In its submission to the Metropolitan Local Government Review Panel’s final report, the City supported the creation of a minister for waste cabinet position.
The submission was passed by Joondalup Council at a special meeting earlier this month.
The report recommends a single body to manage waste for the metropolitan area, in place of regional councils that presently manage it.
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READ NOWThe review panel was set up by the State Government in 2011 to examine WA’s local governments and recommend changes to improve the sector.
While the panel’s most controversial recommendation involves slashing the number of local governments in the metropolitan region from 31 to 10-12, it also examined how to best cater for the rapid growth expected over the next 20 years.
The proposed amalgamations would not affect Joondalup and the City supported reducing the number of metropolitan local governments to 16 in its submission.
The City also called on the State Government to examine exemptions for local rates given to LandCorp and other State Government agencies in its submission.
The City’s submission took aim at Development Assessment Panels, which were established by the State Government in 2011 to assess projects worth $7 million or more, describing them as ‘inefficient and a more costly process than the former system’.
The City opposed the panel’s recommendation to establish a forum of metropolitan mayors, to be chaired by the Lord Mayor of Perth, to lobby on behalf of the local government sector.
Councillor Russ Fishwick said the WA Local Government Association’s metropolitan mayors policy forum was a more appropriate body.
‘I believe the Lord Mayor of Perth may have a vested interest in promoting the central CBD of Perth, which could be in conflict with Joondalup being the second CBD of the metropolitan area,’ he told the meeting.
Proposals to introduce compulsory voting and allowing for group or political party nominations for local government elections were not supported in the City’s submission.