❓ Hon Norman Moore asks the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development to clarify comments made about Port Hedland council. The Minister responds by emphasizing the importance of councils adhering to statutory obligations and responsible financial management, particularly regarding Port Hedland's ambitious capital works program and potential deficit.
AnsweredQoN 489Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
The minister is reported as having said on a radio station in Port Hedland - We’re in the middle of some high politics and the State Government is prepared to respond to those politics positively. . . . But it won’t be through supporting any irresponsible Council behaviour. What did the minister mean by those statements? Hon TOM STEPHENS
AnswerView source ↗
The plain meaning of those words is there for everyone to see. It is important to recognise that the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development has statutory obligations that include making sure that all local councils - 144 of them - abide by their statutory obligations for their budgetary processes. A local council cannot embark upon a strategy of sending its council broke and not have the local government minister intervene. Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon TOM STEPHENS replied: The plain meaning of those words is there for everyone to see. It is important to recognise that the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development has statutory obligations that include making sure that all local councils - 144 of them - abide by their statutory obligations for their budgetary processes. A local council cannot embark upon a strategy of sending its council broke and not have the local government minister intervene. Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The plain meaning of those words is there for everyone to see. It is important to recognise that the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development has statutory obligations that include making sure that all local councils - 144 of them - abide by their statutory obligations for their budgetary processes. A local council cannot embark upon a strategy of sending its council broke and not have the local government minister intervene. Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon TOM STEPHENS replied: The plain meaning of those words is there for everyone to see. It is important to recognise that the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development has statutory obligations that include making sure that all local councils - 144 of them - abide by their statutory obligations for their budgetary processes. A local council cannot embark upon a strategy of sending its council broke and not have the local government minister intervene. Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The plain meaning of those words is there for everyone to see. It is important to recognise that the Minister for Local Government and Regional Development has statutory obligations that include making sure that all local councils - 144 of them - abide by their statutory obligations for their budgetary processes. A local council cannot embark upon a strategy of sending its council broke and not have the local government minister intervene. Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon Norman Moore interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The PRESIDENT: Order, this is not a debate! Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
Hon TOM STEPHENS: What is required in that process is to make sure that if a council wants to embark upon an expenditure program that is necessary to meet the needs of that community, it has to go through a set statutory process that includes the adoption of a principal activities plan by the council and then the putting in place of a budget that fulfils the statutory obligations of local government. As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
As Minister for Local Government and Regional Development, I have to preside over the Local Government Act for 144 councils in Western Australia; two offshore councils and 142 in the State itself. That means that for 143 of them, things are going pretty well. For the 144th council, in this case the Town of Port Hedland, robust discussion is occurring about whether it can operate within the requirements of the Local Government Act. It has embarked upon a very ambitious program of doubling its capital works expenditure that has produced for it what media reports indicate might be a deficit in the order of $4 million at the end of 2004-05. That is a very significant deficit by anyone’s standard. A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
A lot of the work now being done to assist all the Pilbara councils is in a partnership program that will assist the communities with the overall improvement of the amenity of those towns. However, it requires a positive response and not, in my view, people embarking upon brinkmanship over the issues that could lead to breaches of the Local Government Act. The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
The role of the local government minister is a complex one. I intend to discharge my responsibilities as Minister for Local Government and Regional Development by making sure that good governance is delivered by all councils, including the Town of Port Hedland, which requires an acceptance of its statutory obligations in the adoption of its budget.
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