 19 trip, with a couple saying they knew nothing until the West broke the story.

“I hadn’t heard about it until somebody texted me this morning,” Cr Sally Palmer complained.

“None of us here – not one councillor – was aware of your meeting of advocacy down south.”

Ms Piffaretti responded that the details of the trip had been available on the gift register.

She also strongly rejected Mr Bouzidis suggestion the trip was a “junket”.

“No ratepayers’ funds were expended on this trip; let’s be very clear about that before you start using the word ‘junket’,” Ms Piffaretti said.

“I have complied with all my obligations as per the Local Government Act, so I will not accept the allegation that there is no transparency or openness.

“I have been very open; I disclosed it as I am required to do.”

by STEVE GRANT