It's Time

At long last, the Local Government Advisory Board has issued the call for submissions on proposals for local government boundary changes. Whatever one thinks of the process to-date, at least the LGAB is doing the right thing in 
(a) calling for submissions rather than wait for the Bill that would remove that requirement to be passed by the Parliament (by no means guaranteed) and 
(b) doing so for all proposals, not just those made by the WA Government.

I don't envy the LGAB its task in assessing these proposals as there are so many conflicts between them.

But now is the time for all of us affected to let the LGAB know how we feel. The Board is required to consider all submissions and to have regard to:
- community of interest
- physical and topographical features
- demographic trends
- economic factors
- the history of the area
- transport and communications
- matters affecting the viability of local governments
- the effective delivery of local government services.

There is an information paper available from the Department of Local Government's website (http://dlg.wa.gov.au/Content/LG/AdvisoryBoard/CurrentInquiries/Downloads/LGAB_InformationPaper.pdf) but it does little more than outline the matters the Board must have regard to. 

There are FIVE proposals that affect the City of Vincent. These are:

- Proposal 16: The City of Vincent proposal for all of Vincent to join City of Perth

- Proposal 14: The City of Perth proposal for Perth to take over the southern part of Vincent (including Leederville centre and key assets)

- Proposal 01/2013: The State Government proposal for most of Vincent to join the City of Perth (but not the riverside Banks Precinct area)

- Proposal 6: The City of Bayswater proposal that would take over the riverside area of Banks Precinct

- Proposal 03/2013:The State Government proposal for Bayswater/Bassendean, which would also see the riverside area of Banks Precinct removed from Vincent.

You can find details of these proposals by scrolling down to the bottom of the web page (http://dlg.wa.gov.au/Content/LG/AdvisoryBoard/CurrentInquiries/MetroInquiries.aspx) and selecting 'Vincent, City of' from the drop-down menu.

I encourage all those who can to make submissions on all five proposals. You don't have to comment on the whole proposal, but it is important to have as many submissions as we can on those aspects that affect Vincent.

If you want Vincent to remain as an independent local government, you should say so clearly in your submissions - if you do not, you will simply be recorded as objecting to the current proposals, but there is no specific proposal for you to support.

To make a submission you can:

- complete the form attached to the information paper - this is a very basic form, so you would almost certainly need to add attachments

- write to the Local Government Advisory Board,c/- GPO Box R1250, Perth WA 6844

- email: advisory.board@dlgc.wa.gov.au

- fax: (08) 6552 1555

The submission period closes at 4pm on 13th March.

Threat to Vincent's Heritage

The City of Vincent doesn't allow demolitions unless there is a development approval for the property.

The City of Perth does allow demolitions with no development approval - and does so simply for the convenience of the property owner.

City of Perth has approved demolition of the Michelides Building on Roe Street, simply so that the owner can use the site as a storage and car parking site for renovation of an adjoining property - with no guarantee of acceptable redevelopment afterwards. Indeed, the owner will have the City of Perth over the proverbial barrel to subsequently approve any development (good, bad or indifferent) or be faced with a vacant block there for an indefinite period.

Mind you, Cr Rob Butler appears to think that a vacant site is better "in the context of the orderly and proper planning and the wider amenity of the area" than retaining at least the key elements of the existing building.

B*****ks, Rob.

Yet another reason for opposing the Barnett/Simpson proposed amalgamation of (most of) Vincent and the City of Perth.

What Did We Learn in 2013?

It's to be hoped that collectively we did learn something from 2013 or we shall fall into the trap enunciated by George Santayana: those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The overwhelming lesson from 2013 in WA is that our senior state politicians either can't be trusted or are incompetent.

We had Colin Barnett making all sorts of promises in the election campaign and then stating unashamedly that promises didn't matter because people didn't read the detail.

Specifically, he stated before the election that there would be no forced local government amalgamations under a Liberal government - then just a few months later he announced proposals aimed at exactly that. As part of that, he said he was going to remove the Dadour amendment to the Local Government Act, which allowed electors to call for a binding poll on amalgamation proposals - fortunately, he couldn't even get that through his own party room.

Then he introduced a Bill into the Parliament that would have removed the requirement for the Local Government Advisory Board to seek public submissions for at least six weeks on amalgamation proposals. This Bill hasn't yet passed the Upper House and the LGAB has stated that it will seek submissions on all proposals in late January.

And where was the Labor Party in all this? Covertly supporting Colin Barnett, that's where. There has been a deafening silence from David Templeman and other Labor figures on the whole farago, although in the debate on the Local Government Amendment Bill he did say that:
"…there has been an abuse of trust. There has been an abuse across the sector. The government told things to certain sections of the sector, changed its mind, rethought things and backflipped, which has undermined trust. That is where the government has fallen down most spectacularly. The government has failed to keep the trust of the very local governments it needs assistance from in this reform process, many of which have been willing participants, including South Perth, Victoria Park and Cockburn. They were willing participants in the reform process and recognised the need for reform. The government failed to keep their trust because it changes its mind constantly. The Local Government Amendment Bill 2013 is an example of that. That trust has been abused and therefore those local governments are very uncertain about where this whole process will lead and the future of their council, their ratepayers and their council employees."

Outside of this, though, the ALP appears to have been conspicuously absent from the debate and it has been up to the community and a few local governments to seek to keep Colin Barnett (Col Pot) and Tony (Homer) Simpson accountable, if not honest.