Bunbury mayor backs amalgamations to reduce WA's 139 councils
With local government elections approaching and controversies engulfing the Nedlands, Coolgardie and Port Hedland councils, issues with the state's third tier of government have been in the spotlight in recent months.
WA has 139 local governments, more than New South Wales (128) and Queensland (77), despite their larger populations.
Bunbury Mayor Jaysen Miguel said it was an issue that required closer examination.
"There are 139 local governments in WA. It's just too many," Mr Miguel told local podcast BLXCK INK.
While emphasising the position was his view, not his council's, he said Bunbury's smaller neighbours, the shires of Capel, Dardanup and Harvey, should consider merging with Bunbury.
All four councils have hiked rates in their latest budgets, with Bunbury, Dardanup and Harvey all raising their fees by more than 6 per cent.
Mr Miguel said Bunbury ratepayers were copping a bad deal, as people from surrounding shires used their facilities.
"We've got the sports centre, the entertainment centre, the art gallery, the museum … they're regional facilities, but our ratepayers, our 30,000 people, pick up the cost of that for 100,000 people," he said.
While conceding there was no appetite for amalgamation, he told the ABC it was important to start conversations about the idea, before it was "inevitably forced upon local governments anyway".
Dardanup Shire President Tyrrell Gardiner said local decision-making remained the best possible model.
"Dardanup, Capel and Harvey are all experiencing rapid growth, and within a few years each will have populations comparable or exceeding Bunbury's," Cr Gardiner said.
"Smaller communities like Burekup, Dardanup, Capel, Harvey and Brunswick will lose [their] voice in an amalgamated structure, where city politics often dominate conversations."
He said further collaboration remained key to managing the region's growing population.
"The mayor's focus on amalgamation appears more like an attempt to retain influence than a solution grounded in community benefit," Cr Gardiner said.
As both a former Bunbury mayor and former local government minister, it is a familiar debate for John Castrilli, who oversaw the last round of attempted forced council mergers by then-premier Colin Barnett.
While believing any amalgamation would eventually be led by the state government, he said councils should look at opportunities to unite and share resources.
"If there's going to be any amalgamation at all, it'll be done by government, [who will] mandate it, full stop," he said.
"How do we make things more efficient? How do we optimise opportunities?
"If you had one council and 100,000 people [making it] straight away the greater Bunbury council, instead of the 27th largest council, it becomes the 19th largest council."
Mr Castrilli also said previous studies he had facilitated between Subiaco and Nedlands councils in Perth showed amalgamation could lead to a reduction in rates.
"That was just an administration [efficiency] that could save up to $4 million a year. Savings of a couple of hundred bucks a year to each individual household," he said.
In 2008, the Shire of Douglas in Far North Queensland was forced by the Queensland government to amalgamate with Cairns City Council, as part of a statewide reorganisation that substantially reduced the number of councils in the state.
The merger was widely unpopular with Douglas residents, who eventually voted to split from Cairns Regional Council in 2013.
Former Douglas Mayor Julia Leu said the community's interests were often overlooked in the amalgamated Cairns Regional Council.
"Rates went through the roof and services went down," Ms Leu said.
She said any merger in the South West had to acknowledge the interests of the outlying towns.
"[Mr Miguel] has to ensure the local characteristics of those other communities are respected in terms of any newly amalgamated council," Ms Leu said.
"And if the other shires oppose amalgamation they just need to fight it."
Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley said the Cook government wanted councils to work out potential mergers themselves.
It is a position echoed by WA Local Government Association (WALGA) president Karen Chappel.
"WALGA's position is that any structural reform of local government, including amalgamations, should only be undertaken on a voluntary basis, consistent with the state government's policy," she said.
"Any forced amalgamation or boundary change is not necessarily an effective way to address individual challenges faced by local governments."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
3 minutes ago
- ABC News
Jihadist preacher Wisam Haddad's organisation stripped of charity status after Four Corners investigation
An organisation run by Sydney jihadist spiritual leader Wisam Haddad has been stripped of its charity status after a Four Corners investigation revealed it was radicalising young Australians while receiving tax breaks from the government. Mr Haddad's Dawah Van Incorporated was registered as a charity to preach on Sydney's streets from 2022, despite his public infamy as a prominent supporter of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. The ABC can reveal the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) revoked the Dawah Van's registration in June, after Four Corners exposed in April how notorious extremists recruited young people through the street-preaching group. A former undercover agent for Australian spy agency ASIO, codenamed Marcus, told the program he infiltrated the Dawah Van group and witnessed how it indoctrinated teenagers into violent extremism. Video of the Dawah Van's activities showed Mr Haddad working to convert teenagers in Sydney's CBD with a violent convicted criminal, Wassim Fayad, who was previously identified in court as an IS recruiter. ACNC commissioner Sue Woodward declined an interview but in a written statement said: "Revocation of charity registration is the most serious action the ACNC can take." "Once a charity loses registration, it is no longer eligible for Commonwealth tax concessions and other benefits that charities are entitled to receive," she said. The Dawah Van has also raised funds for causes overseas. It can continue to operate but will no longer receive GST and income tax exemptions. Mr Haddad's lawyer, Elias Tabchouri, told the ABC the Dawah Van was "working through this issue with the relevant authorities". He said Mr Haddad vehemently denied allegations that he or the organisation were recruiting people into terrorism, or that he was a leader of a pro-IS network. The decision is another blow for Mr Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, who was recently found by the Federal Court to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act in a series of antisemitic lectures. Mr Haddad has long been a controversial media figure, publicly celebrating IS attacks in the West and beheadings in Syria by slain Australian fighters Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar. He became notorious more than a decade ago for running the now-defunct Al-Risalah Islamic Centre, which was publicly identified by courts and media as a hub for terrorism recruiters. University of Queensland charity law expert Kim Weinert said the Dawah Van case exposed serious regulatory flaws, questioning why the organisation was ever granted charity status. "The case raises a number of concerns," Dr Weinert said. "The first is how easy it is for organisations that are actively carrying out questionable activities that can so easily claim charitable status with the ACNC." Dr Weinert accused the "under-resourced" and "tiny" regulator of an inconsistent approach to registering charities, with some rubber-stamped and others rejected almost solely based on paperwork. "It does raise eyebrows and concerns as to what entities are receiving charitable status," she said. Mr Haddad has never been charged with a terrorism-related offence, despite ties to a web of convicted terrorists in Australia and overseas. In recent years, he has worked with terrorist leaders to re-energise the pro-IS network, while a new generation of his teenage followers have been charged with serious terrorism offences and brutal hate crimes in Sydney. Mr Haddad used his new name, William Haddad, when he registered the Dawah Van as a charity in 2022. The charity's vision was to "reach out to the community in order to educating [sic] them about the greatness of God and comprehend purpose of life", according to its constitution. But the Dawah Van was a revival of a Sydney street-preaching group, Street Dawah, which was identified by multiple courts to have recruited young Australians into terrorism more than a decade ago. Similar Street Dawah groups have long been accused by authorities in the UK and Europe of being recruitment arms for terrorist groups. The roving street-preaching teams were pioneered by the international terrorist group al-Muhajiroun, whose leader, Anjem Choudary, was jailed for life in the UK last year. In the Four Corners program, former ASIO spy Marcus revealed Choudary had closely mentored Mr Haddad before his arrest. Marcus also exposed the inner workings of Mr Haddad's Bankstown prayer centre, Al Madina Dawah Centre, and covert groups of IS terrorists in his network. Marcus is now hiding in an undisclosed overseas location, protecting himself from threats published by extremists online. The ABC asked the ACNC why it deregistered the Dawah Van and whether its initial decision to grant charity status was a failure of governance and oversight. But the ACNC said it was precluded from disclosing information about specific charities and investigations, under strict secrecy provisions. The last federal parliament considered legislation to ease the secrecy provisions, allowing the commissioner to release information in limited cases, but the bill lapsed. "Any investigation we undertake must be thorough, independent, comprehensive, proportionate and consistent with our approach to all investigations," Commissioner Sue Woodward said in a statement. "They can be complex and take time to complete. "The ACNC will act firmly where vulnerable people or significant charity assets are at risk, where there is evidence of serious mismanagement or misappropriation, or if there is a serious or deliberate breach of the ACNC Act or ACNC Regulations." The ACNC said it prioritises compliance action against conduct that harms children and vulnerable adults, as well as misuse of a charity for terrorism or extremism, and financial mismanagement. Public records on Dawah Van, which have since been removed from the ACNC's website, showed it failed to submit financial reports to the regulator for two years — a breach that leads to revocation under the commission's policy. Australian authorities have long been wary of the risk of charities supporting terrorism. In 2017, the ACNC and financial crimes agency AUSTRAC assessed the risk of terrorism financing in Australia's not-for-profit sector as medium. In delivering that warning, they cited the number of non-profit organisations that were identified by counterterrorism investigations as linked to known extremists. In one such case, a Sydney charity in Mr Haddad's network, Dar al Quran Wa Sunnah, was accused by Lebanese and Australian authorities of funnelling funds and fighters to IS in Syria. The ACNC revoked Dar al Quran Wa Sunnah's charity status in 2019, four years after the allegations were first aired publicly.
ABC News
3 minutes ago
- ABC News
Sussan Ley's authority tested as Liberals stamp their feet
As any leader of a political party knows, when you demote people, they can become difficult, or worse. Among Opposition Leader Sussan Ley's multiple problems are two very unhappy former frontbenchers: Sarah Henderson, who was opposition education spokeswoman last term, and Jane Hume, who had a high profile in finance, were dumped to the backbench in Ley's reshuffle. There were mixed views about Ley's judgement. But it was clear neither would take the relegation lying down. Henderson at the time declared she found it regrettable that "a number of high-performing Liberal women have been overlooked or demoted". Hume said, ominously, "there is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points". This week, both women used their freedom to freelance. On the government's student debt legislation, Henderson made her presence felt by moving an amendment designed to cap indexation. It got only a handful of votes from the crossbench. The opposition abstained. Also in the Senate, Hume put down her marker on a motion moved by One Nation repudiating the net zero target. Predictably, Matt Canavan (Nationals) and Alex Antic (right-wing South Australian Liberal) voted for the motion. The Liberals' official position — given they're in no-man's land, reviewing their policy — was to abstain. But Hume and Andrew McLachlan (a moderate from South Australia) voted against the motion. Hume has kept a regular spot on Sky News Australia, an opportunity to use her "liberated" voice. Then there's Andrew Hastie, who, despite being a frontbencher, doesn't feel under collective discipline. Hastie, whom some see as a possible future leader, didn't get his wish for a non-security portfolio in the reshuffle. Instead, the former defence spokesman was moved to home affairs, a broad job that presents many opportunities. When the Western Australian Liberal council passed a motion rejecting net zero at the weekend, Hastie gave his enthusiastic backing. He then got stuck into state Liberal leader Basil Zempilas, who had said the WA parliamentary party supported "the status quo on the net zero targets". Hastie fired off a newsletter to supporters, declaring, "This motion — moved and supported by my division of Canning — reflects a growing concern from mainstream Australians about our expensive energy bills, unreliable supply, and the erosion of our national sovereignty. "I was therefore disappointed to see [Zempilas] publicly dismiss those concerns." The government was quick to exploit this, with Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen telling parliament on Thursday that Hastie "will undermine any opposition leader he can find. He's taking a practice run in Perth for what he intends to do in Canberra, sometime in the next 12 months, as we all know. He loves undermining leaders of the opposition." Peter Dutton was a disaster for the Liberals, as the election drubbing showed. But he was (mostly) able to impose substantial unity on the parliamentary party. That was seen as a big achievement. But it had two downsides. At the time, it stifled what might have been useful internal debate, or warnings, that could have helped the opposition. And now it has left some Liberals who felt they held their tongues last time determined not to do so again. Even those not aggrieved for specific reasons are likely to be more inclined to be outspoken this term. Ley will not be able to impose the degree of discipline that Dutton did. Meanwhile, as the aggrieved Liberals were stamping their feet, their colleague James Paterson, new to his post of finance spokesman, was seeking to repair some of the political damage the opposition had done by its attacks on the public service. The hostility to the public service goes back a long way — some might argue it's ingrained in the Liberals' DNA. It was strong during Scott Morrison's prime ministership. Dutton promised massive cuts to the Canberra-based public service, which even the Liberals admit would have been unattainable. Hume's plan to force public servants back into the office five days a week, a policy the opposition had to drop midway through the election campaign, has also left deep suspicion. For the Liberals, attacking the public service has always appeared a ready road to savings. But the political dangers are obvious. It is not the seats directly affected — the ACT always votes Labor. But assaults on the public service can be readily segued by the Coalition's opponents into code for attacks on government services. Paterson, who's also shadow minister for the public service, told an Australian Financial Review summit on government services, "It is not lost on me that promising significant cuts to the size of the APS or changing the way public servants work from home was poorly received and not just here in Canberra." Paterson said, "I have great respect for public servants, and I recognise the significant contributions they make to our democracy. "The Coalition aspires to have a respectful, constructive relationship with the APS. We want a motivated, high-performing public service that works in genuine partnership with government to deliver the services Australians rely on. And we want it to do so as a trusted steward of taxpayer dollars." On the basis of history, the public servants will remain suspicious of the Liberals; Paterson's aim will be to mitigate that as much as possible. In a twist on the working-from-home debate, the secretary of the health department, Blair Comley, this week expressed some concern about the implications of the trend. "I don't think anyone is suggesting we go back to a rigid five days a week and no flexibility," Comley told the AFR summit. But he was worried about what was happening to "learning, development, mentoring, and what's happening to the social capital". Knowing the sensitivities of the issue, Comley was extremely careful with his words. Hume, having been burned once, was not putting her hand into this particular fire again. "That is not a policy that the Coalition has now, not a policy that we took to the election", she said. There is a limit to being liberated. Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra and chief political correspondent at The Conversation, where this article first appeared.
The Australian
3 hours ago
- The Australian
ASIO chief exposes shocking cost of foreign spying on Australia
Foreign espionage is costing the Australian economy at least $12.5bn a year, with the ASIO boss warning against complacency against the 'real, present and costly danger'. The director-general of security Mike Burgess has for the first time publicly put a dollar figure on what foreign spies are costing Australia and espionage remains one of the country's principal security concerns. 'This is critical because I believe that we need to wake up to the cost of espionage – which is more than just financial,' he said in the annual Hawke Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Thursday night. 'We need to understand espionage is not some quaint, romantic fiction; it's a real, present and costly danger.' ASIO director-general Mike Burgess issued his warning delivering the annual Hawke Lecture at Adelaide University. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman Mr Burgess released a new report that ASIO developed with the Australian Institute of Criminology, to try to count the cost of espionage. The report found espionage cost the Australian economy at least $12.5bn in the 2023-2024 financial year, an estimate Mr Burgess called 'conservative'. 'This includes the direct costs of known espionage incidents, such as the state-sponsored theft of intellectual property, as well as the indirect costs of countering and responding,' he said. 'As just one example, the Institute estimates foreign cyber spies stole nearly $2bn of trade secrets and intellectual property from Australian companies and businesses in 2023-24. 'The report includes a case study where spies hacked into the computer network of a major Australian exporter, making off with commercially sensitive information. 'The theft gave the foreign country a significant advantage in subsequent contract negotiations, costing Australia hundreds of millions of dollars.' Mr Burgess said too many were complacent about the cost of espionage and urged 'all parts of our system – public and private, federal, state and local – to recognise the threat'. 'I've lost count of the number of times senior officials and executives have privately downplayed the impacts of espionage,' he said. 'I've watched corporate leaders literally shrug their shoulders when told their networks are compromised. 'I've heard sensible security measures such as taking burner phones to high-risk countries described as unreasonable inconveniences. 'Most recently, a trade official told ASIO there's no way the Chinese intelligence services would have any interest in his organisation's people and premises in China.' Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, was singled out by ASIO boss Mike Burgess. Picture: NewsWire / POOL / AFP / Mikhail Metzel He again listed China, Russia and Iran as three of the main nations behind espionage in Australia and said Russia remained 'a persistent and aggressive espionage threat'. 'Last year, two Russian-born Australian citizens were arrested and charged with an espionage-related offence,' Mr Burgess said. 'Separately, I can confirm in 2022 a number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers were removed from this country. 'But Russia is by no means the only country we have to deal with. 'You would be genuinely shocked by the number and names of countries trying to steal our secrets. 'The obvious candidates are very active … but many other countries are also targeting anyone and anything that could give them a strategic or tactical advantage, including sensitive but unclassified information.' Mr Burgess revealed ASIO had disrupted 24 'major espionage and foreign interference' operations in the past three years alone. 'Nation states are spying at unprecedented levels, with unprecedented sophistication,' he said. 'ASIO is seeing more Australians targeted – more aggressively – than ever before.' While AUKUS and military technology secrets were targets, Australia's intellectual property and cutting edge research was also in the sights of foreign agents. ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said spies were targeting Australia's cutting edge research and technology as well as defence secrets. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman He said an overseas delegation visiting a 'sensitive Australian horticultural facility' snapped branches off a 'rare and valuable variety of fruit tree' in order to steal them. 'Almost certainly, the stolen plant material allowed scientists in the other country to reverse engineer and replicate two decades of Australian research and development,' he said. He said foreign intelligence services are 'proactive, creative and opportunistic' in their targets. 'In recent years, for example, defence employees travelling overseas have been subjected to covert room searches, been approached at conferences by spies in disguise and given gifts containing surveillance devices. 'Defence is alert to these threats and works closely with ASIO to counter them.'
