Withers Gets It - And Fails to Get It

Simon Withers, Mayor of Cambridge, is spot on when he talks of the City of Perth's expansion plans being driven by ego.

West Australian 24th September 2014. Click to enlarge

However, he misses the point entirely when he talks about Vincent.

The community of Vincent does not want to be amalgamated with the City of Perth - 77% of voters in the October 2013 referendum wanted to keep Vincent as it is.

The Council of the City of Vincent doesn't want to be amalgamated with the City of Perth. It's formal position, set out in a Council resolution of 5 November 2013, is to support the community's view but to "strongly continue to campaign for the full inclusion of City of Vincent … if forced mergers are to proceed."

Add to that the oft-expressed view of the City of Perth and its Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, that two-thirds of Vincent has no place in the capital city and we have a recipe for a disfunctional local government with no community of interest.

And the ego doesn't end there. Last Thursday, the City of Perth Council resolved to "work closely with the Premier to establish an alternative path to achieving  City of Perth's key reform objectives", including special legislation for the capital city. In other words, it doesn't like what the Local Government Advisory Board has recommended so it wants to change the rules.

This arrogance is precisely why the City of Perth should not be entrusted with any more power and responsibility than it currently has and, arguably, the Minister for Local Government should call an Inquiry into the City Council.