Commissioner responds to criticisms

July 13, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Chair of Canning Commissioners, Steven Cole, attached a statement to the usual highlights brochure produced at the adoption of the City’s 2015/16 budget . Mr Cole should be commended for putting Canning’s true financial position on the record, and especially as Canning’s first new council in years is due to be elected in October. CanningAccountability offers […]

Nahan: Staff managed Canning for themselves

July 7, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Local paper Canning Examiner hits hard this week with its comparison of the City of Canning’s bloated wage and staff structure compared with the councils that were due to absorb it under local government reform:- City of Canning today is paying almost double the amount for employees it was in 2008-09 Employees earning over $100,000 near trebled […]

Treasurer: Canning has deteriorated

July 7, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

UPDATE: Commissioner Steven Cole’s budget statement, as Canning’s true financial situation is put on record, HERE Chairman of Canning Commissioners, Steven Cole, issued a stern statement about Canning, its finances, and what a new council should do through the local papers yesterday. He also told entities who pose questions the City doesn’t like that “this must […]

Canning in financial trouble? Double digit rate rises needed to fund staff demands

June 25, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

There appears to be a serious problem at the City of Canning, that cannot be blamed on the long gone Council anymore. According to Treasurer Mike Nahan, in Parliament today, the staff at Canning plan to hit ratepayers with a massive rate rise to fund their rampant spending, huge pay rises, care packages (before and […]

In absence of Council, Minister changes how Canning is shaped and governed… On the positive side….

June 16, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Canning is moving closer to a new start after years under administration! Yes, Canning will be changed to a five ward, two councillor per ward local government area soon, although the Minister has yet to announce it (we just got the quiet word). It isn’t necessary, but its a small matter. We have other things to […]

Democracy a laugh at Canning

May 27, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

Democracy continues to be a bit of a laugh at Canning. The City nearly consigned itself away under local government reform, when it ignored community preference and bid to merge with Gosnells instead… Then, oddly enough, staff costs increased significantly while the Council remained suspended…. Now *democracy* seems an outright contestable concept at Canning with the way a Ward and Councillor Representation Review […]

Mike Nahan urges Democracy 101 for Canning

April 20, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

UPDATE: As the Ward Boundary and Councillor Review closes, only one of the lower house reps for the Canning area, the Member for Riverton, publicly voiced concerns at the speed and appropriateness of staff and commissioners instigating attempts to get wide-spread changes to the governance model and ward boundaries through prior to the return of a democratically elected Council […]

Canning didn’t survive reform….it just got lucky

March 11, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

Poor management of the reform process by former Commissioner Linton Reynolds and Chief Executive Lyn Russell meant Canning nearly disappeared forever. It survived only because local govt reform suddenly collapsed – at least for now. However, after years of being “under administration”, the City of Canning remains a long way off from having a democratically […]

Commissioner/CEO seek to influence who new councillors will be?

September 15, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

Canning has not fared well under administration. It failed to seize the day on local govt reform, a valuable developer partnership was lost and costs skyrocketed. We now have a CEO who apparently served less than full term at both preceding appointments – and a Commissioner who seems to act beyond his station as a “short-term, unelected government appointee“. The State Govt’s […]

POOF! Another million of ratepayers’ money gone under Commissioner

September 9, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

Today’s Canning Times reveals employee load at Canning has blown out so much under Commissioner Reynolds the administration building, only built in 2006, can’t contain them. Public servants are to be moved to a shop at Carousel for a minimum of two years. It will not only house 18 staff unable to fit in our principal council […]

Commissioner loses $700m Canning project?

September 3, 2014.Reading time 9 minutes.

Canning is spending a fortune leasing a shop at Carousel in a bid to develop the Canning City Centre. Yet the City recently lost a $700m partnership with the innovative* Dept of Housing: the Bentley Regeneration project. The question has to be asked: Does the City have the skills to manage developers, beyond creating structure plans, or […]

COMMISSIONER, DON’T SPEND OUR $$$ LEASING SHOP AT CAROUSEL!

September 1, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

Radio 6PR’s “Rumour File” tipped us off that the City of Canning was planning to lease a shop at Carousel to use as offices for staff. Rustling up what contacts we could on a Sunday, given Carousel’s market dominance, ratepayers could be forced to pay anywhere between $120,000 – $250,000 per year, not including fit out […]