North West Festival early funding request denied

A request for the early release of $500,000 funding for the North West Festival’s 2016 event has been denied by Hedland councillors.

The request from Sunset Events managing director David Chitty at October’s ordinary council meeting, called on the Town of Port Hedland to release the $500,000 early to allow for a longer period of organisation ahead of the popular festival.

He said the event had grown significantly and more lead time was needed to maintain it as a multi-day festival.

In 2011 the festivities spanned just one day, but it became a two-day music festival in 2015. Mr Chitty said the event’s growth had come without additional investment from the Town and more planning time was required to increase sponsorship.

However, in his first full meeting as deputy mayor Camilo Blanco led opposition to the plan.

He said it would be irresponsible for councillors to approve funding for next year’s event before the audited financial reports from this year were released.

Mayor Kelly Howlett disagreed, saying the festival brought more than $1 million into the local economy last financial year and had a proven track record of accurate accounts. [|]

She named a number of Hedland retail outlets and cafes which had reported higher takings during the festival and said the delay in granting funds would damage sponsors’ confidence.

After much debate Crs Blanco, Richard Whitwell, Louise Newbery, Jan Gillingham and Lorraine Butson went against the recommendation of Town staff and delayed granting the funding.

Mr Chitty said he understood councillors’ concerns but was surprised they didn’t show more of a leap of faith.

“After the first three years %we have never had a discrepancy with our accounts,” he said. “We feel it would be appropriate to sign off on the funding subject to the results of the audit — we thought we had already addressed this in our new six-year contract with the Town.”

Mr Chitty said finalised audited accounts had not been released in the previous three years until the January after the August event.

He said by allowing councillors to endorse funding early, on the condition the audited statements were accurate, it meant Sunset Events could get on with planning the event while providing protection for ratepayers.

He added more time would allow event organisers to consolidate the festival, ensuring it became sustainable in the long run and increased the involvement of local businesses and community groups.

“The community are the winners here and there is lots of evidence to support that,” Mr Chitty said. “The mayor read out many letters from businesses who had an increase in trade from this event. As the owner of the event… any wavering of support is not a positive signal to other stakeholders in the region.

“We need to find a solution… I’m sure common sense will prevail.”

Cr Howlett said she looked forward to revisiting the issue at the next council meeting to provide certainty for the community and corporate partners. “I could not be prouder of what the festival has delivered for our community,” she said.

“In 2015 an estimated 32 percent of attendees were from outside of the Pilbara and we hosted 26 community engagement activities.”

She said she supported a proposal to introduce new locations and change festival times to help spread the tourism dollar further.