The City of Fremantle is calling on the state government to provide guidance and certainty on the local government reform process following the results recent elector’s polls, one of which will block the amalgamation of Fremantle and East Fremantle councils.
City of Fremantle Chief Executive Officer Graeme Mackenzie said the East Fremantle poll outcome was first and foremost a missed opportunity for the community.
“While respecting the vote, we believe the people of East Fremantle have missed a golden opportunity to be part of a stronger local government with the financial capacity to deliver and maintain community infrastructure and programs to a higher standard than is currently possible.
“The irony is that if those that voted ‘yes’ had abstained, we would be proceeding with the amalgamation because the percentage turnout would not have been sufficient for a result binding on government.
“The whole poll process is therefore highly flawed.”
The City is now calling on the state government to provide certainty to a process that has been confusing and inconsistent from the outset.
“What these poll results mean is that the state government will now have to decide whether to completely unravel what it has done to date or march on as best it can with a longer term view.” Mr Mackenzie said.
“Like the rest of metropolitan Perth, we are waiting for clear direction from government, direction we’ve been seeking for a number of months but to date has been severely lacking with most of our questions going unanswered.”
