Councillor warned during Mandurah rates discussion
The increase amounts to $69.44 a year or $1.34 a week for the average residential property.
This is higher than the 2024-25 rate rise of 3.98 per cent and will generate $102.9 million for the city.
In a statement, mayor Caroline Knight said rate decisions were 'never easy'.
'This marks the end of a long and considered process, one that involved months of workshops, briefings and deep discussion,' she said.
'I want to thank my fellow councillors for the respectful and collaborative way we've worked through this. These decisions are never easy, especially when they result in a rate increase for our community.
'No one likes to raise the cost of anything, especially in times like these. We know many people are feeling the pressure of rising costs and we absolutely take that seriously.
'As councillors, we're community members too — mums, dads, grandparents, business owners, volunteers, and sports coaches… and we don't make these decisions lightly.
'But we also have a responsibility under the Local Government Act to act in the best interests of our whole community, now and into the future.' Cr Zilani Credit: Supplied
Cr Ahmed Zilani opposed the rate increase at last week's meeting, while Cr Ryan Burns opposed the budget and financial plan.
Cr Zilani spoke about the role he believed the mayor could play in reducing rates. He has previously shared his plan to run for mayor at the next election.
Cr Peter Rogers called Cr Zilani out for 'election speak' during the debate.
'There was no campaigning speak, I said leadership can bring our rates reduced,' Cr Zilani countered.
Despite his opposition to rising rates, Cr Zilani said he would support the budget.
During closing arguments, Cr Zilani was again warned, this time by the mayor.
'In closing, I would like to request my councillor colleagues be patient during my speech because my speech has connection between every sentence … every year I got blamed by the council…' Cr Zilani began.
'Excuse me Cr Zilani, would you please cease there,' Ms Knight interjected.
'I'm going to warn you now around relevance under 7.7 of the standing orders.'
Order 7.7 means the presiding member can call the attention of the meeting to any irrelevant, repetitious, offensive or insulting language by a member and direct that member to discontinue their speech.
Cr Burns and Cr Dave Schumacher both voted against the business plan.
In a statement, Ms Knight said the budget had been shaped to ensure the city could maintain and renew its $1.5 billion asset base while continuing to deliver the services and programs that the community valued most.
'We're maintaining and renewing our city's vast number of public assets — playgrounds, sports clubs, the Seniors Centre, the pool, roads, parks, footpaths, community centres, libraries and more — many of which people can access for free or at a very low cost, which is vitally important when we're all feeling the pinch,' she said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Contractor misses out on $5m job despite highest rating
A Maddington business has asked why it was not awarded a $5.3 million local government contract despite receiving the highest assessment score. Dowsing was one of four groups that put in a bid for the three-year contract with the City of Cockburn to provide in situ concreting, such as footpaths, shared use paths, crossovers and concrete pads or footings. It was given an assessment score of 80 out of 100, but at its July 8 meeting the council gave the job to Axiis Contracting, which scored 79.94. Bids were assessed on experience, resources, methodology, sustainability, if they were local, and their price. The city's evaluation panel, which comprises six city officers, recommended Axiis because it considered its bid had the least risk or chance of variations, and the group had better references. 'Reference checking on Axiis Contracting referred to positive comments reflecting timely and quality work outcomes with no hidden charges,' its report said. 'Reference checking on Dowsing scored less than Axiis Contracting with potential issues raised for operators and their approach to safety. Overall a positive reference was provided.' Dowsing WA operations manager Sam Dowsing told the council he was surprised to read Axiis' references were rated as more favourable than Dowsing's and asked if they could be independently validated. 'This is not our experience talking to the market that we both serve in,' he said. 'In 40 years of business serving local governments, we've never seen a recommendation contradict the outcome of the tender assessment. 'We'd like to question the integrity of the over-ride of the outcome of the extensive assessment criteria, given Dowsing scored the highest ranking.' Infrastructure services manager Anton Lees said the city had followed Local Government Act regulations when assessing bids for the contract. He said the city had carried out reference checking on Axiis. 'We've taken that information on board and obviously provided that recommendation in the report on those references,' Mr Lees said. On its website, Dowsing says it has an 'uncompromising focus on high-quality workmanship, safety and creating positive outcomes'. It has been operating since 1985 and Axiis since 2013. Both groups are based in Maddington. No bids were received from groups based within the city or Perth South Metropolitan Alliance region.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Look who's back – and with back pay after escaping conviction
That's due to Section 229 of the Local Government Act clause (6): 'A councillor who is no longer stood down under subsection (1) is entitled to their allowance, including any allowance previously withheld under subsection (4), unless the councillor is convicted of the offence.' Agirtan, a tax manager, pointed out at the time that her court-ordered donation was tax-deductible. We sought comment from her but didn't hear back. The council confirmed the back payment. And while she was suspended from the council, nothing could suspend her from social media during that period, which included a reference to her critics 'sucking each other off in the comments on the City of Kingston post'. Positively Trumpian in its eloquence. Back to the benches A mere 11 weeks after the May 3 election, federal parliament has returned. Everyone wanted to put their feet up after that gruelling election campaign, we guess. Or hike the Great Wall of China. The pollies slowly began to trickle back to Canberra, and on Sunday night, CBD's spies spotted Labor frontbenchers Murray Watt, Jenny McAllister and Tim Ayres enjoying a pre-sitting dinner at the restaurant Compa in the Canberra Centre. Expect more of that. During the downtime, CBD brought you several updates about the great staffer exodus, and had some sport at the expense of the PM's chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, for what we thought was his weirdly school-prefect attitude to his underlings oversharing happy snaps with the prime minister on social media. Obligations under the ministerial staff code of blah blah blah, you understand. We live in a Zoomer generation after all. If it is not posted on LinkedIn, did you even have a job? But maybe he had a point: word has reached CBD of a former staffer whose profile on the romantic-encounter social media site Hinge once included a selfie with … the prime minister. Anthony 'Aphrodisiac' Albanese. Somehow we don't think so. PvO's Hollow State The period following a federal election brings the inevitable flurry of political tomes by our various pundits. Last month, CBD revealed that formidable columnist Niki Savva would be releasing a new book, appropriately titled Earthquake, just in time to send seismic rumbles through various Liberal Party Christmases. Also getting in on the act is University of Western Australia politics professor and Daily Mail Australia political editor Peter van Onselen. His new book, The Hollow State: Power Without Purpose in Australian Politics, is due for an October release by niche right-leaning press Wilkinson Publishing. It feels a slight step down from Hachette, which published PvO's 2021 book on Scott Morrison, but then again, PvO's own recent career arc has been a little chaotic. He went from The Australian and Sky News to Network Ten and The Project before joining Daily Mail Australia last year. Van Onselen has been a pundit whose notable career highlights included instances of being prominently wrong (his 'kisses of death' were the stuff of legend), but even we were amused to find this 2022 headline: 'Does Peter van Onselen have the kiss of death? How political guru predicted the 'future of Australian politics' in a single photo ... and got it VERY wrong' published in, er, Daily Mail Australia. He quit as Network Ten's political editor in 2023, and was then successfully sued by his former employer for breaching a non-disparagement clause in his redundancy agreement (an agreement under which he trousered $165,000) by writing an article in The Australian calling the broadcaster 'the minnow of Australian television'. Loading To be fair, he was technically right about that one, as Ten's ratings and financial performance has shown, but in our experience the negative commentary in The Australian about Ten used to be inversely proportionate to how much of the network was owned by The Australian 's boss of bosses, Lachlan Murdoch. PvO told us his new book was some years in the making, a lament at the hollowing out of modern politics by those on both sides of the aisle that he hoped would be 'half-scholarly, half-populist'.
The Advertiser
03-07-2025
- The Advertiser
Beyond carbon: big four banks urged to capture more gas
Australia's big four banks are being urged to take greater action against climate change after a study found none were specifically identifying emissions of a major greenhouse gas. The banks' failure to single out methane emissions could undermine their environmental efforts, the study warned, in addition to their failure to phase out support for methane-intensive coal-mining projects. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the warning and six recommendations on Thursday after analysing climate reports from the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB. The report comes after Australian research group The Superpower Institute launched an open platform to report methane emissions and after the big big banks were found to have cut lending to fossil fuel companies by more than 20 per cent in two years. The institute's report analysed annual climate reports and climate transition plans from the four banks and found only ANZ covered methane emissions in its environmental reporting, and none recorded methane emissions separately. The lack of methane reporting went against Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials guidelines, report author and lead coal analyst Anne Knight said, and could diminish the banks' environmental targets. "Australia's major banks have taken significant strides in addressing their climate-related financial risks and setting decarbonisation targets," she said. "However, the credibility and effectiveness of these efforts are undermined by various critical shortcomings, most notably the inconsistent, often inadequate treatment of methane emissions." While all four banks had set targets to phase out financing for thermal coal mining projects by 2030, they did not set similar targets for metallurgical coal mining that used more methane on average. NAB and Westpac had banned support for new metallurgical mining projects this year, but Ms Knight said they had an opportunity to make a bigger climate impact by addressing methane use. "Reducing methane emissions now could have more immediate results at slowing down global warming," she said. "Banks could be doing more to help achieve this." The institute issued six recommendations to banks in the report including explicitly reporting methane emissions, requiring independent verification of methane emissions from clients, and phasing out finance offered to both thermal and metallurgical coal projects. The report follows research from The Superpower Institute that warned Australia's methane emissions from fossil fuel production could be twice as high as current estimates. It also comes after a Macquarie analysis of the major banks' environmental, social and governance plans in December found they had cut lending to fossil fuel businesses by more than 20 per cent in two years. Australia's big four banks are being urged to take greater action against climate change after a study found none were specifically identifying emissions of a major greenhouse gas. The banks' failure to single out methane emissions could undermine their environmental efforts, the study warned, in addition to their failure to phase out support for methane-intensive coal-mining projects. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the warning and six recommendations on Thursday after analysing climate reports from the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB. The report comes after Australian research group The Superpower Institute launched an open platform to report methane emissions and after the big big banks were found to have cut lending to fossil fuel companies by more than 20 per cent in two years. The institute's report analysed annual climate reports and climate transition plans from the four banks and found only ANZ covered methane emissions in its environmental reporting, and none recorded methane emissions separately. The lack of methane reporting went against Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials guidelines, report author and lead coal analyst Anne Knight said, and could diminish the banks' environmental targets. "Australia's major banks have taken significant strides in addressing their climate-related financial risks and setting decarbonisation targets," she said. "However, the credibility and effectiveness of these efforts are undermined by various critical shortcomings, most notably the inconsistent, often inadequate treatment of methane emissions." While all four banks had set targets to phase out financing for thermal coal mining projects by 2030, they did not set similar targets for metallurgical coal mining that used more methane on average. NAB and Westpac had banned support for new metallurgical mining projects this year, but Ms Knight said they had an opportunity to make a bigger climate impact by addressing methane use. "Reducing methane emissions now could have more immediate results at slowing down global warming," she said. "Banks could be doing more to help achieve this." The institute issued six recommendations to banks in the report including explicitly reporting methane emissions, requiring independent verification of methane emissions from clients, and phasing out finance offered to both thermal and metallurgical coal projects. The report follows research from The Superpower Institute that warned Australia's methane emissions from fossil fuel production could be twice as high as current estimates. It also comes after a Macquarie analysis of the major banks' environmental, social and governance plans in December found they had cut lending to fossil fuel businesses by more than 20 per cent in two years. Australia's big four banks are being urged to take greater action against climate change after a study found none were specifically identifying emissions of a major greenhouse gas. The banks' failure to single out methane emissions could undermine their environmental efforts, the study warned, in addition to their failure to phase out support for methane-intensive coal-mining projects. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the warning and six recommendations on Thursday after analysing climate reports from the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB. The report comes after Australian research group The Superpower Institute launched an open platform to report methane emissions and after the big big banks were found to have cut lending to fossil fuel companies by more than 20 per cent in two years. The institute's report analysed annual climate reports and climate transition plans from the four banks and found only ANZ covered methane emissions in its environmental reporting, and none recorded methane emissions separately. The lack of methane reporting went against Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials guidelines, report author and lead coal analyst Anne Knight said, and could diminish the banks' environmental targets. "Australia's major banks have taken significant strides in addressing their climate-related financial risks and setting decarbonisation targets," she said. "However, the credibility and effectiveness of these efforts are undermined by various critical shortcomings, most notably the inconsistent, often inadequate treatment of methane emissions." While all four banks had set targets to phase out financing for thermal coal mining projects by 2030, they did not set similar targets for metallurgical coal mining that used more methane on average. NAB and Westpac had banned support for new metallurgical mining projects this year, but Ms Knight said they had an opportunity to make a bigger climate impact by addressing methane use. "Reducing methane emissions now could have more immediate results at slowing down global warming," she said. "Banks could be doing more to help achieve this." The institute issued six recommendations to banks in the report including explicitly reporting methane emissions, requiring independent verification of methane emissions from clients, and phasing out finance offered to both thermal and metallurgical coal projects. The report follows research from The Superpower Institute that warned Australia's methane emissions from fossil fuel production could be twice as high as current estimates. It also comes after a Macquarie analysis of the major banks' environmental, social and governance plans in December found they had cut lending to fossil fuel businesses by more than 20 per cent in two years. Australia's big four banks are being urged to take greater action against climate change after a study found none were specifically identifying emissions of a major greenhouse gas. The banks' failure to single out methane emissions could undermine their environmental efforts, the study warned, in addition to their failure to phase out support for methane-intensive coal-mining projects. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the warning and six recommendations on Thursday after analysing climate reports from the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB. The report comes after Australian research group The Superpower Institute launched an open platform to report methane emissions and after the big big banks were found to have cut lending to fossil fuel companies by more than 20 per cent in two years. The institute's report analysed annual climate reports and climate transition plans from the four banks and found only ANZ covered methane emissions in its environmental reporting, and none recorded methane emissions separately. The lack of methane reporting went against Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials guidelines, report author and lead coal analyst Anne Knight said, and could diminish the banks' environmental targets. "Australia's major banks have taken significant strides in addressing their climate-related financial risks and setting decarbonisation targets," she said. "However, the credibility and effectiveness of these efforts are undermined by various critical shortcomings, most notably the inconsistent, often inadequate treatment of methane emissions." While all four banks had set targets to phase out financing for thermal coal mining projects by 2030, they did not set similar targets for metallurgical coal mining that used more methane on average. NAB and Westpac had banned support for new metallurgical mining projects this year, but Ms Knight said they had an opportunity to make a bigger climate impact by addressing methane use. "Reducing methane emissions now could have more immediate results at slowing down global warming," she said. "Banks could be doing more to help achieve this." The institute issued six recommendations to banks in the report including explicitly reporting methane emissions, requiring independent verification of methane emissions from clients, and phasing out finance offered to both thermal and metallurgical coal projects. The report follows research from The Superpower Institute that warned Australia's methane emissions from fossil fuel production could be twice as high as current estimates. It also comes after a Macquarie analysis of the major banks' environmental, social and governance plans in December found they had cut lending to fossil fuel businesses by more than 20 per cent in two years.
