Cr Italiano said ‘the gloves are off’ and said the City would now review all its major projects including the Scarborough redevelopment, a co-operative project between the City and the State Government.
‘All projects are now effectively under review and the City investing into the redevelopment of Scarborough beach is some- thing we are going to have to seriously review,’ he said.
Cr Italiano said the State Government was playing politics rather than attempting to improve the local government system.
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READ NOW‘It’s more like they wanted to ensure the local member (Mt Lawley MLA Michael Sutherland) doesn’t suffer any retribution from his constituents in the next election to keep his seat safe ” lets face it, this is all about politics and nothing to do with what is right for those paying rates.’
Local Government Minister Tony Simpson defended the State Government’s decision to change Perth’s local government boundaries and labelled Mr Italiano’s claims of ensuring local member safety as ‘rubbish’.
‘The easiest option is to do nothing, but with our population set to grow by 500,000 in the metropolitan area over the next 13 years, we must, no question about it, strengthen our councils.
‘This will give them the capacity to plan for and implement the extra facilities and services to cope with that growth,’ Mr Simpson said.
Cr Italiano said City of Stirling residents could expect a smaller city with lower revenue and fewer services.
‘Would you be happy with paying more just because someone wants to fiddle with a line on a map just so they can bump our neighbours up to their ‘ideal’ populous? It just defies logic.’
Tom Rabe