❓ Dr Buti questions the Minister for Local Government about alleged remarks concerning the amalgamation process, specifically regarding flaws, lack of a business case, and the use of grant money. The Minister denies making the specific statement about the process being flawed.
AnsweredQoN 450Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LOCAL GOVERNMENT — AMALGAMATIONS
450. Dr A.D. BUTI to the Minister for Local Government:
I refer to the minister's
recent meeting on 23 May with representatives of the newly formed Community Action
Alliance. Can the minister confirm that he made the following remarks or
statements to the group: firstly, that the amalgamation process was flawed and
done the wrong way around; secondly, that he embarked on the amalgamation
exercise without a business case; and, thirdly, that the $5 million grant from
the state government for the first year of the amalgamation process will be
spent on consultants to estimate the cost of amalgamation and thus the state
government will not contribute to the local government cost of amalgamation?
450. Dr A.D. BUTI to the Minister for Local Government:
I refer to the minister's
recent meeting on 23 May with representatives of the newly formed Community Action
Alliance. Can the minister confirm that he made the following remarks or
statements to the group: firstly, that the amalgamation process was flawed and
done the wrong way around; secondly, that he embarked on the amalgamation
exercise without a business case; and, thirdly, that the $5 million grant from
the state government for the first year of the amalgamation process will be
spent on consultants to estimate the cost of amalgamation and thus the state
government will not contribute to the local government cost of amalgamation?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question
about the meeting we had. The group that came to see me represented a number of
action groups from around the metropolitan area. For one and a half hours we
discussed a number of issues and I will touch on a couple of them. We discussed
the $5 million available in this year's budget, so it was a
conversation piece about determining the cost of the local government
amalgamations and how it will be paid for. I do not know how many local
governments there will be because I do not know what the final boundaries will
be, but this year an amount of $5 million is available for local government.
Once we know the final boundaries, local governments can do some work; they can get in consultants or do other
preliminary works to find out those costs. Money will be given to the local
governments to do that costing and come back to me. We have allocated that in
this year's budget as part of the reform process. We do not know
whether they will go to consultants in general; it will be up to each local
government. They have to put a case to explain what the cost of the reform will
be. As we all know, another $15 million in cash and $45 million in low-interest
loans is also allocated to the process.
We discussed the local government
reform process. To make a case available for the community to discuss and look
at the benefits is a job of the Local Government Advisory Board. I tried to
explain to them I am using the 1995 act, which is quite a cumbersome piece of
legislation to work through, for the reform process. The irony is that it
provides quite clearly what I have to present to the Local Government Advisory
Board for an amalgamation or boundary adjustment. I have provided the required
facts and figures to the advisory board for it to make its case. It is part of
the advisory board's job to look at the five parameters. W e are working on that work with the
advisory board —
Mr
M. McGowan : Did you say it was flawed and done the wrong way around?
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No. The conversation was about how it could possibly work. I
have been in this job for 15 months and I admit that the reform process has
been challenging.
Dr
A.D. Buti : I raise a matter of relevance. My question was quite clear. Can
the minister confirm that he made the statement that the amalgamation process
was flawed and done the wrong way around?
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No, I can say that the conversation was on the actual reform
process.
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Armadale! Let the minister answer.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : The conversation was around which way to approach the reform
process. Under the legislation available to me, this is the way I would go
through it. If I had my time again, maybe I could have gone a different way
about it. If we were to go
through the process to come up with the financial modelling, we would be
arguing about the boundary adjustment—where that boundary lies and
where the amalgamation is. Whatever way we start this process, there has to be
an end product and final package.
about the meeting we had. The group that came to see me represented a number of
action groups from around the metropolitan area. For one and a half hours we
discussed a number of issues and I will touch on a couple of them. We discussed
the $5 million available in this year's budget, so it was a
conversation piece about determining the cost of the local government
amalgamations and how it will be paid for. I do not know how many local
governments there will be because I do not know what the final boundaries will
be, but this year an amount of $5 million is available for local government.
Once we know the final boundaries, local governments can do some work; they can get in consultants or do other
preliminary works to find out those costs. Money will be given to the local
governments to do that costing and come back to me. We have allocated that in
this year's budget as part of the reform process. We do not know
whether they will go to consultants in general; it will be up to each local
government. They have to put a case to explain what the cost of the reform will
be. As we all know, another $15 million in cash and $45 million in low-interest
loans is also allocated to the process.
We discussed the local government
reform process. To make a case available for the community to discuss and look
at the benefits is a job of the Local Government Advisory Board. I tried to
explain to them I am using the 1995 act, which is quite a cumbersome piece of
legislation to work through, for the reform process. The irony is that it
provides quite clearly what I have to present to the Local Government Advisory
Board for an amalgamation or boundary adjustment. I have provided the required
facts and figures to the advisory board for it to make its case. It is part of
the advisory board's job to look at the five parameters. W e are working on that work with the
advisory board —
Mr
M. McGowan : Did you say it was flawed and done the wrong way around?
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No. The conversation was about how it could possibly work. I
have been in this job for 15 months and I admit that the reform process has
been challenging.
Dr
A.D. Buti : I raise a matter of relevance. My question was quite clear. Can
the minister confirm that he made the statement that the amalgamation process
was flawed and done the wrong way around?
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No, I can say that the conversation was on the actual reform
process.
Dr
A.D. Buti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Armadale! Let the minister answer.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : The conversation was around which way to approach the reform
process. Under the legislation available to me, this is the way I would go
through it. If I had my time again, maybe I could have gone a different way
about it. If we were to go
through the process to come up with the financial modelling, we would be
arguing about the boundary adjustment—where that boundary lies and
where the amalgamation is. Whatever way we start this process, there has to be
an end product and final package.
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.