LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM — CITY OF COCKBURN
877. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the
minister representing the Minister for Local Government:
(1) Why does the government propose to carve up the City of
Cockburn?
(2) Why did
the government not proceed with maintaining Cockburn as in preferred option B
of the independent panel for the local government review?
(3) Does the
government recognise that the City of Cockburn was recognised as sustainable in
a five-year analysis of the financial positions of local governments conducted
for the independent panel?
(4) Does the
government recognise that the City of Cockburn was named the overall winner of
the 2012 Keep Australia Beautiful Australian Sustainable Cities Award?
Hon
HELEN MORTON replied:
(1) The
government model for metropolitan local government reform proposes to reduce
the number of local governments from 30 to 15 with the majority of the City of
Cockburn merging with the City of Kwinana. The proposed changes, which have
been lodged with the Local Government Advisory Board, are planned to strengthen
local governments right across the metropolitan area so that they are well
placed to manage continuing growth.
The changes will increase the
capacity for councils to plan for and implement the extra facilities and
services to meet the demands and needs of our population, which is set to grow
by 500 000 in the metropolitan area over the next 13 years.
(2) The
government's final proposed model incorporates feedback received from
the community and local governments since July when it released its initial
maps in response to the independent panel report.
Local governments have also had
the opportunity to submit proposals to the Local Government Advisory Board. The
proposal of the City of Cockburn itself does not follow the independent panel's
preferred option B.
(3) Yes. The
Robson report identified a number of the local governments that are subject to
boundary adjustments under the government's model that could be
considered sustainable.
The changes are required to ensure
that the whole Perth metropolitan region has local governments with sufficient
capacity to plan for and implement the extra facilities and services needed for
the future growth of metropolitan Perth.
(4) Yes.