Independent Kyran O’Donnell says elected government ‘will not ignore him’ if he wins seat of Kalgoorlie

Independent candidate for Kalgoorlie Kyran O’Donnell says the “government of the day” after the State election will not ignore him if he wins back the seat. The former Liberal member for Kalgoorlie is running for the position as an Independent this time around, but says he is confident he will still get his plans for the city across the line no matter which party is elected to government next weekend. His number one priority is “cleaning up the CBD”, followed by shade sails for all playgrounds, a $100 million fund for all Goldfields towns to expand water storage, revisiting plans for an Esperance desalination plant, and a water pipeline from Kununurra right down the middle of WA. He said if elected he would fight for those plans and anything else the community wanted to whichever government is elected. “I can easily go to the State Government and the police commissioner and say, ‘I stood on this platform, this is what the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder voted me for’,” he said. “The government of the day is not going to ignore me. “Even when I was the member before for Liberal, we weren’t in government but I got things done here through the government. “(The government) will get on board because they can, and then they will say ‘we did this, we did that’ because their voice is louder. But I don’t care who gets praised for it, as long as we eradicate (problems). “Because at the moment, that’s not happening, and it hasn’t happened for years.” Mr O’Donnell said people were leaving Kalgoorlie-Boulder not for better schooling options as was common for many years, but because of antisocial behaviour. He said the CBD was in need of a “clean up” due to people spitting, swearing and fighting regularly. He proposed getting police officers to conduct foot patrols of the CBD between 8am and 4pm, as well as alcohol and drug counselling services to hand out information. “The major parties and other people, they just sit back and say, ‘I will get more police’, but that might solve the problem for a week or so,” he said. “There’s a way to do the foot patrols that won’t cost any extra money and that’s using police who are in the offices doing day shift . . . each doing four hours a week on the patrol, and they can still do the rest of their work every other time. “I also want to meet with the Council of Tribal Elders. I want them to help, people who have got family members on the street here to join the patrol. “They could be working with Eyes on The Street or with the rangers from the council.”