Council reform process scuttled

THE prospect of amalgamations among Tasmania’s 29 councils is more remote than ever after the government abandoned attempts to find political consensus for reforms.

Non-government MPs on Thursday accused the Liberals of trying to use them to write a blank cheque to pass reforms they have not seen.

The final report of the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council, which was handed down in March, recommended parliament should appoint an independent committee, set terms of reference and agree to adopt any recommendations it made.

Local Government and Planning Minister Roger Jaensch on Thursday said the process would be abandoned after parties could not agree.

“Unfortunately, after our third meeting last week, it became clear that the non-government members and parties are not prepared to commit to this process, as recommended by PESRAC and the government does not believe that further discussions will change their views,” Mr Jaensch said.

The Minister said the government would instead consult with local government and the community on what reforms should be carried out to ensure proper and sustainable provision.

“There was no predetermined outcome, and no predetermined number of councils which the state should have,” he said.

“We’re not up for a fight with local government, we’re not going to try and run something through,” he said.

“This is not about amalgamation at all costs or some magical number of councils that we want to arrive at.”

Labor deputy leader Anita Dow said it was undemocratic to ask MPs to agree to endorse reforms they hadn’t seen.

“We were not prepared to commit to all of PESRAC recommendation 48, specifically the part that called on parliament to commit “to implementing the recommendations without material modification.”

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff accused Mr Jaensch of being “deceitful and duplicitous and totally undemocratic”.

“Minister Jaensch didn’t even have the grace to let us know that he’d dismantled the committee — the first we heard about was there was a press conference today.

“The problem with the process that the government designed was it required Labor, the Greens and independent Kristie Johnston to sign up to something we’d never seen.”

Ms Johnston said the outcome was disappointing.

“They were never genuinely interested in a collaborative approach, but instead what they want to do is push their own reform agenda,” she said.

Local Government Association of Tasmania President Christina Holmdahl welcomed the announcement.

“LGAT welcomes genuine discussion and collaboration around opportunities for councils and the communities they represent” she said.

Tasmania has 29 councils, one for every 18,275 people. Victoria in contrast has 79 councils or one per 83,000 people.