❓ Mr. Templeman questions the Minister for Local Government regarding turmoil at the City of Perth and the government's inaction. The Minister responds, acknowledging the issues but emphasizing the ongoing investigation and the need for councillors to improve their conduct.
AnsweredQoN 321Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CITY OF PERTH — MINISTER FOR LOCAL
GOVERNMENT'S COMMENTS
321. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the Minister
for Local Government:
My question is about the big issue
of the day! I refer to the minister's comments in The West Australian today, in which he described the recent turmoil
at the City of Perth as being a disgrace.
(1) For how long will the minister
allow this disgrace to continue before he will take action?
(2) As the
minister's government has intervened in other dysfunctional councils,
why is the government not stepping in regarding this one?
GOVERNMENT'S COMMENTS
321. Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN to the Minister
for Local Government:
My question is about the big issue
of the day! I refer to the minister's comments in The West Australian today, in which he described the recent turmoil
at the City of Perth as being a disgrace.
(1) For how long will the minister
allow this disgrace to continue before he will take action?
(2) As the
minister's government has intervened in other dysfunctional councils,
why is the government not stepping in regarding this one?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Mandurah for his question about the City of Perth. I think
my comments yesterday were with regard to a council meeting that had been held
the night before at which a bitter dispute and an argument was debated in the
chamber —
Mr
D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, just hold it for a minute.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : — and a motion was moved that had no impact on the
member at all. To sum it up, in the Premier's words, it was a storm in
a teacup.
The City of Perth at the moment is going through the
investigation, which we are very much well aware of. I have full confidence in
the administration of the organisation delivering the services. But what is
more important is I think yesterday my words were along the line of saying I am
putting them on notice —
Mr
D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : I do take it on board. It is not a good look for the City of Perth.
I do agree with that.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana!
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : That is why my comments were made yesterday around the fact
that, first, the councillors need to start acting like adults and come back to
the table, not air their dirty laundry in public at the moment and get on with
the job that they were elected to do. They are elected to do a job to make sure
that they provide good governance to the people and the ratepayers of the City of
Perth. I have put them on notice. I am watching over them right now. We need to
get to the bottom of it —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I am getting the wall of noise.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : The most important thing to realise is that under the Local
Government Act—the opposition member would know this process—there
is a process to go through to dismiss a council. First, we kick off the actual
inquiry, we serve it a 28-day notice, state the reasons why and then we go for
a full dismissal from there. We have been through this process a number of
times in my time as minister. The interesting part is that a couple of things
are happening at the same time. I put them on notice yesterday. I will be
watching them more closely now to make sure that we can get the good
governance. But the reality, the most important thing, is that the ratepayers
of the City of Perth are getting service for their money. The administration is
running. I think the councillors need to wake up and make sure that they are
doing the right thing by their ratepayers.
thank the member for Mandurah for his question about the City of Perth. I think
my comments yesterday were with regard to a council meeting that had been held
the night before at which a bitter dispute and an argument was debated in the
chamber —
Mr
D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, just hold it for a minute.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : — and a motion was moved that had no impact on the
member at all. To sum it up, in the Premier's words, it was a storm in
a teacup.
The City of Perth at the moment is going through the
investigation, which we are very much well aware of. I have full confidence in
the administration of the organisation delivering the services. But what is
more important is I think yesterday my words were along the line of saying I am
putting them on notice —
Mr
D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : I do take it on board. It is not a good look for the City of Perth.
I do agree with that.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana!
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : That is why my comments were made yesterday around the fact
that, first, the councillors need to start acting like adults and come back to
the table, not air their dirty laundry in public at the moment and get on with
the job that they were elected to do. They are elected to do a job to make sure
that they provide good governance to the people and the ratepayers of the City of
Perth. I have put them on notice. I am watching over them right now. We need to
get to the bottom of it —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : I am getting the wall of noise.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : The most important thing to realise is that under the Local
Government Act—the opposition member would know this process—there
is a process to go through to dismiss a council. First, we kick off the actual
inquiry, we serve it a 28-day notice, state the reasons why and then we go for
a full dismissal from there. We have been through this process a number of
times in my time as minister. The interesting part is that a couple of things
are happening at the same time. I put them on notice yesterday. I will be
watching them more closely now to make sure that we can get the good
governance. But the reality, the most important thing, is that the ratepayers
of the City of Perth are getting service for their money. The administration is
running. I think the councillors need to wake up and make sure that they are
doing the right thing by their ratepayers.
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.