Wilson fuels car, ‘junket’ outrage

By Rebecca Fraser
CASEY deputy mayor Rob Wilson will not find a ratepayer-funded car or trip to Malta in his Christmas stocking this year.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Cr Wilson withdrew a motion that could have seen the city’s 11 councillors given ratepayer-funded vehicles by 1 July, next year, in lieu of travel payment per kilometre, and subject to a report to a council budget briefing.
In a separate motion, Councillor Wayne Smith moved that council approve Cr Wilson’s attendance and accommodation at the 3rd International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment in Malta in June.
Cr Smith also moved that officers prepare an “abstract” for submission to the conference organisers regarding a presentation by Cr Wilson to the conference on Casey’s outstanding and award winning waste management programs.
Seven out of 11 Casey councillors rejected the move, some branding the trip a blatant “junket”.
Cr Wilson’s controversial car proposal created a media storm on Monday when the news was picked up by the metropolitan media and condemned by residents and fellow Casey councillors.
It is also believed that Cr Wilson was pressured by senior Labor Party figures to withdraw the controversial proposal.
Cr Wilson scrapped the motion before Tuesday’s council meeting, but offered no public comment on the matter.
Instead, Casey chief executive Mike Tyler said the motion had been withdrawn.
Fellow Four Oaks Ward councillor Paul Richardson branded Cr Wilson’s proposal “preposterous” and said the deputy mayor was simply feathering his own nest for his personal benefit.
Springfield Ward councillor Lorraine Wreford said Cr Wilson’s proposal was “poorly thought out” and she did not believe councillors should be giving themselves bonuses.
“Why didn’t he bring this up before he was re-elected?” she asked.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford said he was extremely happy the item had been removed.
“To Cr Wilson’s credibility, this was a wise move,” he said.
“The issue is now behind us and we can concentrate on projects and keeping rates down.”
Cr Bradford is in the process of downgrading his mayoral car from an $85,000 Holden Statesman to a Commodore priced between $35,000 and $45,000.
He will have his new wheels by mid-January.
In relation to Cr Wilson’s travel plans, the mayor said he was happy that the matter had been discussed at length.
Cr Bradford said this was the first overseas trip to be rejected since 1994 and this would set a strong precedent that anyone wishing to travel overseas would have to fight to prove their case.
Cr Wreford was quick to say that the trip was “purely a junket” and Cr Wilson was not qualified to present a paper on waste management.
She said this would be an embarrassment to council.
“He is a teacher not a waste manager and what we are asking here is that someone not qualified and a person not involved in this field goes and gives a paper.
“This is a trip to Malta and just that, a trip,” she said.
Councillor Colin Butler did not support the trip but called on councillors such as Cr Wreford to be more consistent in their decisions.
“Cr Wreford has changed her mind,” he said.
“I seem to recall her going to watch carts and horses roll down the street at Berwick on Tweed.
“I hope she sticks to it (this view).”
However, Cr Wilson said he was passionate and involved in waste management and had put forward issues of nappy recycling, asphalt recycling and green waste in the past.
He said he was pilloried each time he wanted to go on a council trip to learn.
Cr Morland said he would now move that Casey’s team leader of environmental services, Michael Jansen, be given the opportunity to attend the conference if he wished to go.
Cr Wilson did not return calls from the News yesterday.