Bunbury mayor backs amalgamations to reduce WA's 139 councils

Australia Broadcast Center

09-07-2025

The mayor of Western Australia's largest regional city says the state has too many local governments and is backing mergers as the way to reduce council numbers.
With local government elections approaching and controversies engulfing the Nedlands, Coolgardie and Port Hedland councils, issues with the state's third tier of government have been in the spotlight in recent months.
WA has 139 local governments, more than New South Wales (128) and Queensland (77), despite their larger populations.
Bunbury Mayor Jaysen Miguel said it was an issue that required closer examination.
"There are 139 local governments in WA. It's just too many," Mr Miguel told local podcast BLXCK INK.
While emphasising the position was his view, not his council's, he said Bunbury's smaller neighbours, the shires of Capel, Dardanup and Harvey, should consider merging with Bunbury.
All four councils have hiked rates in their latest budgets, with Bunbury, Dardanup and Harvey all raising their fees by more than 6 per cent.
Mr Miguel said Bunbury ratepayers were copping a bad deal, as people from surrounding shires used their facilities.
"We've got the sports centre, the entertainment centre, the art gallery, the museum … they're regional facilities, but our ratepayers, our 30,000 people, pick up the cost of that for 100,000 people," he said.
While conceding there was no appetite for amalgamation, he told the ABC it was important to start conversations about the idea, before it was "inevitably forced upon local governments anyway".
Dardanup Shire President Tyrrell Gardiner said local decision-making remained the best possible model.
"Dardanup, Capel and Harvey are all experiencing rapid growth, and within a few years each will have populations comparable or exceeding Bunbury's," Cr Gardiner said.
"Smaller communities like Burekup, Dardanup, Capel, Harvey and Brunswick will lose [their] voice in an amalgamated structure, where city politics often dominate conversations."
He said further collaboration remained key to managing the region's growing population.
"The mayor's focus on amalgamation appears more like an attempt to retain influence than a solution grounded in community benefit," Cr Gardiner said.
As both a former Bunbury mayor and former local government minister, it is a familiar debate for John Castrilli, who oversaw the last round of attempted forced council mergers by then-premier Colin Barnett.
While believing any amalgamation would eventually be led by the state government, he said councils should look at opportunities to unite and share resources.
"If there's going to be any amalgamation at all, it'll be done by government, [who will] mandate it, full stop," he said.
"How do we make things more efficient? How do we optimise opportunities?
"If you had one council and 100,000 people [making it] straight away the greater Bunbury council, instead of the 27th largest council, it becomes the 19th largest council."
Mr Castrilli also said previous studies he had facilitated between Subiaco and Nedlands councils in Perth showed amalgamation could lead to a reduction in rates.
"That was just an administration [efficiency] that could save up to $4 million a year. Savings of a couple of hundred bucks a year to each individual household," he said.
In 2008, the Shire of Douglas in Far North Queensland was forced by the Queensland government to amalgamate with Cairns City Council, as part of a statewide reorganisation that substantially reduced the number of councils in the state.
The merger was widely unpopular with Douglas residents, who eventually voted to split from Cairns Regional Council in 2013.
Former Douglas Mayor Julia Leu said the community's interests were often overlooked in the amalgamated Cairns Regional Council.
"Rates went through the roof and services went down," Ms Leu said.
She said any merger in the South West had to acknowledge the interests of the outlying towns.
"[Mr Miguel] has to ensure the local characteristics of those other communities are respected in terms of any newly amalgamated council," Ms Leu said.
"And if the other shires oppose amalgamation they just need to fight it."
Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley said the Cook government wanted councils to work out potential mergers themselves.
It is a position echoed by WA Local Government Association (WALGA) president Karen Chappel.
"WALGA's position is that any structural reform of local government, including amalgamations, should only be undertaken on a voluntary basis, consistent with the state government's policy," she said.
"Any forced amalgamation or boundary change is not necessarily an effective way to address individual challenges faced by local governments."