When Peter Blackmore runs a council meeting, he doesn’t suffer fools lightly. But he isn’t heavy handed with rebuke like some who wield civic power.
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With a steady tone of voice that comes from decades of experience in public life, he rolls through business efficiently in a matter-of-fact manner.
It has been a colourful career so far for the 69-year-old, who first entered the public eye as a councillor in 1980.
Cr Blackmore has been a National party member, a mayor supported by Labor and has represented the state seat of Maitland as a Liberal.
He has worn the mayoral chains in Maitland as an independent since 1999.
Last month marked his 15th consecutive year in the position – a record for the city.
Blackmore has met Prime Ministers, governors and royals, helped shape the city and survived nightmares in the public spotlight that would have finished someone with a lesser will.
Born and raised in New Lambton, Blackmore learnt community values from his parents, who were active members in town life.
Young Peter spent his childhood playing backyard cricket and watching television through the window of the electronics store near his home.
He left school, became an apprentice cook and took a job with Oak, running a test kitchen in Morpeth.
There, Blackmore made cakes and pies that were snap-frozen and sold at the three Oak cafes operating at the time.
He spent six years running a catering business before buying a service station in Rutherford, which he operated for 16 years, until 1990.
His life changed track in 1980 when Blackmore’s friend, a councillor at the time called Jack Peters, encouraged him to run for local government.
Blackmore won a spot on council later that year and became Mayor in 1986, with the support of Labor councilors.
In 1990, Blackmore was looking for a new direction in life. He sold the service station and stepped down from council.
But Premier Nick Greiner personally phoned him to ask him to run for state Parliament as a Liberal, because the incumbent Allan Walsh was not re-contesting the seat.
“Nick said: ‘wake up to yourself, independents are a one-term wonder.’ Then the party moved on me,” Blackmore said.
“When I walked into parliament for the first time, you sit in those seats and you think of the legislation that had been passed in that chamber and the famous people – William Wentworth.”
In 1991, soon after his election to parliament, allegations were levelled that Blackmore had, during his time as the Mayor of Maitland, accepted a boat as a bribe to approve a subdivision in Aberglasslyn.
He was hauled before the Independent Commission Against Corruption and questioned, but was eventually cleared of corrupt conduct.
Investigators accepted that the developer who benefited from the Aberglasslyn decision had sold the boat to Blackmore’s father, who had paid for the vessel with cash.
“My father and mother had lent me money when I was in the service station and subsequently I would be paying back a couple of hundred dollars at a time, despite the protests of my father saying ‘you keep it, you need it’,” he said.
“He held the money – it was cash.”
The ordeal disillusioned him, but Blackmore said he continued in public life to stop his detractors from winning.
“There was certainly a lot of pain there and they pick up anything they can,” he said.
“You’re looking at shadows wherever you went. You think your phone is tapped. Someone said to me: ‘don’t sit near a window, because they could have a sound gun and catch your voice reverberating’.
“It certainly had an effect on me.
“It’s some of the silent suffering you do. It was horrific.”
The allegations came at a turbulent time for Parliament, with Maitland being a marginal Liberal seat targeted by the minority Labor government.
Blackmore, who has owned the infamous boat since his father died, firmly believes the allegations were politically motivated.
The fact that he held a state seat for the Liberal Party was also a key
factor, he said, because Labor councillors had supported him during his time as Mayor in the ‘80s.
“I got a few jibes in Parliament, particularly from the Premier Bob Carr,” he said.
“He was acid with his tongue but that was part of the game. If Maitland fell, then Labor would win.”
He lost the 1999 state election and intended to leave the public eye.
But Maitland City Council was rebuilding after being sacked by the government in 1997, after in-fighting had gotten in the way of the city’s progress.
Some of Maitland’s movers and shakers convinced him to have a second tilt at running for Mayor in 1999 and he was successful.
Blackmore said helping put the council back on track was one of his proudest achievements as Mayor.
“I still believe now that the dismissal of the council brought a lot of embarrassment and shame to our city and from that time all councillors were determined to make good,” he said.
“At that time when the council was being dismissed, there was division among the officers.
“There was a lot of bad blood. Good staff left and went to other areas.”
The new-look council was moving forward, but little could have prepared the Mayor for what awaited him.
His life was turned upside down in 2002 when he was arrested and charged with sexual assault.
After 19-months before the courts, suffering silently amid state-wide media coverage, all charges were thrown out and costs were awarded to Blackmore.
“You knew that you’d done nothing wrong,” he said. “But you would see people and you think they are pointing at you and looking at you.”
Blackmore said that, despite calls for him to stand down, he never considered giving in – not even in his darkest moments.
He responded to the public whispers and innuendo by attending more functions and raising his profile in the community.
“I thought: let’s take people on head-on,” Blackmore said.
“After the event so many people would ring you up and say we knew there was nothing in it.
“Therefore you’re very careful about passing judgment on someone who has been in a similar position.”
Reserving judgment against those who have been accused of wrong-doing is one of the vital life lessons the experience taught him.
“Look at the current ICAC thing [involving former state Liberal MPs accused of corruption],” he said.
“Certainly, they did the wrong thing, but they haven’t been found guilty [in court] of any corrupt offence.
“They both did a good job for their communities and I think sometimes this is lost in the overall picture. But there were some mistakes made.”
Despite the public storms he has weathered, Blackmore said his love of serving the community, mingling with volunteers and helping shape the city’s future have kept him going.
The Levee Project and the Bicentenary celebrations are among council’s achievements that he has overseen as its leader.
“I would go to the opening of an envelope and would love it,” he said.
“It’s really been a wonderful time and an honour.”
Princess Diana and former NSW Governor Dame Marie Bashir are among the most impressive people he has met during his career.
“She [Princess Diana] was just beautiful,” Blackmore said.
“She came up and said: ‘our apologies for keeping you waiting’.”
By the time the next mayoral election rolls around in 2016, Blackmore will have to weigh up whether he has another four years of public life left in him.
He remains tight lipped, but philosophical about the decision.
“I realise that I’m getting to the twilight. I’ve got some decisions to make,” he said.
The Deputy Mayors who have served under him over the years would all make good Mayors, he said, but he would leave his decision for further down the track.
“I love it too much at this stage. Robyn [his wife] keeps saying to me that I’d be bored within six months.
“You still think there are things there that you can still achieve.
“The day I wake up and say I don’t really want to go to that show, that’s the day to give it away.
“Two years is a while. But in the meantime, of course, I’ll continue.”