Far-right local government candidate Stephen Wells has been rejected by the people of Busselton and failed in his bid to win a seat on the local council.
Wells, who published an online article detailing how people with offensive views could get on to local councils without their true political views being known, is a Christian campaigner opposed to Pride events and is a regular protestor at Drag Queen Storytime events across the state.
Local resident and activist with Busselton Pride Alliance (BPA), Courtney Dunkerton, welcomed the result and said it was not surprising Wells garnered some votes despite his views. The final tally had 534 Busselton residents voting in favour of Wells being elected to council.
“While there will be some voters who share his toxic brand of bigotry, I suspect most of his votes came from people who voted before The West Australian exposed him last month, or they missed that news altogether.” Dunkerton said.
Dunkerton said new Busselton Mayor, Phill Cronin, had a positive attitude to the LGBTIQA+ community and like his retiring predecessor, Grant Henley, would be supportive of local Pride events and policies impacting minority groups.
“It also appears likely that the make-up of the new Council, which has eight elected Councillors, will continue to be friendly,” she said.
Incoming Deputy Mayor, Anne Ryan, was the only mayoral candidate in a field of six who did not respond to BPA’s candidate survey on LGBTIQA+ issues.
Courtney Dunkerton said the community would be celebrating Pride Wellbeing next week with a range of activities including a history talk, drag time story hour for adults, soccer and hockey matches, inclusion and diversity training and a sundowner – among other offerings.
“The City has been very helpful in assisting and promoting this, as has Living Proud,” she said.
Wells acknowledged the result on his social media pages saying that the coverage of his views in the mainstream media had helped raise his profile. Wells accused journalists of writing articles about him “for evil” and called on Australia’s mainstream media to “repent and turn to Christ”.
During the campaign Wells voiced his opposition to any city funding going towards events for the LGBTIQA+ community.
OIP Staff
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