Perth metropolitan reform – update
Since the last blog on Perth Metropolitan Reform, there have been substantial changes.
Three councils which had been proposed to amalgamate (rather than undergo a boundary adjustment) had a majority of voters turnout, of whom a majority voted against the proposals. For the amalgamations not to proceed, these polls required at least 50% of eligible voters to actually vote, and more than 50% of those to vote “No” to the amalgamations. Three of the 5 polls achieved this result, and those 3 were one in each of the proposed amalgamated councils – East Fremantle, Kwinana and South Perth all voted against amalgamation. This meant that the amalgamations could not proceed.
With these three amalgamations not going ahead, this left the remaining boundary adjustments in a difficult position, with lots of “orphan” areas, and so the WA state government has now decided to cease the entire reform process. In a statement on February 17th, it was announced that reforms would only proceed if both affected councils signed a resolution in favour of it. At this point in time, no councils have agreed to this.
So for now, it is “business as usual” for Perth metropolitan councils, with no amalgamations or boundary changes set to proceed. The only exception is that the government has expressed its intention to press ahead with changing the City of Perth boundary to incorporate major employment destinations currently in the Subiaco and Nedlands areas. This would require an act of parliament, however.
So at the moment it remains a mystery if Perth metropolitan area would ever undergo boundary changes..id will continue to support local governments through providing up-to-date demographic information to suit their needs, and if changes occur we will endeavour to match them with the best data possible.
If you would like to learn more about the population of Perth and how it is changing, download our new eBook, Western Australia: Is it all doom and gloom after the boom?
Amazing that the WA Gov actually involved the populace and listened to their wishes – congratulations.
Forced amalgamations do not work – see Queenslands efforts recently (I live in an amalgamated Council now. No one is happy. Centralisation of power and resources to the dominant population centre, diminished power to the rest. Elimination of ‘local’ long term events and functions that have survived with decades of support prior to amalgamation. The list goes on.
Any decision as big as amalgamation ought to be based upon sound business principles, it ought to be bench marked and subsequently measured (so we know when we succeed or not) and of course most of all the fundamental issue of appropriate democratic representation must be foremost in the decision/outcome. Queensland threw out representational issues with their forced amalgamations (increased populace per councillor), making local government further removed from its constituents.
SA is one of the few states to approach amalgamations in a considered and methodical way; they collected the data pre and post amalgamation. The final reports revealed quite clearly that most of the goals of amalgamation were not delivered.
The people know! Just as the voters in Perth have shown.
There are of course many absurd local government area arrangements that ought to be rationalised by amalgamation, but by and large the dominant economic imperative to amalgamate can be delivered without disruption to a communities sense of place, history and identity by pragmatic resource sharing, centralised buyer, pooled assets etc for a regional group of un-amalgamated councils. The best way for a council to avoid this persistent threat from state governments is to be proactive, work together in your region (beyond fancy regional committees – get into the real job of efficient and coordinated partnerships).
All this from someone who resisted a forced amalgamation in NSW in the 1990’s.
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