I'm standing for election as a councillor for the Shire of Kent once again.
I've been a councillor since 2003 and have seen a number of changes and important decisions made in that time.
Council have been proactive in working with community groups to develop facilities in each town, including the partnership with the Pingrup Progress Association to build accommodation units in Pingrup and with the Nyabing Sports Club to upgrade the Pavilion kitchen and bar in Nyabing.
Council have recently approved an upgrade of the Pingrup netball courts and agreed to in-kind support in partnership with the Pingrup Ground Improvement Committee. The P.G.I.C have worked extremely hard in attaining community support and putting forward a proposal for grant funding for the upgrade of the courts to be multi-purpose playing surfaces.
Council are very supportive of groups that help themselves and will consider any reasonable request for assistance, be it in-kind or financial. I'm always in favour of such partnerships where council work with volunteer community groups to improve the lives of people in our communities.
I've been on council's Building and Land Committee since I first became a councillor and have seen some great projects undertaken in each of our towns.
We've built superb modern three bedroom units and have partnered with the Government Housing Authority to build a comfortable modern home for the school principal in each town.
Another partnership with State Government helped to build neat one bedroom units in each town. Council also undertook the building of a new home for our CEO.
Council have recently acquired residential blocks in Pingrup and are continually working to try to gain residential land in Nyabing. More people are wanting to retire to small safe towns like ours and Council are proactive in encouraging residential as well as commercial development in our towns.
In the time I've been on Council, I've lobbied for our members as well as our community.
I put forward a motion to change the meeting times to later in the afternoon, starting our Forum at 4pm, rather than 2pm. My reasoning was due to my own work commitments as well as to encourage more men and younger people to join council in the future.
The motion was passed and has proved popular with our male councillors, in particular, since they are able to get more work done before the meeting. Unfortunately, it has moved back one hour as we were finding that we weren't finishing our meetings prior to tea time. It proved difficult to come back to a meeting with full concentration, so we now have Forum at 3pm and our regular meeting at 4pm.
I have recently pushed for a higher remuneration for councillors. Since the minister announced his stance on local government reform to encourage voluntary amalgamation processes, I have attended countless meetings and seminars. Councillors have had a great deal of extra reading and community consultation to undertake.
I believe if we are to encourage young people to come on board, we need to be paying a better rate for people to give up their working day to attend various meetings and seminars, not to mention all the work done outside of this time.
We are all taking on more voluntary work in our communities and our time is becoming more constrained.
We have three young people who have nominated for council in the upcoming local government elections, so I'm hoping that these reforms helped to encourage their interest.
I have personally put in many hours assisting our staff with the preparation of Council's reform submission to the Minister for Local Government. This has been a huge undertaking and it is extremely important that we are able to get our message across to the Minister that our Shire does not need to amalgamate in order to achieve many of the outcomes he is looking to accomplish.
I am a passionate and active community member. I'm on a number of committees and have helped to organise many social events, including the recent successful Variety Night held in Nyabing this year. I support our local sporting teams and always help out where needed, be it scoring for netball, yelling for the Hockey girls or producing the Football Budget for each home game.
I also take a great interest in my local school community and have kept abreast of the changes occurring in the way schools are run. I recently lobbied for our school to become a pilot school for the Independent Schools Programme.
This was an enormous opportunity, but, as with a lot of changes, a difficult decision to make, not helped by Teacher's Union scare-mongering at the last minute.
I believe our schools are a vital part of our community and would love to see more partnerships between our Shire and our little primary schools.
The decision to start a blog came about after talking with people in both communities who felt they didn't have access to information about our local government and the decisions that were being made. I hope that my blog has been informative and has kept people abreast of the current happenings in local government and their affect on the Shire of Kent.
I'm hoping that my past performance has proved to my constituents that I have both of our communities' interests at heart and that you will show your approval with a tick next to my name on your voting slip.
Remember, you can vote at the Shire Office any time up until October 16th, or you may vote on Election Day, October 17th.
Authorised by: Cr Megan Tuffley
Written by: Cr Megan Tuffley
4 Richmond St
Nyabing WA 6341
(08) 98291076
I'd like your vote!
Liam Bartlett hits the nail on the head.
In case you missed Liam Bartlett's caustic comments about our illustrious Minister and Premier in the Sunday Times on September 20th, here's a copy:
"If you've ever wondered how your local council could get any worse, let me give you the answer: Being strong-armed by a shambolic state Government that doesn't have a clue as to why it's doing it or what it wants!
Sound confusing? Well, that's the circus being run by Premier Colin Barnett and his one-armed lion tamer John Castrilli. This perambulating pair of pollies, who are trying to squeeze councils into a one-size-fits-all big top, have done no cost-benefit studies, no social or economic impact assessments and, unless they're hiding it, have no real plan.
But that hasn't stopped them firing up the bulldozer and threatening the small end of town with extinction if they don't get their way.
Now I know that on face value, thinking about the future of your local council is enough to turn the soggiest Sao into dust, but consider this: For dozens of towns in this state, the shire is the glue that holds the community together.
And it's not just jobs from direct employment but also the flow-on effect to local businesses and the provision of other government services, not to mention the stability through the tough times of drought or flood, bushfires and other trauma.
There are many very good, decent people who have invested an awful lot of time and goodwill into developing their local district, about to be railroaded into oblivion for the sake of simplistic conservative ideology.
WA has 139 local councils and the Dodgy Brothers (aka Barnett and Castrilli) say there should be fewer than that. Terrific. That's a policy objective that could be scratched out on the back of a beer coaster, but what next? Minister Castrilli began this push in February by insisting he would legislate to force small shires to amalgamate if they didn't volunteer.
Nationals leader Brendon Grylls suggested the removal of Royalty for Regions funding for councils that refuse to merge or join a regional organisation and Premier Barnett says state money will be directed to newly amalgamated councils first.
It's a democratic trifecta, isn't it? Threats, coercion and bribery - all in the name of more efficient government. Of course, the minister has now recanted and been quoted as saying, "We're totally committed to the process of voluntary amalgamation", but on a scale of public sincerity, I'd say he ranks right up there
with Kyle Sandilands.
Which is why I am puzzled about the Premier's position. If he's serious about creating significant savings for ratepayers, why not begin by amalgamating supposedly wasteful councils in his own back yard?
Peppermint Grove, for example.
I know Mr Barnett has already taken the Marie Antoinette approach in labelling it WA's "Monaco", but why not show some good old-fashioned Aussie egalitarianism and merge this tiny, inefficient council with, say, Mundaring? It has a ring to it, hasn't it? Monaco meets Mundaring?
The Hills come to the city and the weir meets the Swan - it couldn't be a more perfect fit. And under the Barnett/Castrilli wish list, it wouldn't present a single obstacle. You see, the two shires are only 50km apart and that wouldn't create any difficulty for the respective residents to participate in local
council affairs, would it?
Many of the country shires that these two reckon should merge or "wither on the vine" are already a lot further apart than a mere 50km. I know some rural, elected members who travel more than 150kmjust to attend a council meeting.
If efficiencies of scale are not good enough for Peppermint Grove, why shouldn't the rest of the state be protected in the same way? If it's good enough for the silvertails in Peppermint Grove to pick up the phone and have direct, local accountability from their local councillor, then it's good enough for every other ratepayer around the state.
Obviously there are inefficiencies and duplications across some districts, particularly in the metropolitan area, and overall some councils that do need to be rationalised, but where is the plan and who will pay?
Why isn't consideration being given to the social and economic costs of a town "withering on the vine" as a result of a merger?
There is already a large body of evidence which sets out precisely what not to do and the minister needs only to park his considerable backside on a plane for a handful of hours to discover how to avoid a disaster.
Queensland's obsession with council amalgamation under Peter Beattie has cost in the order of$200 million, most of it paid by now-disgruntled ratepayers through increased rates and/or fewer services.
Far from delivering the touted benefits, many mergers have not worked and some are now considering de-mergers.
I realise our pollies are fond of re-inventing the wheel in order to justify their own existence, but surely the Queensland experience should at least serve as a massive warning sign.
Mr Castrilli's deadline for councils to make submissions is only a fortnight away. So far, the divisive and rudderless process has been going on almost as long as Michael Jackson's funeral and there is still no sign of a detailed explanation from his office as to the economic and social impacts.
Before the minister wipes one council off the official register, he must explain how taking "local" out of local government by creating far bigger districts will make it better. And before one more waffling press release rolls off his office printer, he must tell all taxpayers precisely how the total cost of implementation will be measured and reported and what everyone will have to pay, regardless of where they live.
If a single shire is forced to merge with a neighbour, both the minister and the Premier will be shown to be liars, but perhaps worse still, if "Monaco" is exempted as a "special case", the odious whiff of hypocrisy will be smelt in council chambers throughout the state."
Another 'Hear, hear' from me!
New Blog Address
I hope everyone has visited this new blog address.
I imported it to a new address because I have a number of blogs and needed to create a totally new profile for my Councillor Blog.
I had a lot of comments, reactions & a few followers on my blog that weren't imported. I hope everyone re-joins my blog and continues to add comments.
Vote Now! Or Later....
Council Elections will be held on October 17th, 2009, but you can vote anytime up to Friday 16th October at the Shire of Kent office.
With eight nominations for four positions and no wards in the Shire, we should get a lot more electors voting this year.
You only have to be a resident of the Shire, not a ratepayer. Make sure you have your say.
103 Schools Sign Up
The Independent Schools Program option has been enthusiastically embraced by forward thinking schools with 103 WA Schools signing up to be amongst the 30 pilot schools.
The WA School Teacher's Union lost their application to the WA Industrial Relations Commission in relation to their interim application for Orders re: lack of consultation, on Friday 4th September, 2009.
My belief is that the WASSTU had no right to interfere in this process by contacting Parent & Citizen Associations. The union represents TEACHERS, and should have no influence with parent organisations. The tactics employed were typical union scare-mongering, with non facts and inuendo calculated to frighten parents who may not be sure about the decision they had to make.
If we were to take the community's yes votes for the chance to take up the option to become a pilot school for the Independent Schools Programme, the School Council vote would have been a 'yes'. However, I feel that the last minute spiel sent out to P & C's by the TEACHER'S union, altered the perception of people, thereby losing the vote and, ultimately, our chance to show what Nyabing Primary School could be.
Shire Elections Hotly Contested
Wow! Eight nominations for four positions!
That's just so encouraging in my opinion. To me, it means that people are passionate about their community. So much so, they are prepared to go out to bat for them.
Well done to the following people who have nominated for Council:
Taryn Borgward
Gordon Browne
Scott Crosby
Renae Jury
Mark Stephens
Our incumbants who are nominating again are Neil Grant-Williams, Lucy Skipsey and myself.
Each candidate's profile can be viewed at the Shire offices.
I wish everyone the very best in their campaigns.
Shire of Kent Election Nominations
Things are hotting up in the run up to the Shire of Kent elections on October 17th.
With four positions available, so far there are six nominations. This is fantastic news for our Shire.
One of the criticisms in our report back from the Local Government Reform Committee was that our elections are rarely contested.
Perhaps the fact that the Shire now does not have any wards has changed the way people view their representation.
Cr Crosby and I have been particularly active in lobbying our community to encourage people to nominate. It appears this has paid off with three people from the Nyabing community nominating.
I have re-nominated for what, I think, will be my last term should I be elected. That will make ten years in local government which is a long time! I would like to see our Shire through the reform process to help make sure that any reform we undertake or are forced to undertake is right for us.
Response to Katanning Submission from Gnowangerup
The President of Gnowangerup Shire, Cr Ken Pech, has issued a media statement in response to the Shire of Katanning's aggressive approach to reform. To read more about the Shire of Katanning's submission, click here and scroll down.
Below is Cr Pech's statement:
'The Shire of Gnowangerup is incredulous at the reported outpourings (ABC Radio and Great Southern Herald) that have been emanating from the President of the Shire of Katanning and Mayor of the Town of Narrogin, regarding Local Government Reform.
Surely, Katanning Council must realise that this type of behaviour and attitude to its surrounding Shires has contributed to them not having many “Local Government Friends” – they just don’t get it. They may class themselves as a regional centre, but they certainly don’t behave as such. They enjoy regional advantages such as big business, high schools and health services, all of which create considerable activity that doesn’t cost their Local Government one red cent. The services that their Council maintain are no different to those of outlying councils such as ours; to suggest they need a bigger mass of broad acre agricultural land to remain viable, suggests that they should review their financial and asset management. If they rated these regional businesses appropriately, perhaps they wouldn’t be on a land grab. We will deal with the State Government in our way; not be dictated to by a council that clearly has difficulty managing its own affairs.
The Shire of Gnowangerup is going through its Reform process with like minded councils who we know understand the requirements of their people and will look after their small towns. For the Katanning Council to berate other Shires because they don’t agree with our approach smacks of dictatorship such as we see in third world countries. We can and will work with like minded shires.
I am not sure who the Katanning Shire President thinks runs small councils but, in our case, it’s the elected members; maybe other attitudes exist in regional centres such as Katanning. To imply that Chief Executive Officers are manipulating reform for their own self interest is tantamount to slander.
We suggest Katanning improves its own performance: we will continue to run our Council in a way that suits our electors and community.'
I say, "Hear, hear!"
How to work with your neighbours
The Shire of Brookton understands how important it is to work with your neighbours when discussing reforms such as amalgamation, unlike the Shire of Katanning (see previous post).
Here is a media release issued by Acting CEO, Stan Kocian and Cr Barry Coote, Shire President on the 4th September:
'BROOKTON COMMUNITY ACCEPTS EXPANDED LOCAL MODEL
Approximately 90 Brookton residents turned out for what was a constructive and positive community meeting to discuss amalgamations and structural reform, with over 75% supporting an amalgamation model of Beverley, Brookton, Pingelly and Wandering.
This preference was also strongly supported in a community survey that shows 64% agreeing with this model.
The resultant amalgamated group would have total revenue of $14.7 million and a growing population of about 4,300, with 2,224 electors.
President Barry Coote noted that “as in any marriage, we all bring something to the partnership. We all have our strengths, but it is the sum of those that adds real strength to this model.”
A concern of smaller shires is the potential loss of staff and their families to regional centres and the flow-on effects within the local economy – a major plus of this model will be the retention of a local presence due to housing availability.
Also highlighted were the similarities in our demographics, recent population growth, and impact of our peri-urban location. Along with interests in common we also share community values and methods of operation.
This has been demonstrated in a variety of resource sharing projects over an extended period of time – this has included Town Planners, Building Surveyors/Environmental Health Officers, contract service providers and specific initiatives like the shared speed trailer.
Our communities are also well integrated with inter-school sporting groupings as well as most of the wider sporting associations and Local Drug Action Group.
The Brookton Shire Council will be formally finalising its position at the September meeting, based on community views provided at both the town hall meeting and the survey.
The Councils of Beverley, Pingelly and Wandering have given in-principle support for Brookton to include this model in our submission, and further talks will be taking place following scheduled community meetings in Beverley and Pingelly next week.'
Now, that seems like a sensible way to talk to your neighbours about local government reform.
Independent Public Schools Opportunity Lost
Last night, the Nyabing School Council voted on the option to become a pilot school in the Education Department's Independent Public School programme.
Over the time I've been discussing this issue with parents and community members, I felt that most people were in favour of this exciting opportunity. Some had a couple of reservations, but could see the benefits of becoming an IPS due to ample consultation and information being provided by the administration staff at Nyabing Primary School.
This feeling has since changed since the State School Teachers Union campaigned P & C's with their own special brand of scare-mongering. The SSTU's comments played on people's fear of change and uncertainty in the future. A very one sided notice went out to parents with no time for the Department or the school to counter their argument before the final decision had to be made by School Council on Monday night.
The vote last night had to be an absolute majority. With a couple of members abstaining, this already made a positive outcome less likely. The final vote was a 'no'.
I'm very disappointed in the result as I thought we had a proactive parent community. The School Council had a really difficult time deciding which way they should vote due to the lack of response from the parent community. I don't envy them in having to make this choice and I imagine that they chose 'no', as it was a safe choice.
It appears that less than half of the families even bothered to complete a survey, which is disappointing in itself. Does this show apathy? I believe so. Some people feel it shows that people don't understand the concept or didn't have enough information, so didn't want to complete a survey. Information was readily available from the website, the registrar and the principal at school. No one rang or emailed for more information.
I certainly hope that this apathy doesn't exist in the wider community when it comes to our Local Government Survey. I'm hoping that people will see this as an important decision to make and will help Council in making that decision.
