Perth Voice Interactive

Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi rejects accusations from Alannah MacTiernan that her council is seeking to “cherry pick” lucrative assets currently in neighbouring councils’ borders.

Ms Scaffidi says the PCC has “considered [borders] to the outermost point very solidly”.

“When you look at the western boundary we have gone for some infrastructure items that are not ratepaying, so how can we be accused of being avaricious?”

Cr Rob Butler points out the PCC wants QEII medical centre in its borders: “We don’t get rates out of that, so we’re not exactly cherrypicking, we don’t get them out of the university [of WA].”

Ms Scaffidi has also hit out at neighbouring councils for staging emotionally-charged rallies instead of doing “due diligence”: “What disappoints me personally is we’ve seen a lot of rallies and reactions but we haven’t seen the due diligence coming from other local authorities to the extent we’ve done it,” she told her councillors.

Cr Butler supportively chimed: “The City of Perth, instead of getting out there and waving placards and yelling and screaming, sat down and got to work, and put together a very, very, very comprehensive plan.”

To underscore the point he struggled to lift the massive file. “That’s how heavy it is,” he wheezed.

Vincent acting mayor John Carey says his council chews gum and walks at the same time, staging big rallies while also swotting behind closed doors to prepare detailed reports on the city’s financials.

“I’m very saddened by the attacks on the community by the Perth mayor and some of the councillors,” he says.

“We did do due diligence, but we also sought to engage with the community and there’s nothing wrong with that.

“What’s more, this was driven by the community. This wasn’t men in suits or councillors who drove this campaign, it was the residents.”

by DAVID BALL