The City of Busselton will not name itself a "Pro-choice community", but will write to the Western Australian Premier about some concerns shared by a small percentage of electors.
During a 'Special Electors Meeting' in late February, about 450 electors asked the City of Busselton to consider six motions regarding COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
By unanimous vote on Wednesday's meeting, Busselton councillors passed a motion to write to Premier Mark McGowan about the concerns of those electors, and ask the Premier to consider them as he reviews vaccine mandates.
Following officer recommendations, the City will advise the Premier that about 450 Busselton community members shared concerns about the impacts of the vaccine mandates on business, employees, volunteers, and the community.
The City of Busselton will also tell the state government that the electors asked for mandates to be dropped for volunteers, clearer information be provided for businesses, a survey on the impacts of mandates on small business and for all vaccine mandates and restrictions to be dropped.
Cr Paul Carter said that while it was important for the City to hear the views of electors, it was important to acknowledge that the number of electors who requested the motions were only a very small section of the community.
In a report, city officers noted that the electors who attended the special electors meeting made up approximately 1.5 percent of the 29,852 electors of the City of Busselton.
At the electors meeting in February, electors also requested that the City of Busselton do it's own survey on the impact of mandates on ratepayers, and advocate to State and Federal Ministers to drop all mandates.
Under the motion passed by the City, it will not do its own survey. Reporting officer Sarah Pierson explained that vaccine mandates do not fall within local government jurisdiction, so any data gathered by a survey would not be useful to the City.
The City also will not ask Federal ministers to drop all mandates, because they are State Government directions.
Before the council on the motion, Councillor Anne Ryan spoke in support of the elector's requests, referring to COVID-19 vaccinations as "an experimental vaccine."
Councillor Mikayla Love seconded Ms Ryan's motion, but only so that Cr Ryan would get the chance to speak on it.
Cr Love joined all other councillors in voting for the officers' recommendation instead.
