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Be involved

Staff ReporterEastern Reporter

I READ recently that Singleton Residents Association is looking at closing due to it not attracting new members. This is becoming quite common in suburbs around Perth.

The community group in Balga has closed down, the community group in Ballajura has just closed and goodness knows what other groups in other suburbs have closed due to lack of interest.

It is the community who can often raise issues that affect them directly in the street they live in; affect them directly in regards to their local shops, they can also lobby their respective councils if there is an issue with public transport where their council might have more clout when contacting the Public Transport Authority, for instance.

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There are issues with schools, with traffic in general, the state of the roads, road safety issues and a myriad other things that do not immediately spring to mind.

This lack of interest is also evident in the low voter turnout for council elections, which is not compulsory.

Then when the people who have stood for council are elected and the community members may not like who got in or may not know them very well, they complain, when in fact it is their own fault for not voting.

So remember, if you want your community to improve, then become involved.

You do not have to join everything, yet if you do not then the councillors and the council in general are not mind readers and cannot act in your best interest.

Margaret Ryan, Ballajura