Kings Park: Simpson Playing The Man, Not The Ball

Our concerns about the integrity of Kings Park, in the face of the City of Perth Bill, were published in a letter in the West Australian on Wednesday 26th August. Today (27th August), the West published a very strange response from Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, which provides not one skerrick of evidence, or even argument, to counter our contentions.

Our response to Simpson's diatribe is below - this has been sent to the West Australian, but it is by no means certain that it will print it, as it is generally averse to being the forum for protracted correspondence:

Dear Sir

I suppose, given the state of West Australian (and, indeed, Australian) politics, one should not be surprised that Local Government Minister, Tony Simpson, chose to play the man not the ball in responding (Kings Park is safe, Letters, 27th August) to my letter of concern about the potential effect of the City of Perth Bill on Kings Park.

He provides not one piece of information to counter the arguments made in my letter (PCH may take scalpel to Kings Park, Letters, 26th August), but the vituperative nature of his response suggests we hit a raw nerve.

Mr Simpson expects us simply to accept his assurance that 'Kings Park is here to stay'. I was not in any way suggesting that it, or at least most of it, was not - but the City of Perth Bill does provide the means to erode the edges.

And what value does his 'assurance' have? Many of us remember his statement of 21st February 2013, just before the March 2013 election, that "the Liberal Party does not support forced amalgamations" [of local councils]. Fast forward a few months and he was leading the charge to do exactly that - force councils to amalgamate.

And he's still doing it! The City of Perth Bill would force 1800 Subiaco residents into the City of Perth, with which they have no community of interest whatsoever and which has repeatedly said it doesn't want residential areas.

WA Governor Wants To Protect Our Parks and Reserves, Too

A couple of days ago, we posted a piece on this blog about the threat to Kings Park posed by its absorption into the City of Perth and, more insidiously, the granting of the powers of a local government to the Executive Director, Public Health, an unelected official  http://capitalcitycitizenscommittee.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/city-of-perth-bill-dangers-to-kings-park.html.

Serendipitously, WA Governor, Kerry Sanderson, has come out publicly in support of stronger protection for our national parks and reserves. As Ms Sanderson says:

"We can all play a part in the stewardship of our national parks and conservation areas. I encourage people to take the opportunity to become actively involved, enjoy our natural heritage and pass on this appreciation to future generations."

The Governor is showing true leadership for the community here - in contrast to the WA Government, which, through its City of Perth Bill, seeks to facilitate development in Kings Park through the office of an unelected official.

I am sure that the Governor did not, in her exhortation, specifically mean a call to political action, but if we are to pass on the ability to appreciate Kings Park in all its glory to future generations (to echo Kerry Sanderson's words), political action seems to be what it will take.

The Capital City Citizens' Committee is lobbying hard for recognition that the current City of Perth Bill is fatally-flawed and a missed opportunity to create a great capital city for Western Australia. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Write, email, phone or lobby your local Member of the Legislative Assembly and Members of the Legislative Council. You can find their names and contact details at http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/memblist.nsf/WebCurrMembElectorate Just type the name of your suburb or your postcode into the 'search' box and click on the 'Search' button.

Feel free to use information on this blog to help you make the case.

City of Perth Bill: Dangers to Kings Park

The City of Perth Bill was introduced into Parliament on 21^st May 2015. Although the Bill has moved up to No 5 on the Notice Paper, the full debate has not yet taken place, making it likely to happen in the September sitting of the Legislative Assembly (starting 8th September).

Although the Bill is notionally about the City of Perth, it is important to all West Australians, not simply to those who are residents, ratepayers or business operators in the City of Perth. 

We all have an interest in and are affected by our capital city.

There is one aspect of the Bill that we believe is of special concern to all who care about Kings Park. That is the incorporation of Kings Park within the City of Perth boundaries (Clause 17) and the special powers given to the Executive Director of Public Health (Clauses 28 and 29). No reason for either of these has been provided, either in the Bill or in the Explanatory Memorandum.

The Executive Director, Public Health, would, "for the purposes of protecting, promoting or improving public health", be given “all the powers and authority of a local government”, including the “power to make and enforce local laws under the Local Government Act, 1995”. This, by definition, includes the power to approve development to aid 'public health'.

The definition of ‘public health’ in the Bill is so vague (see right) that it could be construed to cover provision for hospital and associated facilities and services, which, given the constrained sites on which the QEII Medical Centre and the new Children’s Hospital are situated, could cover development of the western edge of Kings Park - not only for direct hospital purposes but for car parking, ancillary medical services, formal recreation space for the hospital (indeed, this has already been mooted and a pedestrian bridge over Winthrop Avenue proposed) and who knows what else.

We note, also, that an identical provision, but applying to all A-class reserves, is included in the Local Government Legislation (Amendment) Bill, which is also before the Legislative Assembly. 

If Kings Park is not to be endangered in this way, this provision must be removed not only from the City of Perth Bill (or, preferably, the Bill to be defeated) but also from the Local Government Legislation Amendment Bill.

Dangers For All Local Governments

The CCCC is distributing the brochure below to delegates at the WALGA AGM and Conference (5 - 7 August) to improve awareness of how the City of Perth Bill has serious implications not just for Perth, Subiaco and Nedlands but for the future of local government across the state.

As we have noted previously (http://capitalcitycitizenscommittee.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/welcome-to-capital-city-citizens.html), there has been no justification for the Bill and it seriously weakens the City of Perth Council.

This is a seriously flawed Bill and is all part of Barnett's pogrom against local government - and not just in the metropolitan area. As he and Tony Simpson have said more than once to country councils: "You're next".

Subiaco To Consult Where Barnett Won't

The City of Subiaco resolved, last Tuesday, to pursue a referendum of it's electors about the City of Perth Bill to be carried out at the time of the 2015 Council Elections.  http://www.subiaco.wa.gov.au/getattachment/5e8a2df6-5315-4051-bb30-0094ede75b9a/Ordinary-Council-Meeting-28-July-2015

Good to see that Subiaco Council continues to have the courage of its convictions.

If Barnett and Simpson won't ask those affected, Subiaco Council has a moral (and possibly legal) obligation to do so.

Council was correct not to go down the 'legal advice' route, at least at this stage, as it would be no more than that (advice) and if the Bill is passed by the Parliament it might have been amended, in which case the advice could well be superseded.