Q: When Is A Deadline Not A Deadline?

Answer: When you're not the getting the 'enthusiastic' support you were looking for?

The timetable advertised back in July clearly stated that October 4th was the 'deadline for local government submissions to LGAB'. Just a week ago, Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, in a letter to Mayors, reminded local governments that they had been invited to submit proposals to the Local Government Advisory Board by 4 October 2013.

How, then, can the LGAB Chair say 'on the weekend' (5/6 October) that he believed more proposals were still to be lodged with the Board? Does this indicate that he considers local Councils so inefficient that they miss a clearly-stated deadline? Or is it that there is lobbying to encourage Councils that are either supportive or at least not strongly against the Government's proposals to make a late submission to make the balance of support/opposition look 'better'?

Mind you, we've already seen the September timeline for introduction of legislation to amend the Local Government Act (to remove the electors' right of veto - although the official timetable doesn't actually state that this is what the amendment is about) go by the board because the Premier can't get the support of his party room.

Incidentally, I make the number of Councils making submissions to be 19 not 18. Perhaps the LGAB's arithmetic is on a par with the arguments for amalgamations (most of which we have never seen).

There are 18 actual proposals (two joint ones and Cambridge has put in two), but 19 Councils.