Today marks 5
weeks of silence from Minister for Local Government Nic Street on using the
Local Government Act to force council amalgamations.
We know
Minister Street has been sitting on the latest report since Friday and is yet
to release it to the public.
We hold serious
concerns that the Minister will attempt to release the report late on Thursday
afternoon before the Easter Break in order to avoid any scrutiny from the media
and community.
This sort of
behaviour would, unfortunately, be expected from Jeremy Rockliff’s Government.
Over the past fortnight alone we’ve seen another one of his Ministers,
Madeleine Ogilvie, attempt to avoid scrutiny over extremely serious issues in
her racing and cyber security portfolios, rather than be transparent and open.
It raises the
question, what is in the report? And why is Nic Street holding up the process?
I am calling on
Minister Street to release the report today.
Tasmanians are rightfully concerned with what is going on in the Local Government sector, and now is not the time to be withholding information.
Luke Edmunds MLC
Shadow Minister for Local Government and Planning
