Funeral services on Flinders Island and health care services at Bicheno and Triabunna on the East Coast are under threat if Local Government Minister Nic Street continues with his plans for forced council amalgamations.
Minister Street did nothing in Estimates today to quell uncertainty around the future of vital essential services delivered by Local Government.
Minister Street knows councils often pick up the slack on services the community needs but despite being given multiple opportunities, and admitting he was concerned about the future of services, the Minister couldn’t provide assurance that these services would continue if he gets his way and forcibly amalgamates councils.
He couldn’t guarantee that funeral director services on Flinders Island – which are delivered by the council – would be continued under forced amalgamations. He couldn’t guarantee that health care services provided at Triabunna and Bicheno by Glamorgan Spring Bay Council would continue under forced amalgamations.
All he could admit, was that someone would have to provide these services.
How will he ensure that other levels of government will pick up the slack of vital essential services currently provided by local councils?
Minister Street has already confessed that his amalgamations won’t do anything to reduce rates for Tasmanians struggling in a cost-of-living crisis, infamously telling Leon Compton on ABC radio on April 20:
“The one thing you will not hear me promise, Leon, is that amalgamations will reduce rates for ratepayers because that simply is not the case. And it’s not been the experience anywhere. We’re not talking about reducing rates … for me this has never been about cost cutting for ratepayers.”
Now he can’t guarantee that vital services won’t be cut either.
If this is the case, what exactly is the point of his quest to forcibly amalgamate councils?
Luke Edmunds MLC
Shadow Minister for Local Government & Planning
