CHRIS THOMSON

Close to half of WA’s cities, towns and shires are unsustainable according to a Parliamentary report released today.

The much-anticipated Local Government Reform Steering Committee report completed in May, but only released this morning, has found that 61 of the 139 councils are untenable.

The report found that many of the unsustainable councils had refused to participate in the state government’s council reform program that commenced in February 2009.

It said that legislation may need to be introduced to force reform in the $2 billion a year local government ‘industry’.

Disturbingly in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, 82 per cent of the state’s councils lacked adequate asset and financial management strategies.

“The report articulates the gaps and opportunities for the high-growth areas of the state through increased economies of scale and removal of duplication, inconsistencies and fragmented decision making,” WA local government minister John Castrilli said.

“But change is not only needed in high-growth areas.

“Without change, major capacity issues remain, resulting in lost opportunity for the state and communities.

Mr Castrilli said that 67 local governments had responded positively to the reform process but further changes were required to achieve meaningful improvement.

“While commending those local governments which are committed to reform, the steering committee found the voluntary reform process had not yielded the scope and scale of structural reform required statewide.”