THE close vote to exclude Margaret River from the name of the Busselton Regional Airport would have gone the other way if there had been a full council of nine members.
Cr David Reid, who missed the meeting as he was on leave of absence and interstate, would have supported the staff recommendation to include Margaret River in the name.
The vote to retain the existing name of the airport scraped over the line on the casting vote of the Busselton mayor, Ian Stubbs, after voting was locked four-all on his alternative motion, not to change the existing name of the airport.
However, any move to overturn the decision is unlikely to be successful as it would require an absolute majority of six of the nine councillors.
It had been recommended in a staff report that the airport be renamed Busselton (Margaret River) Regional Airport, should it be redeveloped, because Margaret River was a better known brand for the region.
“I regret I missed such an important debate,” Cr Reid said.
“Should another debating opportunity present itself in the near future I’d welcome the opportunity to participate.”
He said he would argue to include the name Margaret River in the Busselton Regional Airport.
“I believe the city and the whole South West region missed a global promotional opportunity.
“This is all about building a bigger cake, not fighting over the slices,” Cr Reid said.
He would have urged councillors to put their own parochialism to one side for the benefit of the region.
Debate got very heated, bordering on being personal, when the matter was debated at last Wednesday night’s council meeting.
Mayor Stubbs argued that there were no justifiable reasons to include Margaret River in the name of the airport at this stage and that Busselton had more visitors than any other regional centre in WA – an average of more than 100,000 visitors annually over a recent three-year period.
He also said there were numerous examples of airport names having no connection to the name of the region.
Four alternative motions were put up, but the first one for consideration was withdrawn by its proponent, Cr Terry Best.
The others were by Mayor Stubbs, Cr Grant Henley and deputy mayor Tom Tuffin.
Mayor Stubbs’s motion, to retain the existing name of Busselton Regional Airport, was vigorously debated with terms such as “parochial” and “small-minded” over not wanting to change the name, peppering the debate.
Crs Tuffin, Henley, John McCallum and Gordon Bleechmore spoke vehemently against Mayor Stubbs’s motion.
However, the mayor was supported by Crs Coralie Tarbotton, Jenny Green and Terry Best and with his casting vote got his motion over the line which meant the other two motions that favoured the inclusion of Margaret River in the name of the airport did not get to be considered.
