Canning Community Cares

Last night, I attended a rally at the City of Canning. I'm very bad at estimating numbers, but for what it's worth I'd say there were 600 or so people there - Canning citizens who care about the future of their City.

I was very impressed at the way in which the Commissioner for the City of Canning, Lynton Reynolds, acknowledged his personal view that some local government reform through amalgamation was desirable but said this had to be subservient to the oath he swore when taking office, which was to faithfully serve the people of the district.

Commissioners often get a bad rap - including from me - but credit where credit is due. Thank you, Lynton, from those of us elsewhere, for having the integrity to tell it like it is.

I don't agree with his assessment that there is no chance of a plebiscite - there is much water to run under that particular bridge yet.

But whatever one's views on amalgamations as such, the information provided by the Commissioner and the CEO, Lyn Russell, makes it clear that dismemberment of the City of Canning makes no sense in the Government's own stated terms - as it stands, the City of Canning meets all the stated criteria for size, financial viability and sustainability, so why split it into four with each part going to a different Council?

Lynton used the analogy of a hostile company takeover, as I have done previously on this blog. In this case, he described it as a hostile takeover by a consortium of four other local governments. In the corporate world, the proponents of the takeover would have to provide clear information about the effects of the takeover - but there has been no such information in this case. It would then be for the Board of the target company to recommend whether shareholders accept or reject the bid. The Commissioner's judgement was clearly stated: that the takeover bid be rejected.

Perhaps the most telling arguments came from the people of Canning themselves. Canning has developed a very hands-on approach to community services, especially aged care and disability services - very different from any of the local governments that could takeover parts of the City. People who rely on these services are vulnerable and are rightly fearful of what their future might be if they are (a) split up and (b) absorbed by a local government with a different philosophy.