Not quite what we expected… Not even a metropolitan Council…. But in what could be a sign of things to come the $100m Shire of Ashburton’s Council will be required to undergo a make-over. The Minister for Local Govt, Tony Simpson, has ordered the Council submit to a panel of “Mentors” for the next six months.
Seems the only place in town to get an idea on what’s happening with council mergers is the local paper. In its Friday April 20, 2013 issue, Post Newspapers added another couple of pieces to the puzzle that is “local govt reform”. But the real puzzler is – what is Minister for Local Govt, Tony Simpson, going on about?
Troy Pickard is his name, and yes, he’s a Liberal supporter – but also Mayor of our 2nd largest Council by population, Joondalup. Mr Pickard’s views about the unwillingness of Councils to embrace the wider possibilities of mergers are blunt. Does he know something we don’t?