Not for the first time, Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, appears not to understand his own proposed legislation ('Bid to block Burswood land grab', West Australian, 9th October, 2015).
The concern with the last clause of the City of Perth Bill is not that the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB) might 'change its tune' over Burswood and the City of Perth, as Simpson claims, but that it changes the basis on which the LGAB is required to assess any proposal for such a change.
It would do so by requiring that the LGAB, in addition to its current criteria, "have regard to the special significance of the role and responsibilities of the City of Perth that flow from Perth being the capital of Western Australia", but without defining the "role and responsibilities". In practice, such definition would be derived from any proposal made by the City of Perth itself or by the Minister for Local Government or from Government policy communicated to the Board.
We know that the Premier, the Minister and the City of Perth all still want the Burswood Peninsula to be in the City of Perth. The City of Perth has also cast covetous eyes on the commercial areas of both Subiaco and Vincent.
The clause that Minister Simpson so disingenuously casts as benign would, in practice, be a cancer allowing the City of Perth to grow on its own terms.
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| West Australian, 9th October, 2015 |
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