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Rights enshrined

Ian Ker, Mt LawleyStirling Times

The Local Government Act, 1995, does not restrict the right for people to make submissions to the Local Government Advisory Board on proposed boundary changes to local governments alone.

Every affected individual (and even, technically, an individual who is not affected) has the right to make a submission on any changes that are the subject of a formal inquiry by the advisory board.

Equally important, the board is required to consider all submissions and to have regard to community of interests, physical and topographical features, demographic trends, economic factors, the history of the area, transport and communication, matters affecting the viability of local governments and the effective delivery of local government services.

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Therefore, the opportunity is there to make the board fully (and painfully) aware of the strength of feeling about these ill-considered proposals.

The eight points above provide a simple template for expressing your views. I can see people having a field day in respect of community of interest (or, rather, lack thereof) for many of the proposed changes, such as splitting the Beaufort Street/Mt Lawley centre between three local governments.