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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-01 Daily Xml
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Local Government Amalgamations

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (14:48): Thank you for getting there, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Minister, what is the government's final position on what constitutes a positive response to the City of Mount Gambier and District Council of Grant amalgamation plebiscite? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TELFER: In parliament, the minister repeated:

The government will carefully consider the results of the plebiscite. It will consider how voters across both councils voted, how voters in each council voted and, in the case of the District Council of Grant, how voters in each of the three wards voted.

Subsequent to that statement, the minister has said in the media that a result will be the cumulative of the two councils.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:49): I thank the local member for the question, because it is a legitimate one and one that I believe is going to become increasingly topical in the days ahead as we find out the outcome of the plebiscite.

I had the fantastic opportunity to be down in Mount Gambier on Friday of last week. I think that, from memory, it is something like the fifth time I have been in Mount Gambier this year. I have committed to the people of the Limestone Coast to make sure that I have a frequent presence for as long as I have the privilege of holding the office that I currently do.

The Limestone Coast is full of potential, and apart from Mount Gambier being our second biggest city in South Australia there is a great chance to enhance not just the prosperity of the local community but the state more broadly, which is why we have taken an active interest and why we have made over $100 million worth of commitments. It is also transparently available to the people of South Australia to pursue in the lead-up to the election and it is also accounted for in the budget.

With respect to our interest, though, it goes beyond just the election commitments. It is an ongoing interest about maximising opportunity where we can find it, and that includes facilitating a really historic moment by providing every ratepayer in the Grant district council area and the Mount Gambier city council area the opportunity to have a say through a direct vote about whether or not they want to simply examine council amalgamation. To go to the specifics of the minister's question—

Mr Telfer: I'm only the shadow, sir.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Sorry, the shadow minister's question. My apologies. We have been very clear about this, as has the Minister for Local Government, that there is going to be a ballot. We will fully release the outcome of that ballot, and the yes/no vote will be broken down in the Mount Gambier council area, and then separately we will release what the yes/no ballot outcome is in the Grant district council area. As the member mentioned in his question, there will also be a breakdown of the vote in the respective wards.

In terms of what constitutes a yes or a no vote in the pursuit of the examination, it is the total vote. The total vote will determine whether or not there is the examination. What is important for the shadow minister to be aware of, and indeed everyone casting a ballot if they haven't done so already, is what will transpire in the event of a yes vote.

In the event that there is a yes vote there will be an examination done through the Local Government Boundaries Commission in conjunction most likely with the Productivity Commission, and then separately to that but concurrently with that we will also undertake a broad ranging and wide community consultation throughout the Grant district council area and the City of Mount Gambier. We don't know what the outcome of those two separate exercises will be. They are sincere and they are genuine in wanting to explore what the potential benefits of amalgamation are and what the potential costs of amalgamation are so that everyone can fully digest that and assess it.

However, here is the simple view that the government has: why not ask the question? We've got to have the courage to ask the question, and if we ask the question of those that this decision will be affected by the most and they come back and say, 'No, we don't even want to examine it,' then so be it, no harm done. But, of course, if they do want the examination to take place we will actively facilitate that as a government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

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