Hedland councillor Camilo Blanco says an admission of wrongdoing and apology issued by the local government on his behalf was released without his consent, and that he “stands by the accusations”.
Hedland councillor Camilo Blanco says an admission of wrongdoing and apology issued by the local government on his behalf was released without his consent, and that he “stands by the accusations”.
Former mayor and current councillor Camilo Blanco appeared to make the apology after a complaint was made to the Local Government Standards Panel.
The panel found Cr Blanco breached local government regulations when he made various comments at the town’s ordinary council meeting on November 29 last year, which accused town’s administrative staff of improper conduct.
In a notice of public censure, the panel said Cr Blanco’s conduct was found to be inappropriate and to falsely adversely reflect upon the Town’s administrative staff.
Attached to the public censure notice was a 'public apology', attributed to Cr Blanco.
“The Panel found that I breached Regulation 20 and Regulation 34D by my conduct and that my comments constituted a false adverse reflection against the Town’s staff,” the apology said.
“I acknowledge that I should not have made the relevant comments, and I now apologise to the Town’s administrative staff, the Town and my fellow councillors.”
But speaking to Business News, Mr Blanco said he did not agree to the apology and "will never apologise".
"I stand by what I said. The evidence is all there. I didn't know this apology was going out, and I do not agree to it," he said.
"This has been a witch hunt by the town, by the department and by other councillors.
"I did nothing wrong."
Mr Blanco went on to say he was "the best mayor Australia has had since Federation".
"Just look at my track record. The things I did for this town while I was mayor, no mayor anywhere in Australia has done a better job," he said.
A Town of Port Hedland spokesperson told Business News Cr Blanco was informed of the apology via an email on Monday.
A Department of Local Goverment, Sport and Cultural Industries spokesperson said the chief executive of the Town of Port Hedland was required to refer to the State Administrative Tribunal any failure to comply with an order made by the Local Goverment Standards Panel.
"The DLGSC has been in contact with the CEO recently and is aware of this obligation," the spokesperson said.
It is unclear whether Mr Blanco's retraction of the 'public apology' constituted a failure to comply with the LGSP's order to make the apology.
It’s the latest stoush in a long saga for Cr Blanco, Mayor Peter Carter and the Town of Port Hedland.
In March, state government officials wrote to the council to recommend urgent action to fix issues having a “detrimental impact” on its effectiveness as a local government.
It followed a visit from Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries officials to the town in February to examine “governance practices and the breakdown in relationships between council members.”
Cr Blanco is currently being sued for defamation by ToPH mayor Peter Carter for comments he made at a May 2023 council meeting and repeated during a 14-minute video posted to social media.
In the video, Cr Blanco claimed to have questioned whether the mayor knew the definition of a Ponzi scheme and questioned whether he had promoted a deal to investors to build houses in the town.
He also claimed minutes from the May meeting were edited to remove the questions.
The lawsuit highlights the long-running feud between the pair, which extends back five years when the council, then led by Cr Blanco, was disbanded after Mr Carter, then a councillor, resigned while the council was suspended.
The council was suspended in 2019 due to an avalanche of complaints lodged to DLGSC, about 30 of which were said to have come from Cr Blanco himself against four elected members on financial interest and conflict of interest grounds.
Mr Carter was elected mayor in 2020 following the council’s administration period and retained the top job with nearly half of the total vote at the 2021 election.
He is due for re-election in 2025.
Cr Blanco came fourth in the 2021 mayoral race and regained a seat on the council last year.
In 2022 the mayor courted national controversy over an incident in which Mr Carter was fed strawberries by a woman in a foreign hotel while on a video call with a local high school board.
It’s understood he was unaware his laptop video camera was on during the meeting.
He resigned from that board but has remained on council.
Then, in February of this year, council passed a motion of no confidence against Mr Carter.
The motion was largely symbolic in nature given there is no mechanism for councillors to oust a presiding member through no confidence motions.
Cr Blanco has been no stranger to controversy either.
While dressed as Zoro in 2016 he repeatedly demeaned former Hedland mayor Kelly Howlett’s appearance in a mock news video series prior to replacing her as mayor.
In 2017 Mr Blanco was expelled from the Labor Party for supporting Nationals leader Brendon Grylls and in 2021 he ran for the Liberal Party in the state election.
Council meetings in Port Hedland have been something of a marathon, with the past three running for 4.5 hours, 3 hours and 2 hours.
Public question time and statements have been dragging on for more than an hour and a barrage of queries, mainly from Cr Blanco, has further extended proceedings.
