Perth Voice Interactive

FORMER Vincent mayor Emma Cole has been promoted to chair of the WA Planning Commission.

Currently deputy, Ms Cole will begin her four-year term on January 1, taking over from retiring chair David Caddy.

The appointment was announced by WA Labor’s planning minister John Carey, who was also previously a Vincent mayor and who supported Ms Cole in her bid to replace him as mayor when he made the leap from local to state government in 2015.

Mr Carey said in his announcement: “Ms Cole has extensive planning and leadership credentials and experience, including most recently serving as deputy chair of the WAPC.

“She brings a significant wealth of planning experience and pragmatic governance and decision making to this crucial role as chair of the WAPC.”

He said the commission’s focus under Ms Cole will be planning long-term development, economic, and housing opportunities, “including the assessment of applications lodged through the significant development pathway” – a.k.a. handling approvals for particularly large developments worth $20m or more (or $5m and up in the regions).

Unlike every other Vincent mayor to date, Ms Cole has been the only one who hasn’t been also been an elected member at either a state or federal level (Jack Marks, John Hyde, Nick Catania, Alannah MacTiernan, John Carey, and Alison Xamon have all been MPs either before or after their mayoral reign). 

When Ms Cole ran for mayor said she wasn’t interested in using local government as a stepping stone to an MO’s role, and she’s stuck by that to date by staying on the departmental side of government.