John Newton Carey was born on 11 July 1974 in Perth, Western Australia. His parents were Delys and John William "Jack" Carey. Jack Carey was part of the 2/2nd Commando Squadron and took part in the Battle of Timor in World War II.[1] Jack was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2001 for his service to the welfare of veterans and their families and his assistance to the Timorese people through the 2/2nd Commando Association.[1][2]
Carey attended Bateman Primary School and Corpus Christi College.[3] He went on to Murdoch University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours, majoring in communications. During his time at university, he was the national president of the National Union of Students.[1]
In 2004, Carey joined the Australian Labor Party.[4] He worked as a political advisor in the governments of Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter.[1][4] After the 2008 state election, Carey worked for five years as the director of the Kimberley Conservation Project for the Pew Environment Group, where he successfully campaigned for the creation of the Great Kimberley Marine Park.[1][5] For two years, he also ran an event, party and wedding coordination business called Bailey and Carey.[6]
Carey was elected to the City of Vincent council in 2011.[1][5] In his first term, he initiated a register for same-sex couples to register their relationship with the City of Vincent, in lieu of the federal government allowing same-sex marriage.[7][9] He also criticised the state government's council merger plans, which would have resulted in the City of Vincent being split between the cities of Bayswater, Perth and Stirling.[10] In 2013, he was elected mayor with 87.12% of the vote,[11] succeeding Alannah MacTiernan, who had resigned as she had won the federal seat of Perth.[12]
As Mayor of Vincent, Carey advocated for greater transparency and accountability in local government, writing and releasing a public discussion paper "Raising the Bar", and introduced a series of measures to enhance public reporting at the City of Vincent, including an online gifts register and WA's first contact with developers register.[13][14][15]
During his tenure in 2016 with a new CEO at the helm and council, the City of Vincent was independently rated first among 25 councils, receiving an overall performance score of 82 out of 100, compared to 16th out of 18 councils in 2010. The Catalyse Community Scorecard surveys households across a local government area, and found the City of Vincent ranked highest in 18 out of 40 benchmarks, including place to live, governing organisation, and the city's leadership within the community.[16]
In August 2017, Carey hosted the Perth City Summit, which over 350 residents, business operators and property owners attended. The purpose was to discuss and develop projects and plans to improve Perth. Among the summit's recommendations are for a new university campus to be created in the Perth central business district, for new cycling infrastructure to be constructed and to remove alfresco fees for businesses.[1][5][27]
On 10 November 2021, Carey announced major reforms to local government in Western Australia. The proposed changes include making local government elections have preferential voting like at state and federal elections, as opposed to the currently used method of first-past-the-post voting; making larger local governments have directly elected mayors or presidents, as opposed to them being elected by councillors; a mandatory caretaker period before elections; livestreaming of council meetings online and posting of recordings; the formation of a local government inspector to investigate and fix dysfunctional councils in an attempt to avoid the need for expensive enquiries; further define the roles and responsibilities of councillors and local government CEOs; and new rules for the number of councillors for each local government.[32][33][34] Legislation for this, the Local Government Amendment Bill 2023, passed the Legislative Assembly on 24 March 2023 and has yet to pass the Legislative Council.[35][36]
As Lands Minister, Carey was responsible for the passage of the Wittenoom Closure Bill, which passed in March 2022. This allowed the government to permanently close the former town of Wittenoom by compulsorily acquiring the remaining private properties and removing all infrastructure from the town. The town had been declared a contaminated site due to asbestos mining, but several people still lived there and visited there.[37][38] In September 2022, the last resident was evicted.[39][40]
In the upcoming Cook ministry, due to be sworn in on 8 June 2023 due to the replacement of Mark McGowan as premier with Roger Cook, Carey will take over from Rita Saffioti as the minister for planning, while relinquishing the role of minister for local government, which will go to cabinet newcomer David Michael.[41][42]
Political views
Carey is affiliated with the United Workers Union and is part of the Labor Left faction.[1][43] He is a strong supporter of small business, and believes in reducing red tape for them.[1]
^ abc"Mr John Newton Carey". Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
