348 Long Days Ago

On 6th March, 2014, I walked across Hyde Park, down William Street and up through the Perth Cultural Centre to have my first meeting with John Hammond to discuss the possibility of legal action being taken against the State Government over what, even then, was shaping to be a chaotic and potentially illegal process.

I was armed simply with four A4 pages of briefing notes, the essence of which was to raise three key issues:

a)      The lack of detail in the Minister’s proposals, specifically with regard to the effects of the proposed changes, which does not meet the requirements of Schedule 2.1, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph (2) (a), of the Local Government Act 1995; and

b)      The specification of the proposed changes in ways specifically designed to avoid the poll provisions of Schedule 2.1, paragraph 8, of the Local Government Act 1995 (commonly known as the Dadour Amendment);

c)      Proposals from local governments would not have been forthcoming were it not for the State Government’s threat of forced amalgamations on its own terms, as ultimately reflected in its 12 proposals to the LGAB. All other (non-State government) proposals should be regarded as null and void.

When I first said that the Emperor had no clothes, I was ridiculed in some quarters, including by those who said that it didn't matter whether he had clothes or not, he was going to force his changes through one way or another.

It is now history that the legal action did take place, with the support of a number of local governments, and failed in the Supreme Court - although that ruling is currently under appeal by the City of Subiaco.

More important, though, than whether the legal action succeeded or failed was that it demonstrated that it was possible to stand up to Barnett's bullying. In standing up to Barnett, communities forced him to duck and dive to find ways of circumventing what become very vocal objections - from the Western Suburbs to the Hills - and every time he changed tack one more brick fell out of his wall.

The keystone was removed on Saturday February 7th, when three polls said a resounding (and binding) 'NO' to amalgamations.

Since then, the collapse has been rapid and complete.

All that is left (barely) standing is a much-reduced City of Perth Act. Barnett might get that through the Parliament, but there are arguments still to be had about the effect on the City of Nedlands of removing the private part of the medical precinct (which does pay rates) and the potential effect on all of us by placing Kings Park within the City of Perth and thus exposing it to development pressures.

But if, 348 days ago, I had been offered this as an outcome, I would have grabbed it with both hands.

It is an historic achievement, the outcome of genuine outrage across the community, to which many, many people have contributed.

It is potentially a game-changer in public policy. It goes beyond the power of electronic petitions, which has been growing over the past few years, to demonstrate the power of 'non-organisation' through social media.

There was no overall 'strategy'. There was no central organisation. At times there was no visible coherence. But there was a single over-riding issue that kept them all pulling in the same direction - that communities should have a real say in how they are governed.

But the biggest factor of all, to my mind, in getting sufficient people to vote to meet the 50% threshold for a binding poll was the sheer cynicism of Gazetting Governor's Orders on Christmas Eve - hoping that it would go unnoticed in all the Christmas activities. That made people angry.

348 long days - but worth every last second.