An Unlikely Event

As readers of this blog will be well aware, it isn't often that I agree with Perth Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi - indeed, this might well be a first - but whatever one might think of Col Pot's City of Perth Act proposal we should all agree that, if you're going to do it, it should be done properly.

The creation of a new enlarged City of Perth is much more complex than amalgamation (or 'boundary adjustment') of two councils, because of the special nature of a 'capital city'.

'Hurriedly-convened' meetings in January, 'background papers' that are not yet available and an 'advisory group … meet[ing] next month to liaise with relevant stakeholders' hardly sounds like a thorough and well-thought-out consultation process.

Lisa Scaffidi is not the only 'relevant stakeholder' who has organised leave during December/January. While it is to her credit that she has cancelled three weeks' planned leave, there will be many others who are unable to do so - leaving holes in the stakeholder consultation that make it look like a swiss cheese.

Organisations, in particular, will find it virtually impossible to get a view from their members at this time of year.

And if legislation is to be introduced in February, it is clear that the 'consultation' is little more than window-dressing - a sham - as any meaningful consultation would require time to digest and to at least fine-tune the legislation.

On the positive side, the sham and shambolic consultation envisaged should be yet one more reason why Labor, the Nationals and the Greens should maintain their opposition and defeat the Bill in the Upper House.