Formal proposal to split City of Wanneroo into two local governments

19/6/97

Local Government Minister Paul Omodei has made a formal proposal to the Local Government Advisory Board to split the City of Wanneroo into two local governments and to remove Maylands from the City of Stirling and add it to the City of Bayswater.

Mr Omodei said that his proposal for Wanneroo was to create a new City of Joondalup and a Shire of Wanneroo.

He said he expected that within five years there would need to be a further division of the Shire of Wanneroo to create a new Shire of Alkimos.

Mr Omodei announced his proposals in Parliament this morning and said afterwards that it was now up to the board to consult with residents and affected councils, invite submissions from any interested parties, and make a detailed assessment of the proposals.

When it had completed its work, the board would report to the Minister with a recommendation on each proposal.

It would then be up to the Minister to accept or reject the recommendation. He could not vary it or force his will on the board.

Mr Omodei said that currently the City of Wanneroo had a population of 208,000 and this was expected to rise to 335,000 by 2011.

By any measure anywhere in Australia, it was a very large council and still growing rapidly.

Under his proposal the City of Joondalup would have a population of about 140,000, which would remain basically stable.

The Shire of Wanneroo would have a population of about 70,000, but this would grow rapidly, leading to the creation of the new Shire of Alkimos.

His proposed City of Joondalup would extend from Beach Road to Tamala Park with its eastern boundary set by Wanneroo Road and Lake Joondalup.

Mr Omodei said his proposal for the City of Stirling would result in less change than the various options put forward by the Local Government Advisory Board in its report 'Options for Stirling and Wanneroo'.

The transfer of Maylands to the City of Bayswater would involve about 8,000 people and would leave Stirling with a population of about 173,000, which was expected to remain stable or decline slightly.

Stirling would still be a large local government, but it was well-managed and efficient.

The transfer of Maylands had long been recognised as desirable because of the strong community of interest with Bayswater, but Mr Omodei felt the reasons for the transfer of other parts of the city to neighbouring local governments, such as Vincent or Cambridge, were not as compelling.

The idea of splitting Stirling into two local governments had been carefully considered, but in the final analysis any outcome chosen was not likely to produce sufficient benefits to warrant the amount of change required.

Stirling would remain slightly bigger than the most desired size for local government and there would be a need for the council to make a serious effort to generate a greater sense of local ownership of the local government.

The council was not able to generate much interest in its campaign to prevent the splitting of the city.

Council claimed a high percentage of support for its position, but it was a high percentage of a very small section of the population and could not be described as real popular involvement with the local government.

"This could be a tribute to an efficient and trouble-free administration, but it could equally be apathy about an administration that seemed to be too remote," Mr Omodei said.

"In the final analysis I decided that maintaining the present stability was more important than creating two local governments in the uncertain hope of achieving greater local participation.

"However, this was not an option in Wanneroo, where I believe the huge growth expected in the next decade makes the creation of new local governments essential."

Mr Omodei said the Local Government Advisory Board would make its own independent assessment of his proposals.

If it agreed with them, a timetable for the proposed changes would be announced.

There would be little disruption in Stirling, but at Wanneroo it would be necessary for commissioners to be appointed to replace the elected council for a period of about two years.

Media contact: Hugh Ryan 9366 0200