Yet Another Demonstration of Ignorance - or Disdain

It is 1st October, 2013 - just three days before local Councils have to submit responses to the Barnett/Simpson 'proposals' for local government amalgamations. The Department of Local Government puts out yet another 'Local Government Reform Update' which says:
Residents can have their say now by forwarding their views to their own local government to help it prepare its submission to the Local Government Advisory Board.

Does the Department (and its Minister) have so little understanding of local government processes that it thinks there is still time for individual input to Council responses?

Any response has to be endorsed at a Council Meeting and meeting dates (and agendas for meetings) have to be prepared and published in advance. Papers for any Council Meeting to be held before 4th October have already been prepared and circulated to elected members and available to the community.

Vincent and Perth approved their submissions on Tuesday 24th September.

Bayswater Council came out publicly in support of its proposed amalgamation long before the community had any real opportunity to influence it.

So don't try to wrap this up in terms of a democratic opportunity at this stage.

The real opportunity will come when the proposals are formally considered by the Local Government Advisory Board - each and every one of us can make an individual submission to the LGAB. If enough of us do so, it will make a nonsense of the published timetable for amalgamations, as the LGAB couldn't possibly properly consider thousands and thousands of submissions in the time that has been allowed.

Warning of Illegality in Councils' Responses to Forced Mergers

Subiaco Post, 27th September. Click to enlarge

Subiaco Post, 27th September. Click to enlarge

Thanks to Freo's View for drawing attention to this.

Councils are not subject to direction by the Premier or the Minister for Local Government and must make decisions based on the best interests of 'the people of the district', according to the Local Government Act.

More Unnecessary Changes

Guardian Express, 24th September, 2013

Hot on the heels of bus routes having to be moved from William Street to Beaufort Street, north of the railway, largely because the City of Perth designed the 2-way William Street in a way that the PTA didn't regard as suitable for buses, we now have bus routes being shifted from Barrack Street to William Street, south of the railway.

Whilst there is some validity in the PTA's argument that having both directions on the one street improves clarity for public transport users, the downside is that most shoppers will have to cross busy William Street for their journey home. Shoppers with young children, in particular, will not appreciate this.

The same thing happened with the shift of William Street buses to Beaufort Street north of the railway, where the main destination for many is the Perth Cultural Centre. Passengers arriving from the north now have to cross Beaufort Street to get to the Cultural Centre - and there is no safe crossing point between the lights at Aberdeen Street and those at Roe Street. On top of that, the lights at Roe Street hardly provide safety for pedestrians given the complexity of traffic movements.

One of these days, if we're really lucky, the City of Perth will actually finish messing around in the core of the CBD and allow pedestrians to move around in safety, rather than having to duck around roadworks that seem to take forever (and now will presumably go on even longer, with the new lot of changes to William Street). It would be nice for businesses, too, to have a safe and predictable context for their customers to get to them.

Patronising Claptrap

The City of Perth agenda report on boundaries states:

The proposed extension to the City’s boundary would result in a significant addition to its infrastructure assets mainly in the areas currently in the City of Vincent. A comprehensive review of the assets has been undertaken and confirmed that the City would be exposed to higher expenditure to bring them up to a standard consistent with that presently in the City estimated to be $7.5 million. The cost would increase by $13 million if the whole of the City of Vincent were to be included in the City’s boundary.

I don't know what standards they mean and which specific assets they refer to, but I don't think there are many in the City of Vincent that need that sort of upgrading. Since the City of Perth's argument is largely that it ought to have, but currently doesn't have, these types of assets to be a genuine capital city, I doubt very much that they even have standards for them.

In any case, why no mention of the pure assets - $50 million of land in Leederville, $10+ million for the Department of Sport and Recreation Building and more millions for the recently-upgraded and extended Loftus Centre.

The City of Perth wants to make it sound that it is doing (some) Vincent residents a favour by taking on assets that it would have to upgrade. Pull the other leg, Perth, it's got bells on!

One More Blow to Vincent Identity

In another blow to the City of Vincent Council's push for incorporation into the City of Perth, the latter makes it very clear in its agenda report that it does not want to be split into wards. So much, then, for retaining the identity of Vincent as a ward of the City of Perth.

It wants "the City of Perth to retain existing electoral arrangements in accordance with the City of Perth Restructuring Act 1993 (undivided with Lord Mayor and eight Councillors)".

It does so in the knowledge that, because election candidates will need to canvas support across the whole local government area rather than just a part, it will be much more costly to stand for election - thus favouring those with deeper pockets or vested interests.

Who's Surprised? Not I.

Click to enlarge

Several times in this blog I have said that the City of Perth has no intention of or interest in agreeing to take the whole of the City of Vincent.

Well, now it's official. Not only does it not want the whole of Vincent (as the City of Vincent Council has been pushing for), it doesn't even want quite as much as the Premier had proposed - it doesn't want the largely residential area between Bulwer and Vincent Streets, but does still want all the areas with what it sees as major assets.

The City of Perth Council Agenda for last Tuesday included the following:
Northern boundary to follow Bulwer/Summers Streets rather than Vincent/Walcott Streets to address concerns about the dissection of the Beaufort Street shopping precinct, and to recognise it as a more definitive delineation of land-use and demographics.

Thus it uses the logical argument about Beaufort Street to divest itself of what it sees as residential encumbrances.

http://www.perth.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/events/Special_Council_Agenda_130926.pdf

In what is a dead giveaway about the nature of its asset grab, it states:
The proposed boundary incorporates a number of the more significant recreational and community facilities that fit within a Capital City context because of the regional nature of these facilities. Such facilities include: 
- Leederville Oval. 
- Loftus Centre. 
- Nib Stadium

I'm not at all sure that Leederville Oval (at least I'm pleased to see they still call it that rather than M******k S*****m) or the Loftus Centre are truly regional - but we certainly know that Beatty Park is regional (ie its users come from a wide area of Perth), so why isn't that included in their grab?

Another Side of Sustainability

Colin Barnett has been big on the rhetoric of financial sustainability as a basis for forcing amalgamations of local governments - totally ignoring the fact that most of our current local governments, including Vincent, are financially sustainable.

However, there are many other aspects of sustainability that are important to us individually and collectively as a community. As a passionate supporter of sustainability initiatives (I am a Committee Member of the Sustainable Transport Coalition of WA, amongst other things), I was delighted to see that the City of Vincent is doing its bit to help all of us create a more sustainable future.

Go to http://www.vincent.wa.gov.au/Services/Environment_Sustainability/Programmes_Events/Sustainable_Design_Expo_2013 for more information.

Don't Forget To Vote

Even if you wouldn't normally vote in local government elections, please do so in the plebiscite on the future of Vincent. Voting papers will be distributed soon, with the Council election ballot papers, and will have full instructions on how to vote and return them for your vote to count. Note that the graphic below is the City of Vincent notice to electors and is not the ballot paper.

This is a one-off opportunity, if Colin Barnett gets his way and removes the right of veto electors currently have under the Local Government Act. 

Be sure to answer both questions, so that your vote clearly demonstrates whether you want Vincent to continue and, if so, in what form. 

Perth Voice, 26th September, 2013

WALGA Comes Out At Last

The WA Local Government Association has at last nailed its colours to the mast and come out in opposition to the proposed removal of the veto provision on local government amalgamations.

Previously, the WALGA State Council had passed what Joondalup Mayor and WALGA President, Troy Pickard, described as 'a compromise position to give the State Government and alternative to suspending the poll provisions', but without stating what that compromise was. It seems to me that any compromise must involve reducing the rights of electors to oppose effectively and would set a very dangerous precedent.

Take note, Colin Barnett, the WALGA State Council has 50% of its members from country areas of WA, so this is not just a city reaction to your ill-considered and arrogant 'final solution' for metropolitan local governments.

Source: ABC - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-26/walga-votes-to-opposed-amendment-changes/4981908

A Way To Keep Energy Bills Down

Daily Telegraph (UK), 25th September

Not sure if you'd need a stove to get heat out election promises - there's so much hot air generated. And their main purpose is to give the great unwashed a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Recent experience demonstrates they're not used for anything else, including such minor matters as guiding government policy and actions.

Another Crack in the Wall

Click to enlarge

City of Stirling Acting CEO, Trevor Holland, makes some very important points, but as I pointed out in an earlier post here on 11th September, creating discord is what the Premier is about - so he can step in and impose his will in the name of preventing what what he has himself created.

Equally important, though, is the brief paragraph at the bottom of the piece in the Guardian Express. Mt Lawley, MLA, Michael Sutherland, has joined the ranks of Liberal MPs opposing parts of the grand plan to force local government splits and amalgamations - in this case, Michael has said he will support City of Stirling's proposal to retain Dianella, Menora, Mt Lawley and Inglewood - in other words, he'll oppose Col's intention to hive these off to Baywater/Bassendean.

With some opposing their own local details and others the fundamentally anti-democratic removal of the local electors' veto provision, it looks like Col has got a lot of spotfires to manage. Lets do all we can to make it a raging bushfire that will consume the Premier's ill-considered agenda for local government.

So Much For "Fully-Costed, Fully-Funded" - Entering the vicious circle

Click to enlarge

Hot on the heels of the loss of the state's AAA credit rating comes the 'realisation' that we can't afford all those shiny new toys promised by emperor Col at the last election - a mere six months ago.

No good hiding behind the loss of the AAA rating, though, Col, which was an entirely-predictable result of the reckless spending already committed on baubles we don't need - and many of us don't even want.

Not only that, but there are downstream costs of these projects as well. While no-one expects public transport to fully pay its way, the proposed airport rail link will be a financial white elephant of gigantic proportions that will compromise the ability of future governments to fund worthwhile projects.

Not The Royals' Day - But Vincent Fights On

Well, the Royals fell at the final hurdle, but there's still plenty of passion about saving Vincent. Frankly the Royals appeared to have lost the passion that they showed the previous couple of weeks in beating teams that had finished above them on the ladder at the end of the regular season.

There was no doubting the passion shown by Vincent people at the rally on Sunday morning, though. And that's incredibly important. If we don't maintain the passion - and, as Alannah MacTiernan said on Sunday, it will be a long fight - we will succumb just as the Royals did.

It was very noticeable at Sunday's rally that there was more emphasis on, and optimism about, the possibility of saving Vincent, not just avoiding its being split between Stirling and Perth. One speaker, who lived in Glendalough, described her experience in being 'taken over' by Vincent a few years ago and becoming part of the Vincent community - and said she had no wish to return to Stirling. I doubt there would be as much difference as some people think between being absorbed into Perth and being absorbed into Stirling, since neither of them really wants us.

But the greatest thing for me was the unanimous vote calling on Colin Barnett NOT to remove the poll provisions that give local communities the right to reject amalgamations they don't want - or need.

Go In Hard To Win

Today the Dockers. Tomorrow the Royals?

The Dockers and the Royals have more than a 2013 Grand Finals berth in common. Both teams go in hard, chase hard and tackle hard. That doesn't always find favour with the opposing team nor, necessarily, with the umpires - but it can bring spectacular results.

That's why I was, from the start, so frustrated with Vincent Council's being resigned to Vincent's disappearing right from the start of the forced local government amalgamations saga.

Let's hope that the now apparently more robust approach of Vincent Council, including the plebiscite, leads to another famous victory.

Been Here Before, James

Perth Voice, 21st September 2013. Click to enlarge

Back on 30th March 2008, I drew attention to the issue of school overcrowding in Vincent (Where Will They Go To School?) and expressed my view that the answer lay in imaginative incorporation of a new school into the Oxford Centre redevelopment, where Council owns 2 hectares of undeveloped land (car parks) - and on which the City of Perth currently has its beady eyes as a $50 million asset.

I don't believe it lies in getting rid of the Schools of Isolated and Distance Education, which ironically occupy the site and some of the buildings of the now-closed Leederville Primary School, as the buildings, configuration and land area are not suitable for a modern primary school.

Moreover, the staff employed by the Schools of Isolated and Distance Education contribute to the daytime population of Leederville and help support the businesses there.

Unfortunately, the redevelopment of the Oxford Centre has been put on hold because of the economic climate. I put it to you, James, that this time should be used to work out how best to use that redevelopment opportunity to create an innovative approach to primary education for the 21st century.

Did Anyone Seriously Expect Otherwise?

Click to enlarge

Back on 27th August, I wrote in this blog that it was clear that the City of Perth wasn't enthusiastic about taking on the whole of Vincent.

Before that, on 17th August, I argued in 'Speaker's Corner' in the Perth Voice that going straight to the 'one-in all-in' position left no fall-back position and quoted Polish Philosopher, Leszeck Kolakowski, who wrote: "it may well be that the impossible can only become possible by being stated at a time when it is impossible".

Now we have what was seen as the possible (the whole of Vincent being amalgamated into the City of Perth) becoming the impossible. And the impossible perhaps becoming possible with the plebiscite on 19th October.

At the moment, Colin Barnett has so many problems (see previous posts Bull(y) In A China Shop and No Fairy Godmother for Barnett in Canberra) that perhaps he might want to do without the aggro of forced local government amalgamations and, as another blogger has pointed out (http://freoview.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/cockburn-kwinana-merger-off), this could be a really good opportunity for him to scrap the forced amalgamations without losing too much face - not having the money for them could be seen by many people as a valid reason. 

No Fairy Godmother for Barnett in Canberra

Fresh from giving away WA's AAA credit rating, Colin Barnett has received short shrift from Tony Abbott in response to his suggestion that the GST be increased to ease the financial pressures his government has created for WA.

Next reality check for Barnett will be Abbott's refusal to fund projects like the Airport Rail Link White Elephant and possibly even the MAX.

There are even some road projects (the federal government's 'knitting' according to Abbott) that must seen as doubtful as they weren't included in the Liberal Party's election costings.

Never Mind The Law - Just Do As I Say

Click to enlarge

Yet another (this time Federal) Liberal abuse of legal process.

This time it's Treasurer Joe Hockey telling the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to cease operations, despite the reportedly clear requirements of the legislation under which it was established.

A quick reading of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act, 2012, does not suggest there are any Ministerial powers to direct the CEFC in this way, although a Minister could, no doubt, make life difficult for the Corporation in respect of financial and other matters that require the Minister's approval.

The CEFC can only be closed down by repeal or substantial amendment of the Act - which almost certainly wouldn't get through the Senate until after June 2014, when the changes in the Senate resulting from the recent election take place.

It seems that Hockey is intent on reinforcing the bully-boy image of Liberal Governments.

You can read the legal advice from Stephen Keim, SC, at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-19/legal-advice-on-clean-energy-finance-corporation27s-termination/4969124.

A Diversion: Bizarre Humour in the Abbottoir

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/18/tony-abbott-womens-minister-portfolio

One of my daughter's friends posted on Facebook recently that he couldn't tell the difference between the Australian news and political satire any more. Here's a classic example.

Interesting to read some of the comments about his 'Minister Assisting' in the Guardian, too.

Any suggestions for an appropriate caption for this picture?

Bull(y) In A China Shop

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/18991122/wa-loses-triple-a-credit-rating

The words 'Bull' and 'China Shop' come to mind. Premier Barnett has been so intent on pushing through his pet projects in what is likely to be his last term in Parliament (and almost certainly last in Government), that he has given up the State's prized AAA credit rating.

It's not only in respect of local government that he has been playing the bully. Major projects such as Elizabeth Quay and the Burswood stadium have been pushed through with scant concern for the State's finances - other than to cut the budgets of many schools. And now there's talk of selling assets we already have to pay for those we don't need.

So perhaps it's less a case of a 'bull in a china shop' than one of a 'bully in a china shop'.