❓ Mr. Templeman questions the Minister for Local Government about the cost of forced amalgamations and reimbursement to affected councils. The Minister defends the process as voluntary and highlights benefits like shared services, while acknowledging the rejection of reform.
AnsweredQoN 7Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LOCAL GOVERNMENT — AMALGAMATIONS
7. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the
Minister for Local Government:
Since the Premier will not answer the question, this question
without notice is to the Minister for Local Government. I refer to the minister's
shambolic and disastrous local government forced amalgamations plan.
(1) What was the total cost of this process to the taxpayers
and ratepayers?
(2) Why will the minister not now reimburse affected councils
for their costs as he promised in 2013?
7. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the
Minister for Local Government:
Since the Premier will not answer the question, this question
without notice is to the Minister for Local Government. I refer to the minister's
shambolic and disastrous local government forced amalgamations plan.
(1) What was the total cost of this process to the taxpayers
and ratepayers?
(2) Why will the minister not now reimburse affected councils
for their costs as he promised in 2013?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(2)
I think the interesting part is, as the Premier has pointed out, the process
that we have been through has been a voluntary process, to a certain degree.
Several
members interjected.
Mr A.J. SIMPSON : I
have stood in this place on many occasions to talk about the systemic
sustainability study report on local government. That report was done by the
Western Australian Local Government Association and the sector and it said that
local government reform —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for West Swan, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. SIMPSON :
That report made it quite clear that reform should happen in this sector and
that government should lead the reform. The sector told the government to do
that. That was the seventh report into reform in the metropolitan area when the
systemic sustainability study panel brought it out. We did another one, the
Robson report—to make it eight reports into this sector—on how
we can best deliver services to the ratepayers and help local governments. The
cost of this reform —
Mr J.R. Quigley interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Butler!
Mr A.J. SIMPSON :
The sector has made it very clear that it does not want to go down the path of
reform. I think the Premier's words were spot on when he said that the
sector is incapable of reforming itself .
We went through the process of using the Local Government Act and the Local
Government Advisory Board. In no way did we change the legislation of the Local
Government Act as it is today. We have used the current act—their act—to get to this process.
As the Premier pointed out, we respect those three votes and
we cannot go forward with those reform processes. � I am working through the situation where the
nine boundary adjustments are. As I stated today, I w ill meet with the affected councils to work through that to
rescind the Governor's Orders. I have given out $1.7 million since I have
been the minister, just in my time, to local government to help with the reform
process.
Another thing that is very interesting is that I have met
with six mayors since last Tuesday and every time I meet with them to talk
about this process I ask the obvious question: at the end of this process can
they take anything away? They say, ''Yes, we can. We are doing some sharing. We are sharing planning, rubbish and
ranger services.'' They are talking to each other and looking at each
other's business plans. There are some synergies that we can take away
from this. There are some that
are keen to look at this, but we want to let the dust settle on this and we will come back to it on a case-by-case
basis.
(1)–(2)
I think the interesting part is, as the Premier has pointed out, the process
that we have been through has been a voluntary process, to a certain degree.
Several
members interjected.
Mr A.J. SIMPSON : I
have stood in this place on many occasions to talk about the systemic
sustainability study report on local government. That report was done by the
Western Australian Local Government Association and the sector and it said that
local government reform —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for West Swan, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr A.J. SIMPSON :
That report made it quite clear that reform should happen in this sector and
that government should lead the reform. The sector told the government to do
that. That was the seventh report into reform in the metropolitan area when the
systemic sustainability study panel brought it out. We did another one, the
Robson report—to make it eight reports into this sector—on how
we can best deliver services to the ratepayers and help local governments. The
cost of this reform —
Mr J.R. Quigley interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Butler!
Mr A.J. SIMPSON :
The sector has made it very clear that it does not want to go down the path of
reform. I think the Premier's words were spot on when he said that the
sector is incapable of reforming itself .
We went through the process of using the Local Government Act and the Local
Government Advisory Board. In no way did we change the legislation of the Local
Government Act as it is today. We have used the current act—their act—to get to this process.
As the Premier pointed out, we respect those three votes and
we cannot go forward with those reform processes. � I am working through the situation where the
nine boundary adjustments are. As I stated today, I w ill meet with the affected councils to work through that to
rescind the Governor's Orders. I have given out $1.7 million since I have
been the minister, just in my time, to local government to help with the reform
process.
Another thing that is very interesting is that I have met
with six mayors since last Tuesday and every time I meet with them to talk
about this process I ask the obvious question: at the end of this process can
they take anything away? They say, ''Yes, we can. We are doing some sharing. We are sharing planning, rubbish and
ranger services.'' They are talking to each other and looking at each
other's business plans. There are some synergies that we can take away
from this. There are some that
are keen to look at this, but we want to let the dust settle on this and we will come back to it on a case-by-case
basis.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.