Broome needs mixed economy: McAlpine

Lord Alistair McAlpine’s departing message to Broome’s community last night was clear – whatever you do, don’t let the threat of development divide you.

At the end of a whirlwind six-day visit packed with public engagements, Lord McAlpine addressed a big crowd at the Broome Library, delighting residents with his fond recollection of his years living in the town.

During his visit, he was quizzed frequently on the impacts he saw arising from the development of a gas precinct at James Price Point and his vision for Broome’s future amid industrialisation.

He said he was more concerned at the prospect of eco-hotels opening up through the Kimberley and people arriving to them on buses and in “gas guzzling” 4-wheel drives.

“There’s only one thing I can tell you – these decisions are decisions that have to made to be made by the people of Broome and the Kimberley, not by foreigners from Canada or foreigners from Sydney,” he said.

“You’ve got to have a mixed economy here. You’ve got to have tourism, shops, cafés, restaurants and you’ve got to have some elements of industry.

“It can be all sorts of industry – it doesn’t have to be heavy industry. I came here before anyone had oil or iron ore or anything else and I had faith in this town.

“But I would say this to you – I wouldn’t let it divide you. There’s nothing wrong with fierce argument and fierce reasoning, but when anger goes so that you can’t sit down together and you can’t speak to each other in a civilised way then you end up with a really sick society.

“You must come to your own conclusions … try to find an equitable solution with as little damage as possible.”

Before he was honoured as a Freeman of the Municipality at Pearl Luggers on Monday night, MC George Manning quipped that the Shire of Broome never had before and never has had since a ratepayer owning 88 properties who paid up on time.

Bestowing the honour, Broome Shire President Graeme Campbell said Lord McAlpine had rendered an outstanding service to Broome in developing tourism and promoting the town as a gateway to the Kimberley and the rest of Australia.

He commended him for the restoration of homes of historical significance and contributions to indigenous art and culture as well as promoting Broome as the producer of the world’s best pearls.

On Tuesday night, Lord McAlpine was honoured again at a function at Matso’s Broome Brewery, housed inside a building he saved, while a sumptuous five-course dinner at the Cable Beach Club on Wednesday night ran late into the night as long-term residents shared their recollections of his time in the town.

He also attended a function on the Kimberley Quest luxury vessel and took time out to visit Aboriginal publishing house Magabala Books and the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Park.

Among the more novel ideas Lord McAlpine spruiked to boost tourism during the week were building a railway line from Meekatharra to Broome and onto Darwin and a narrow gauge rail line from Broome up to Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsula.

He agreed the WA tourism industry was in a very bad way but rubbished the idea that the high Australian dollar alone would have a negative impact on tourism.

People who really wanted to visit Broome would do it regardless of cost and it had a fantastic future in tourism as it was a place of great beauty and charm, he said.

“There was a great poet who said that a man who is tired of London is tired of life- he could just as easily have said it about Broome,” he said

“(If you don’t go) it’s because you can’t get there or just don’t want to go there.”

He said the people who had lived in Broome for a long time deserved access to a better life and

agreed money from development could facilitate that:

“You can’t live by tourism alone – and your tourism business is vanishing,” he said.

However, he conceded it would be a difficult decision for people to make.

In the end, Lord McAlpine departed Broome for Perth this morning wearing a bigger smile than the one he arrived with – albeit a tired one.

At her breakfast at the Cable Beach Club this morning, Lady Athena McAlpine admitted to dozing off momentarily at Sun Pictures, the outdoor movie theatre her husband helped to save, after the couple’s outing last night.

Lord McAlpine said it seldom happened that a man had the opportunity to listen to countless words of kindness about himself and pledged that he and his wife would return.

“I can only say thank you to all the people in Broome who helped me restore houses … who gave me the houses to restore and the people who worked in my zoo and helped build it and all the activities I was involved in,” he said.