Since being elected, our government has been reviewing the Local Government Act, and over that entire period, it has been heading towards reducing its constitutional obligation to maintain a system of democratically elected local governments.
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The minister said in Parliament on June 25, 2020: “What has become very apparent to me having been the Minister for Local Government for the last three and a half years is that I do not have powers because local governments are autonomous bodies”.
The promised local government green bill had not appeared so the government commissioned a panel of “experts” to advise it on the directions for a new act.
In August 2020, that expert panel said: “Under the Local Government Act 1995 local governments are considered to be autonomous bodies established to provide for the good government of persons in their district.”
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The official position was clear but now the minister responsible for advocating that autonomy has been appointed the minister taking control of this high-profile issue off the autonomous body elected to deal with it.
Would someone please explain?
Dancing on the head of a pin, those in power will argue that they used the Land Administration Act and not the Local Government Act to take control and while this is technically correct it does not overcome the repudiation of what the government claims is the right of an autonomous body to act in the interests of its constituency.
Disagreeing with a decision is not enough and this column is not aimed at providing an argument for or against what is going on in Fremantle, it is aimed at the hypocritical stance of the government.
All it took to reverse the government’s will was an impending election and extensive news coverage.
Meanwhile, punters with problems just have to suck it up and suffer because the same government will not act in their interests.
Citizens who have approached the government expressing their concerns over their local authorities’ actions on many issues ranging from planning to heritage, community amenity and general governance issues are now entitled to ask for similar governmental action, but I suspect they will not get it.
And that is the issue.
Larry Graham was the former Labor and Independent Member for the Pilbara from 1989-2005.
Descended from a family of 1890’s Nullarbor pioneers, Larry Graham has spent his adult life living and working in every mainland state in the nation. He worked in a variety of jobs over this time, ranging from milkman to Member of Parliament with the Australian Labor Party before moving to Toodyay seven years ago. The combination of public life, thirty years in outback Australia and six years in the army right around the country has given Larry experiences, access and exposures that very few people ever get the opportunity to have.
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