Lest We Forget. WA Parallels in NSW?

Just in case there might be some truth in Col's hoping that voters have short memories, along comes NSW Premier Mike Baird's resignation, at least partly in response to a massive decline in popularity resulting from forced local government amalgamations.

Almost exactly two years ago, WA Premier Colin Barnett finally 'ran up the white flag' in response to widespread opposition to his proposed forced local council mergers.

The immediate cause in NSW might be more specific than those causing Col Pot's retreat in WA in 2015, but the result could be the same - victory for community and commonsense.

There is still much water to flow under this particular bridge, but even such speculation is heartening.

I urge the people of WA not to forget Barnett's perfidy in trying to force council amalgamations despite having ruled them out in the previous election. March 11, 2017, is our opportunity to make him and his government pay for lying to us and wasting so much of our time, effort, money and emotional energy in making him see reason.

http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2017/01/deliverance-will-new-nsw-premier-smash-council-mergers-de-merge-others/?platform=hootsuite

Voters Don't Like Broken Promises

I've written a number of times about the way in which the New South Wales government is repeating the mistakes of the WA government in trying to force amalgamations, but now there's a lesson that the WA government should heed from NSW.

http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2015/12/council-mergers-blamed-for-13-by-election-backlash-in-nsw-coalition-heartland/

Lies and Fallacies - In NSW This Time

I often don't agree with the reported views of NSW radio presenter Alan Jones, but on local government forced amalgamations he is spot on. 

I've just watched the video of his address to the rally in Sydney with a total sense of deja vu (not to mention vindication) as he was saying all the same things we said here in WA in our successful community-based campaign against forced local government amalgamations - including lies ('no forced amalgamations' before the election) and fallacious arguments ('economies of scale'). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soxRTTFPgDM&feature=youtu.be

First Brick Falls Out of the City of Perth Wall

Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, acts to prevent Lord Mayor guilty of misconduct from judging others accused of misconduct. No-brainer, but good to see.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-13/perth-lord-mayor-removed-from-local-government-standards-panel/6851386

As in WA, so in NSW - and so the sorry saga continues

Needs no commentary from me (at least for those in WA who have already been through this - and won, thanks to people power).

A few quotes suffice to show that state government try the same tricks wherever you are.

NSW councils have long argued that rate-pegging, cost-shifting and freezing the indexation of Financial Assistance Grants have constrained their revenues, while simultaneously slugging them with bigger bills for infrastructure and services.

He said that the state government had not provided good evidence mergers would benefit councils financially, apart from promising access to cheaper loans, which would still need to be repaid.

The Minister is being incredibly duplicitous: using a longstanding funding problem as cover for an ideologically-driven move to increase control over local communities and neighbourhoods.

And it isn't even in the interests of the party of Government:

State Premier Mike Baird’s amalgamation drive is causing all sorts of problems for Liberal MPs, who fear a backlash from the branches that elected them and from the general public.

http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2015/10/council-peak-body-gives-nsw-government-minister-a-serve

Transparency and Integrity in City of Perth

Reece Harley either knew something was in the wind - or he should go out and buy a lottery ticket, for his decision to campaign on transparency and integrity is paying-off big-time - particularly now Deputy Lord Mayor, Rob Butler, has been caught in the non-disclosure net (http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/deputy-lord-mayor-of-perth-rob-butler-fails-to-declare-trip-to-malaysia/news-story/c40b9303dff3c2fbe9e9c612fb54e4d8) and the other seven City of Perth councillors (other than Reece Harley) have publicly fallen in behind the Lord Mayor who is under a personal cloud.

And for those who missed it on Thursday, here (at foot of this post) is Daniel Emerson's forensic analysis of the issue and the Lord Mayor's responses to the Crime and Corruption Commission's findings.

http://www.reeceharleyforperth.com.au/media. Click to enlarge.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/29756163/scaffidi-wins-obfuscation-gold

I Agree With Col. Pity Col Doesn't!

Paul Murray thinks that the CCC findings about Lisa Scaffidi are nothing more than a technicality. Premier Colin Barnett says her actions represented "a poor decision exacerbated by the failure to disclose it".

For once, I agree with Col - the CCC findings are of significant concern in terms of the integrity of government (http://ianrker-vincent.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/transparency-anyone.html).

But there's a certain cognitive dissonance in Colin Barnett's response to the CCC findings

But this should be equally so at all levels of government. Indeed, Barnett himself reported said that "if one of his ministers had behaved in this way he would probably look at resignation"

It is not good enough for him to criticise Lisa Scaffidi (local government) and Bronwyn Bishop (federal government) by evoking the 'pub test'. He must apply the same criterion to his own government - and Dean Nalder in particular.

West Australian, 7th October 2015. Click to enlarge.

West Australian, 7th October 2015. Click to enlarge.

Transparency, Anyone?

The City of Vincent Mayor, John Carey, has been subject to criticism for his calls for greater transparency in local government, including the suggestion of publicly-available registers of contacts with developers (see http://ianrker-vincent.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/rocks-in-their-heads.html).

How delightfully ironic (not to mention illuminating), therefore, to see a letter from City of Perth Councillor, James Limnios, criticising Lord Mayoral candidate, Reece Harley, for emphasising the importance of transparency, on the same day as the Crime and Corruption Commission makes serious adverse findings against current Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi.  (https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29723044/lisa-scaffidi-failed-to-declare-gifts-travel-ccc; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-06/perth-mayors-beijing-olympics-trip-with-bhp-unwise-barnett-says/6830684; http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/perth-lord-mayor-lisa-scaffidi-signally-failed-in-duties-corruption-and-crime-commission/story-fnhocxo3-1227557825976?sv=db7d3f447044c1010f885e64ef91dd9e&utm_source=Perth%20Now&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial).

Councillor Limnios apparently considers that 'minor individual councillor expenses' are 'frivolous matters'. He obviously fails to see the intrinsic relationship between honesty and integrity in small matters and in large ones. 

Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, meanwhile, evokes a distinct sense of deja entendu in blaming inexperience and the advice of officials ("I was a brand new Lord Mayor and I was entitled to rely on the guidance offered by people far more experienced than me in terms of governance" - https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29725980/premier-weighs-into-scaffidi-scandal) - conveniently ignoring the fact that she had been a City of Perth Councillor for two terms prior to that.

She also appears to claim the Bronwyn Bishop defence that if found out it is sufficient to apologise. I doubt that any legal system acknowledges that as a valid defence. Bronwyn did, to her credit, repay the money (albeit reluctantly).

Even Premier, Colin Barnett, reportedly has said that "if one of his ministers had behaved in this way he would probably look at resignation"(https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29725980/lord-mayor-digs-in-over-ccc-findings).

West Australian, 6th October, 2015

Col Pot's Potty Economics

Yet again, Colin Barnett shows he doesn't understand local government - not to mention having incredible cheek to lecture others on financial responsibility when he has presided over economic disaster, driven by his 'captain's picks' of infrastructure spending.

If the rates on an individual property go up by $600, as he instances, this is almost certainly due to either (a) the Valuer General revaluing properties (as is required every few years) and increasing the value of some by more than others or (b) the property being revalued as a result of improvements, additions or alterations.

In the former case, even if Council rate revenue were to remain the same, some properties would pay more and others less.

Looked at another way, the highest rate increase for 2015/16 is 8% (Victoria Park). For this to equate to $600, the previous rates payable must have been $7,500 - which implies a 'Gross Rental Value' (the basis on which rates are calculated) of just under $100,000. By comparison, the GRV of my house in Mt Lawley is about one-quarter of that - even the 8% rate increase would be $150 - not $600.

So it looks like the $600, if, indeed, it is a real figure and not just a figment of Col's imagination, is most likely largely the result of revaluation, for one reason or another, or the property is a commercial one not, as many people would have assumed, a residential one (ie the case facing most people). Of course, $600 is important to business as well as to households, but Col shouldn't be misleading us into thinking about how $600 would affect us as individuals.