Mark McGowan Breaks His Silence

I have been critical of Opposition Leader, Mark McGowan, for his silence (at least since the Rally on 8th April) on forced local government amalgamations, but I am pleased to see his commitment to amending the Local Government Act to prevent 'boundary adjustment' ruses from being used to prevent electors having access to the poll provisions of the Act.

My concern is that 'after the next election' will be too late for the metropolitan area, unless the current legal action against the Minister for Local Government and the LGAB is successful.

I challenge Mr McGowan to make this move now, and to do so in a way that ensures it is applicable the current metropolitan proposals being considered by the Local Government Advisory Board. The Minister has said that Governor's Orders to give effect to changes in local governments will not have effect until July 2015, which gives a year to do so.

We know that some Liberal Members of Parliament are unhappy about what is being done to local government in their name. And we know that the Nationals do not trust Simpson when he says that he has "no plans for country reform at this stage" - having previously said, in Bunbury earlier this year, the country areas are next.