Out Of The Mouths Of (Not Babes But) Ministers

In Parliament today, Tony Simpson admitted that the Local Government Advisory Board is conducting a single inquiry into the proposals for local government so-called reform. He said that the board was now looking at the bigger picture, not the detail of new boundaries and that "To put the report together... the whole five board members have to sit down as a board and review the whole package".

Just to clarify - the Local Government Advisory Board does not have the ability to combine inquiries into multiple proposals into a single proposal. This ability was included in the Local Government Amendment Bill that is dead in the water in the Legislative Council.

Simpson also gives the game away when he said that the change would have little impact "because most of the boundaries have already been decided".

Minister, it is not the role of the LGAB to decide boundaries; it is the role of the LGAB to recommend either in favour of or against proposals that have been submitted to it. It is the Minister who (God help us!) then decides whether to accept or reject the Board's recommendations.

Yet again, Homer has demonstrated that he does not understand the process for which he is responsible. Little wonder the process is such a shambles - and will, I am confident, be declared so by the courts.