Does Michael Sutherland Understand the Local Government Amendment Bill?

Guardian Express, 19th November 2013.

The Guardian Express item, here, quotes Mt Lawley MLA, Michael Sutherland, as saying: "residents could still influence the final boundaries by submitting individual responses to the LGAB".

Does he not understand that the Local Government Amendment Bill currently before the Legislative Assembly would remove the requirement for the Local Government Advisory Board to seek submissions for at least six weeks?

Is he so naive as to think that the LGAB will process any of the proposals until it knows whether the Bill will become law?

If he really believes that the community should have the right to comment on boundary proposals, he should be asking his fellow MPs to vote against at least that part of the Bill. I know that as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly he would be in a difficult position were he to comment publicly on the Bill, but I hope he is privately lobbying for the removal of this anti-democratic provision.