Member for Perth John Carey says a potential amalgamation between the City of Perth and the City of Vincent is impossible until a change of leadership occurs, describing the ongoing issues at the Perth council as the “legacy” of current state opposition leader and former Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas.
The state’s local government inspector is probing more than a dozen complaints relating to the City of Perth’s chief executive Michelle Reynolds that were revealed at a behind-the-doors meeting last week in which the “dysfunctional” council was put on notice.
The probe prompted Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley to declare that “amalgamations are back on the table”.
“It is now evident that local government requires a reset, and that starts today,” she said last week.
At a press conference on Thursday, Carey told reporters that he did not have a lot of confidence in the leadership at the City of Perth.
“Part of the problem is, I think, until we see a change in leadership in the City of Perth, that type of merger is not possible, because the current lord mayor would not see it in his personal interest,” he said.
“I would say this. It is well known. This is Basil’s mate. The current lord mayor describes the Liberal leader as his mentor.
“This is Basil’s legacy. He ran with Basil. He used the same campaign team … what you’ve got now is the direct result of Basil Zempilas’ legacy.”
Carey said he felt he had a right to comment on the workings due to his position as the member for Perth.
“I’m happy to call out the mayor for this simple reason,” he said.
“City of Perth ratepayers have contacted me, fed up and frustrated by the leadership of the City of Perth.
“We established it as the number one council independently rated for governance transparency and accountability. The same cannot be said for the current City of Perth.”
In response, Zempilas maintained the local council was a success during his tenure as lord mayor.
“All I’ll say is everybody who watched and witnessed the 4½ years that I was lord mayor knows how the city council operated during that time,” he said.
“Knows what was reported about how the function and the council was coordinating and knows the success of the operation that we put together.
“So that is a ludicrous thing for the Health Infrastructure Minister [Carey] to be saying.”
Zempilas said responsibility for dealing with the ongoing issues at the City of Perth lay with Local Government Minister Beazley.
“What is the local government minister doing if the state government have concerns about what’s happening at the City of Perth?” he said.
“The local government minister should step in and do something about it.
“If you’ve just said that a minister of this state government has genuine concerns about the City of Perth council, the question is, what is the state government going to do about it? What is the premier going to do about it? What is the local government minister going to do about it?”
Current Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds requested a state government investigation into workplace culture at the city following a failed attempt to establish an independent inquiry in November as one of his first moves following his election to the role the previous month.
That attempt, which was presented to the council with just six minutes’ notice, was deemed unlawful by then-acting chief executive Peta Mabbs, who has subsequently resigned from the city.
A monitor was appointed to the City of Perth in January to oversee the council. A report on that process is due on June 19, with Local Government Inspector Tony Brown warning the council he could recommend an inquiry if things did not improve.
The chief executive Michelle Reynolds was suspended following a confidential council meeting with Brown earlier this month.
Councillors on Tuesday night abandoned a plan to increase accommodation perks after Beazley gave them a dressing down on the topic.
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