This is the personal blog of Ian Ker, who was Councillor for the South Ward of the Town of Vincent from 1995 to 2009. I have been a resident of this area since 1985. This blog was originally conceived as a way of letting residents of Vincent know what I have been doing and sharing thoughts on important issues. I can now use it to sound off about things that concern me.

If you want to contact me, my e-mail is still ian_ker@hotmail.com or post a comment on this blog.

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

More Cracks - and not just in the Façade

Click to enlarge
The Labor motion opposing forced local government amalgamations, introduced into the Legislative Council last week, has been passed - without a formal vote, as the Government didn't want the embarrassment of a formal defeat in Parliament.

I congratulate those MLCs, National and Liberal as well as Labor, who stood up for democracy and good government to ensure the passage of this motion, introduced by the Hon Ken Travers, MLC, which read:

That this house —
(a) expresses its view that the Local Government Act 1995 never contemplated the use of boundary changes to amalgamate local governments;
(b) believes that the correct approach under the act is to abolish existing local governments and to create new local governments as this ensures that local communities are given a voice as intended by the Dadour provisions of the act;
(c) is of the view that any attempt to force local government amalgamations by using boundary changes to circumvent the intent of the Dadour provisions is an abuse of the act; and
(d) therefore calls on the government to ensure that any proposals for amalgamation of existing local governments involve the abolition of all affected councils and the creation of new councils.

I'm not holding my breath for Barnett and Simpson to see the writing on the wall, though, let alone being able to read and understand it.

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