THE HEAT GOES ON.

For two decades WA State Government’s duckshoved as much responsibility as they could onto Local Government Councils turning them from rubbish and rate collectors, road graders and pavers and local park gardeners into having supposedly autonomous, almost total ‘responsibility’ for their own survival. 

It is often thought that the method behind the madness was to shift much of the cost burden from state and federal taxpayers to local ratepayers who did not have enough direct political power to argue the toss.

Also government departments and agencies involved with local government appear to have wanted  to be able to exist in a ‘no care taken-it is not our responsibility’ it’s yours’ employment utopia, enjoying a much reduced workload, good wages and conditions with no pressure to perform. A sort of permanent semi-retirement.

There is no greater example of this philosophy than the recent performance of the  Department of Local Government itself.

Over the years nothing and no one has filled this ‘responsibility’ void!

One great problem is that there are not 138 qualified experts in planning, health, tourism, asset management, road maintenance, financial management and accountability and local domestic, commercial and industrial development to cover the state’s 138 councils to ensure an overall, level playing field.

Under the current system each of these expertise should be handled by a single, highly qualified staff member to maximise performance and guarantee a viable future for each and every  Local Government Area. (Yet many of these LGA’s find it financially difficult to maintain the level of, mostly unqualified, staff they have now.)

At least 1,000 suitable personnel are needed to cover all the most important Local Council administrative bases, particularly outside the city.

According to WALGA, these people already exist and there is no inherent problem. WALGA is a self-interest agency, highly protective of its own future and will say there is no difference between hot and cold  until hell freezes over.

These required 21^st Century wunderkind actually do not exist. And there is no capacity , capability and local government finances to provide the expertise required, often not even to a bare minimum standard.

A newspaper headline now says ‘WA STATE DEPARTMENT WANTS TO STRIP COUNCILS OF PLANNING POWERS’.

It is the  Western Australian Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH) who appears to want to claw back some oversight over infill, amenities and dealing with developers and development in the Perth Metropolitan Area.

They have tentatively approached the Local Government Minister, David Templeman, to have some re-seizure of power incorporated in the new Local Government Act 2018 because of frustration in dealing with recalcitrant councillors and their councils.

So what! President David Wallace and CEO Paul Martin may say on behalf of the Shire of York. What happens in Perth stays in Perth.

Maybe not so!

There are underlying, all encompassing issues that can be a threat to all councils and their futures.

The complaint by the DPLH is that certain local government  Policies and Guidelines and related procedures, including Strategic Planning and Development are grossly out-of-date.

The Shire of York, with a consultant as hired help, claims it has completed all these necessary reviews and can probably relax for a couple of years until another mandatory evaluation is demanded (after five years.)

The problem is, even if a strategic planning review or any other review was undertaken yesterday, it does not mean that the decisions made are not already totally useless in this day and age.

Nor do they  necessarily  truly reflect the modern day wants and needs of the Shire of York community.

Does the Shire’s 2016 to 2021 review criteria have a satisfactory, professional, up-to-date development procedural content, or is it just a mishmash rehash of yesteryear with a consultants advice? .

An overall problem that the DPLH perceives is the lack of ability of Local Government Councillors to make important decisions in these areas.

There are unappreciated, unstudied laws and statutes, conflict of interest, self-interest, friendships and animosities that ensure a development that should not go ahead- proceeds, and one that should- does not get the green light.

Has this happened within the Shire of York?- allegedly it may well have.

So WHO IS THE REAL CARLY RUNDLE and her importance in the scheme of things that may now have an added meaning.

She is the Shire’s Senior Planning Officer and the one most directly affected by any changes in her area of expertise in the Local Government Act 2018, other than Martin and Wallace.

This Act cannot have one edict for City Councillors and their council’s planning staff and another for Rural Regional and Remote councillors and their council staff.

It may be that the DPLH is trying to stave off anymore redundancies by trying to take back some workload. No- probably not.

Maybe the Heritage Section of the department is looking at what the Shire of York intends to do with the collapsing, heritage convent. That is highly likely.

Just do not think what happens in Vegas- stays in Vegas

Or better still- think that York is Vegas,

David Taylor.