Local Government Minister Tony Simpson wants the City of South Perth to be taken over by its Town of Victoria Park neighbour.
The minister’s submission came to light after the Local Government Advisory Board called for public submissions on the 21 proposals it received from local government ” 12 from the minister and one from a group of Cockburn electors.
As a result, the Town is still considering whether or not to put in a new submission ” joint or otherwise ” by the March 13 deadline.
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READ NOW‘We have a decision of council where we have formally adopted a resolution to amalgamate with the City of South Perth. The minister’s proposal does not change our resolution,’ Cr Vaughan said.
‘I am sympathetic to Mayor Doherty’s reaction as the minister’s proposal does not align with the Town and the City of South Perth’s LGAB submission.’
In a new development, Victoria Park Councillor John Bissett has questioned how Cr Vaughan showed his support for the City’s predicament in a letter he sent to Cr Doherty sent last week.
At last Tuesday’s council meeting, Cr Bissett accused the Victoria Park Mayor of lying and threatened to take his complaint ‘further’.
After asking the acting chief executive if the council had passed a resolution it did not support the minister’s resolution, Anthony Vuleta responded he was not aware of its appearance in council minutes.
Cr Bissett then questioned why Cr Vaughan had written a letter to Cr Doherty stating that the ‘(Victoria Park) council in no way supports the (minister’s) submission’.
‘You should not criticise the minister,’ Cr Bissett said. ‘You may have broken local government regulations. It’s going further.’
Cr Vaughan said the issue had been discussed behind closed doors.
‘The intention of the letter I sent to the elected members of the City of South Perth was to reassure them that the Town is continuing to support the joint submission the Town and City made to the LGAB known as Proposal 13,’ Cr Vaughan said.
‘The council has adopted the position of amalgamating with the City of South Perth and has not considered the minister’s proposal for the Town’s boundary to incorporate the City of South Perth. I did not criticise the minister in my letter.’