City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn reflects on the trials and tribulations of local government

Love him or hate him, you simply couldn’t escape Shane Van Styn in 2022 as he dominated headlines on issues such as the derelict Batavia Motor Inne and Horizon Sculpture vandalism through to his successful stint in the boxing ring. In an end-of-year interview with the Geraldton Guardian reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to 2023, the City of Greater Geraldton mayor spoke about his highlights, disappointments, hopes for the future and everything in between. The return of the much-loved Horizon Sculpture to Beresford Foreshore on December 7 was short-lived as the sculpture was damaged just eight hours after it had been installed. Footage from social media and CCTV revealed a group of seven teenagers had lifted the lid before a 17-year-old hopped in as the others egged him on. The mayor immediately took to social media, naming and shaming the culprits of the vandalism. While some believe he went too far, Mr Van Styn defended his actions. ”They delivered the pictures of themselves with their names and plastered it all over social media. We just recycled them,” he said. “So any suggestion that I’ve somehow dodgily named juveniles is laughable because they were posting it, they were live streaming the incident. There are videos from multiple angles; I haven’t released any secret CCTV footage, that was all their photos.” The mayor said it was “ridiculous” that people thought he overstepped the mark by posting the juveniles’ antics. As a prominent Facebook user, Mr Van Styn can be found commenting on both his mayoral and personal page. “I get to comment in two capacities but largely, as a private individual, I’m entitled to opinions as much as the next person. When commenting as the mayor, I’m required to reflect the sentiments of council, which I do strongly,” he said. Mr Van Styn said he hadn’t been told to “rein in” his social media comments by the council. “If anything, I regularly get feedback saying thanks for explaining it in short, sharp and simple terms. Often people fly off the handle based on clickbait headlines, rumours or innuendos, and that never helps the dialogue,” he said. “I get to speak; that’s my job to speak on behalf of the city, but I’m still entitled to have private opinions. I find they are very rarely, if ever, unaligned.” The Batavia Motor Inne dominated headlines in 2022 as the abandoned building continued to be a hotbed for crime, drug use and anti-social behaviour. Mr Van Styn has been a vocal critic of the owners, 54 Fitzgerald street Pty Ltd, and was even sanctioned by the council for comments made in the local media that “they’re hiding in their Perth offices” and “they have blood on their hands”. While he apologised for his choice of words, the mayor was disappointed the council decided to sanction him for the “tame” comments, claiming he had “said a lot worse things about it in the past”. Mr Van Styn said it was “bizarre” the council resolved to issue demolition notices on the Batavia shortly after he was sanctioned. He also cited the horrific story of a 14-year-old girl who was raped over two days at the derelict site, which was revealed during the trial of James Robert Sbresni in December. “I’d like to think that some of the councillors during that might have cause to reflect upon their decisions about what an appropriate level of activism to resolve the Batavia issue should be,” he said. “What level of language is appropriate for wanting owners to take control of this situation? Surely the language and rhetoric should be kept strong and assertive, and I won’t resile from that.” As to why his fellow councillors shied away from criticising the owners, Mr Van Styn claimed people in local government were terrified of being sued by property developers. “A lot of councillors, whilst they’re getting paid it’s not their main calling in life. The idea that they can get dragged through the papers, taken to court, standard boards complaints, really scares them,” he said. “They didn’t sign up for the drama, they just want to do nice things, and they’re all good valid reasons. I think I was elected to stand up and fight for the community and deliver. That is what I intend on doing.” Mr Van Styn has to balance his competing interests as the City of Greater Geraldton mayor and a neighbour of the derelict building, “If I was any other elected official, this wouldn’t be an issue. It purely only applies to local governments. But in this instance, if there is nothing being decided or before council, then no conflict of interest exists,” he said. “The impact of the Batavia on the whole of the community is so significant that almost no one individual isn’t touched by it in some way or another, albeit not as significantly as myself.” He said his biggest highlights for 2022 were the development of GRAG Park and the ongoing FOGO trial. “GRAG Park has been a long-time eyesore in Geraldton; it was really rundown and derelict. It’s another big part of the puzzle of linking east to west as part of revitalising the CBD,” he said. He said improved compliance rates in the FOGO trial “is going to allow us to expand it significantly”. “Everyone’s keen to recycle and keen to reduce waste to landfill but we need compliance by residents in that program. We started at 60 per cent non-compliance and now we’re down to 1 per cent non-compliance; it’s a radical improvement,” he said. Tragedy struck in November with the death of local boxing coach Paul Barrett, the promoter and creator of the Fists of Fury series which Mr Van Styn fought in. “Paul was the sole source of inspiration for me achieving my goal of fighting in the ring and cage,” he said. “Training for me was as much about the fight as it was operating as a team with coach during training. Losing him has had a profound impact on viewing my own mortality, moreso than just boxing.” After securing his first win in August, the mayor said he would now be hanging up the gloves, citing Mr Barrett’s death and the need for knee surgery. Looking ahead to the 2023 election, Mr Van Styn confirmed he would be standing for re-election as mayor for a third term. As to who might be standing against him, Mr Van Styn said he had “no idea”. “My first mayor election there was five, second mayor election there was three. I’m sure someone will put their hand up close to the event,” he said. If Mr Van Styn is successfully elected and completes his four-year term, it would make him the second longest-serving mayor of Geraldton behind Phil Cooper, who served 13 years.