Cockburn council shelves $114,000 ‘Croatia junket’ after public outcry
By Heather McNeill and Gary Adshead
A proposal for City of Cockburn ratepayers to foot a $114,000 bill for the mayor and three councillors to spend a week in Croatia has been shelved following criticism about the “unjustifiable” cost of the trip, which presented little benefit to the community.
The July trip to Split, which was recommended for council approval at Tuesday night’s meeting, included spending up to $25,000 on each councillor’s business class flights, plus $500 a night each for accommodation.
The Cockburn councillors had planned to visit the popular Croatian tourist destination in July.Credit: Getty Images
The idea was hatched after the city gave Perth-based Croatian folkloric group Zagreb a $15,000 grant to assist them to take part in a European festival.
The delegation intended to meet up with the group, however during the Cockburn council meeting on Tuesday, councillor Phoebe Corke flagged an alternative motion to scrap the trip following public outcry over the unbudgeted cost.
“A delegation by the Mayor and elected members at this time at a cost of $28,500 per delegate, which equates to over $4000 per elected member per day, cannot be justified as being in the public interest,” she said.
“We are in a cost of living crisis, there are many better ways to spend $114,000 that will directly benefit our residents.”
Another councillor commented the funds could be better spent fixing the broken waterslides at Cockburn ARC or resurfacing the “unusable” netball courts at Bakers Square.
Corke’s motion was supported six votes to five, with the trip indefinitely deferred.
Logan, who cast the deciding vote, said he doubted the delegation would go ahead, but denied it was a junket trip.
“There’s no junket involved,” he told Radio 6PR.
“When the travel is incurred, it’s all about business activities, and I can tell you, one doesn’t stop on arrival until you’re departing, so it’s very busy, full on, and it’s in support of our community, many of them have come from Croatia, or are descendants of Croatian people.”
Around three per cent of the City of Cockburn’s residents listed Croatia under ancestry in the 2021 Census.
The deferred trip’s itinerary included visiting Split, Korcula and potentially Portugal. The City of Fremantle is also proposing to send a delegation to Croatia, after approving a $5000 grant to Zagreb for the same trip.
Asked what benefit visiting Portugal would have for the City of Cockburn, Logan said: “We were invited by the Consul for Portugal in Perth because of the strong relationship that we have with Portugal in our community.”
He said there was no indication the council intended to cease its relationships with its three sister cities, Split in Croatia, Mobile in Alabama and Yueyang in China.
The City of Fremantle is planning to submit its travel proposal for Split to council soon.
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