City of Gosnells councillor Glenn Dewhurst has called on mayor Olwen Searle to step down after accusing her of lying about her address in an oath she took before taking the office of mayor.
According to the Local Government Act 1995 a person who has been elected mayor must sign a declaration, which includes listing their residential address, before acting in the office.
When Mrs Searle was elected mayor in October last year she listed her residential address as being in Edinbridge Road, Kenwick, despite her primary residence being in Melaleuca Court, Canning Vale in the City of Canning.
The Canning Vale property was purchased in 1989 while the Kenwick property has been leased several times through real estate agency Ray White McGinty and Associates.
At the ordinary council meeting on February 9 Mr Dewhurst questioned the discrepancy as well as the validity of Mrs Searle’s position as mayor.
Chief executive Ian Cowie confirmed Mrs Searle had previously registered the Canning Vale home as her residential address with the city but said she had advised that the Kenwick property was an additional residential address.
He said the city had no power to investigate the claims and based on the evidence given by Mrs Searle it could not be concluded that she was in breach of the Act.
Mrs Searle yesterday confirmed she moved to Canning Vale 25 years ago but considered the Kenwick property to be another residential address because she stayed there on occasion when the property wasn’t being leased.
Mrs Searle said she last stayed at the address about three months ago for seven weeks.
“All of my mail is delivered there and I go there regularly to pick up my mail,” she said.
“We also look after the gardens, we’ve never abandoned the property, I’m not like a property owner who lives in Malaysia, I go there every week.
“I’ll give you this analogy…you know and I know that the Queen lives in Buckingham Palace and if one day she signs a piece of paper ‘I Elizabeth Mountbatten-Windsor of Balmoral Castle in Scotland…’ has she got two houses?”
Real estate agent Hazel McGinty was unable to disclose information about when the property was leased.
A tenant who lived in the property between 2012 and 2015 confirmed Mrs Searle had never stayed at the home during that time but said she had made several complaints to the real estate agent about receiving Mrs Searle’s mail.
Mrs Searle said while she was enrolled to vote in state and federal elections at her City of Canning address she was enrolled to vote in local elections in the City of Gosnells.
Mrs Searle believed she had done nothing wrong but upon reflection would have written her City of Canning address if asked again.
“Everybody’s wise in hindsight, I could have done alternate things, I probably would have done it differently,” she said.
“Maybe elected members should be given the form to read before being called up because there’s no time to scrutinise it and I just did what I’ve always done.”
She was not concerned about her position as mayor because it was not a serious breach.
“If Lisa Scaffidi can be found guilty of a serious breach, well mine would pale in significance,” she said.
“I will let this run it’s course and if I am found to have done something wrong I will apologise to the ratepayers and the council and if I am told I have to step down, I will step down.”
