❓ Halligan asks the Minister for Local Government to instigate an inquiry into a reported incident at a Vincent council meeting. Stephens responds that no formal complaint has been received but he will refer the matter to his department for review.
AnsweredQoN 245Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the article headed “Vincent in uproar” in the 12-19 October edition of Voice News , which states - A full-scale screaming match erupted late into last Tuesday’s Vincent council meeting - It continues - Observers in the public gallery and at the media table sat gob-smacked through the drama, . . . later the chamber erupted again and the mayor suspended the meeting - The article further states - The Voice understands that at the heart of the barney was handling of a review of the way the town runs its operations. When will the minister instigate an inquiry into this matter? Hon TOM STEPHENS
AnswerView source ↗
From time to time in local government across the State, regrettable incidents occur which, when reported, do not do a service to the third tier of government. I note that we in this Chamber are no strangers to robust debate either. However, it is my responsibility, as local government minister, to ensure that complaints lodged about any particular circumstances are investigated and to make sure that there is no prospect that the good government of any municipality is jeopardised in any way by events about which people have complained. As far as I know, neither my office nor the department has received a complaint about the incident outlined by the member. It was sufficient for the member to raise this matter as a question in this House. I will now refer the question to my department and obtain its response to this issue, and I will respond to the member accordingly. The member has a number of colleagues who draw my attention to incidents which occur in local authorities across this State from time to time and which do no credit to local government. Fortunately, those events are the absolute minority. By and large, the community of Western Australia is extraordinarily well served from one end of the State to the other by the generous dedication of large numbers of local councillors and local governments. By and large, I consider them to be functioning extremely well. It is regrettable that incidents occur and events take place from time to time that do not give due credit to the hard effort that local councillors put in to maintain, overall, a more than satisfactory level of service to the community through that tier of government.
Hon TOM STEPHENS replied: From time to time in local government across the State, regrettable incidents occur which, when reported, do not do a service to the third tier of government. I note that we in this Chamber are no strangers to robust debate either. However, it is my responsibility, as local government minister, to ensure that complaints lodged about any particular circumstances are investigated and to make sure that there is no prospect that the good government of any municipality is jeopardised in any way by events about which people have complained. As far as I know, neither my office nor the department has received a complaint about the incident outlined by the member. It was sufficient for the member to raise this matter as a question in this House. I will now refer the question to my department and obtain its response to this issue, and I will respond to the member accordingly. The member has a number of colleagues who draw my attention to incidents which occur in local authorities across this State from time to time and which do no credit to local government. Fortunately, those events are the absolute minority. By and large, the community of Western Australia is extraordinarily well served from one end of the State to the other by the generous dedication of large numbers of local councillors and local governments. By and large, I consider them to be functioning extremely well. It is regrettable that incidents occur and events take place from time to time that do not give due credit to the hard effort that local councillors put in to maintain, overall, a more than satisfactory level of service to the community through that tier of government.
From time to time in local government across the State, regrettable incidents occur which, when reported, do not do a service to the third tier of government. I note that we in this Chamber are no strangers to robust debate either. However, it is my responsibility, as local government minister, to ensure that complaints lodged about any particular circumstances are investigated and to make sure that there is no prospect that the good government of any municipality is jeopardised in any way by events about which people have complained. As far as I know, neither my office nor the department has received a complaint about the incident outlined by the member. It was sufficient for the member to raise this matter as a question in this House. I will now refer the question to my department and obtain its response to this issue, and I will respond to the member accordingly. The member has a number of colleagues who draw my attention to incidents which occur in local authorities across this State from time to time and which do no credit to local government. Fortunately, those events are the absolute minority. By and large, the community of Western Australia is extraordinarily well served from one end of the State to the other by the generous dedication of large numbers of local councillors and local governments. By and large, I consider them to be functioning extremely well. It is regrettable that incidents occur and events take place from time to time that do not give due credit to the hard effort that local councillors put in to maintain, overall, a more than satisfactory level of service to the community through that tier of government.
Hon TOM STEPHENS replied: From time to time in local government across the State, regrettable incidents occur which, when reported, do not do a service to the third tier of government. I note that we in this Chamber are no strangers to robust debate either. However, it is my responsibility, as local government minister, to ensure that complaints lodged about any particular circumstances are investigated and to make sure that there is no prospect that the good government of any municipality is jeopardised in any way by events about which people have complained. As far as I know, neither my office nor the department has received a complaint about the incident outlined by the member. It was sufficient for the member to raise this matter as a question in this House. I will now refer the question to my department and obtain its response to this issue, and I will respond to the member accordingly. The member has a number of colleagues who draw my attention to incidents which occur in local authorities across this State from time to time and which do no credit to local government. Fortunately, those events are the absolute minority. By and large, the community of Western Australia is extraordinarily well served from one end of the State to the other by the generous dedication of large numbers of local councillors and local governments. By and large, I consider them to be functioning extremely well. It is regrettable that incidents occur and events take place from time to time that do not give due credit to the hard effort that local councillors put in to maintain, overall, a more than satisfactory level of service to the community through that tier of government.
From time to time in local government across the State, regrettable incidents occur which, when reported, do not do a service to the third tier of government. I note that we in this Chamber are no strangers to robust debate either. However, it is my responsibility, as local government minister, to ensure that complaints lodged about any particular circumstances are investigated and to make sure that there is no prospect that the good government of any municipality is jeopardised in any way by events about which people have complained. As far as I know, neither my office nor the department has received a complaint about the incident outlined by the member. It was sufficient for the member to raise this matter as a question in this House. I will now refer the question to my department and obtain its response to this issue, and I will respond to the member accordingly. The member has a number of colleagues who draw my attention to incidents which occur in local authorities across this State from time to time and which do no credit to local government. Fortunately, those events are the absolute minority. By and large, the community of Western Australia is extraordinarily well served from one end of the State to the other by the generous dedication of large numbers of local councillors and local governments. By and large, I consider them to be functioning extremely well. It is regrettable that incidents occur and events take place from time to time that do not give due credit to the hard effort that local councillors put in to maintain, overall, a more than satisfactory level of service to the community through that tier of government.
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