❓ A member of parliament questions the Minister for Local Government about the refusal to release documents detailing the costs of local government amalgamation plans. The Minister cites cabinet confidentiality and ongoing cost assessment as reasons for non-disclosure.
AnsweredQoN 259Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DEPARTMENT
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITIES — AMALGAMATIONS — FREEDOM
OF INFORMATION REQUEST
259. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the
Minister for Local Government:
I refer to a freedom of information application lodged with
the Department of Local Government and Communities that reveals the existence
of six documents, all refused release, detailing costs associated with the
implementation of the government's model for local government
amalgamations.
(1) Why is the
minister hiding the cost of the amalgamation plans from Western Australian
taxpayers and local government authorities?
(2) Why were these costs not
revealed during the public submission process to encourage informed debate?
(3) Will he
immediately release his department's analysis of costs associated with
the government's amalgamation model; and, if not, why not?
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITIES — AMALGAMATIONS — FREEDOM
OF INFORMATION REQUEST
259. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the
Minister for Local Government:
I refer to a freedom of information application lodged with
the Department of Local Government and Communities that reveals the existence
of six documents, all refused release, detailing costs associated with the
implementation of the government's model for local government
amalgamations.
(1) Why is the
minister hiding the cost of the amalgamation plans from Western Australian
taxpayers and local government authorities?
(2) Why were these costs not
revealed during the public submission process to encourage informed debate?
(3) Will he
immediately release his department's analysis of costs associated with
the government's amalgamation model; and, if not, why not?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the
member for Mandurah for the question.
(1)–(3) With
regard to the freedom of information request, each of those six documents is
under cabinet confidentiality, so I cannot release them, because they have gone
through the cabinet process. The interesting thing about the cost is that this
is one of those areas that needs a fair bit of work done on it. The member may
remember that in January, we launched the online toolkit as part of this
process to work out the full costing of what needs to be spent. The other work
we have done is investigate the Queensland model to look into how much money
was spent on its reform process. We have also looked at the bottom line. If I
can use the analogy of the City of Stirling, it may, depending on the process,
lose or gain some of its current boundary. If it loses some of its current
boundary, the cost will obviously be very minimal, if anything at all, compared
with the cost of trying to put seven councils into one, which will cost more.
We are still working through that process. We are also going through the budget
process to make sure that we can put enough resources into the budget so that
the costings are sorted out and we can do this. We have said from day one that
the government will be up-front about the costs of this reform process. The
costings are still being worked out.
I can point the member also to some
other data that is available to us from the reform in Geraldton and Northam and
other areas, and also a report that was done in 2007, 2008, 2009 or 2010, I
think it was, for Subiaco and Nedlands, which identified the savings, because
to work out the costings, we also need to look at the savings. As the local
governments work through that process in their toolkit and look at their
management plans and workforce plans to see what the costs are, that is how we
will work out the cost of the amalgamation process, and we will also be able to
look at the savings to work out how much money we will have to put into this
process.
With regard to the freedom of information
request, unfortunately that is out of my hands, because those are cabinet
documents.
member for Mandurah for the question.
(1)–(3) With
regard to the freedom of information request, each of those six documents is
under cabinet confidentiality, so I cannot release them, because they have gone
through the cabinet process. The interesting thing about the cost is that this
is one of those areas that needs a fair bit of work done on it. The member may
remember that in January, we launched the online toolkit as part of this
process to work out the full costing of what needs to be spent. The other work
we have done is investigate the Queensland model to look into how much money
was spent on its reform process. We have also looked at the bottom line. If I
can use the analogy of the City of Stirling, it may, depending on the process,
lose or gain some of its current boundary. If it loses some of its current
boundary, the cost will obviously be very minimal, if anything at all, compared
with the cost of trying to put seven councils into one, which will cost more.
We are still working through that process. We are also going through the budget
process to make sure that we can put enough resources into the budget so that
the costings are sorted out and we can do this. We have said from day one that
the government will be up-front about the costs of this reform process. The
costings are still being worked out.
I can point the member also to some
other data that is available to us from the reform in Geraldton and Northam and
other areas, and also a report that was done in 2007, 2008, 2009 or 2010, I
think it was, for Subiaco and Nedlands, which identified the savings, because
to work out the costings, we also need to look at the savings. As the local
governments work through that process in their toolkit and look at their
management plans and workforce plans to see what the costs are, that is how we
will work out the cost of the amalgamation process, and we will also be able to
look at the savings to work out how much money we will have to put into this
process.
With regard to the freedom of information
request, unfortunately that is out of my hands, because those are cabinet
documents.
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