More than 400 Local Government representatives expressed their dissatisfaction with the Minister for Local Government’s reform program at a State-wide forum last week.

The forum, representing more than 100 WA councils, reinforced the vote of no confidence in the State Government’s reform process passed by the Western Australian Local Government Association at their State Council meeting last week.

The meeting endorsed the research conducted during the Systemic Sustainability Study and the need to continue on the path of reform; however they demonstrated dissatisfaction with the Minister’s process.

WALGA President Cr Bill Mitchell said the one-sided approach being used by the Minister and Department of Local Government effectively ignored the wishes of Local Government and the local communities they were elected to represent.

“The current process merely pays lip service to engaging with representatives of Local Government,” Cr Mitchell said.

“The Minister is truly mistaken if he believes the reform process is ‘on track’, and unless he provides the means for genuine discussion and planning, there is a danger the process will entirely derail.”

Cr Mitchell said Local Government was committed to a reform process that provided flexibility in solutions and did not lock councils into a process that only offered wide scale amalgamations as a result.

“Local Governments have invested time and money in addressing the Minister’s requests, consulting with their communities in order to establish their wishes and the best opportunities for change,” Cr Mitchell said.

“The Minister’s preoccupation with amalgamations, however, has shown little regard for this work, and is misrepresenting the wishes of many local communities and their voices through a democratic process.

“While we commend those Local Governments that have identified amalgamation as the correct path for reform in their particular circumstances, the application of a one size fits all solution across the bulk of the State simply isn’t feasible.