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WA local government minister suggests merger for Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Coolgardie councils
Western Australia's local government minister has put council mergers back on the agenda, suggesting the unification of a trouble-plagued Goldfields council with its much larger regional neighbour.
Hannah Beazley made the comments in state parliament on Thursday, suggesting the combination of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Shire of Coolgardie — both about 600 kilometres east of Perth — could be a solution to the latter's significant financial and governance issues.
The potential amalgamation of the Shire of Coolgardie and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been mooted for decades, while broader proposals to reduce WA's 139 councils have a similar history.
Ms Beazley rebuffed the Shire of Coolgardie earlier this month when it attempted to hike mining rates by 97 per cent to address a $6.5 million budget deficit.
In state parliament on Thursday, Ms Beazley said "shocking mismanagement" had resulted in questions about the Shire of Coolgardie's ongoing financial viability, describing the council as a "financial mess".
"I will take prompt action and have arranged a meeting with representatives of the Shire of Coolgardie, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the local member [Labor MP Ali Kent], to address the serious concerns in relation to the financial viability of the Shire," she told parliament.
"While I am assured that no malice was intended by elected members, nevertheless, shocking mismanagement and poor governance has occurred at the shire.
"I would urge the shire to do what is right for their community and region and be cooperative in speaking with their neighbouring council at Kalgoorlie-Boulder and jointly support a boundary adjustment."
Kalgoorlie MLA Ali Kent said she hoped both councils would be supportive of the proposal.
"It's a different thing that I believe Colin Barnett put into the act some time ago. A boundary readjustment is just basically redrawing where the boundary goes out to," she said.
"Surely the future of the region is far more critical than what a line on the map is.
"There's obviously a lot of work and a lot of detail that will need to go into the boundary readjustment."
The ABC has contacted both Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor Glenn Wilson and Shire of Coolgardie President Malcolm Cullen for comment.
A merger of the neighbouring shires — founded on the discovery of gold at Coolgardie in 1892 and at Kalgoorlie in 1893 — would create one of the physically largest local governments in WA.
The Shire of Coolgardie covers 30,400 square kilometres and has about 3,600 people living in the towns of Coolgardie, Kambalda, Widgiemooltha and the Aboriginal community of Kurrawang.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is significantly larger in both land mass and population, responsible for an area covering 95,575 square kilometres and about 30,000 residents.
It was created out of the 1989 merger of the Town of Kalgoorlie and the Shire of Boulder.
A review of the Local Government Act in 2020 sparked renewed calls for councils to consider mergers to be sustainable into the future.
There has been some reluctance in the past, with the proposed merger of the shires of Westonia and Yilgarn in WA's Wheatbelt voted down by ratepayers in 2012.
Some councils have been successfully merged, like in the state's Midwest, where the City of Greater-Geraldton was created following its 2011 amalgamation with the Shire of Mullewa.
That followed City of Geraldton's prior amalgamation with the Shire of Greenough in 2007.
The potential amalgamation comes after Shire of Coolgardie councillors this week agreed to put a controversial mining camp on the market to address its dire financial situation.
The council built the 328-room Bluebush Village in Kambalda to take advantage of the Goldfields' latest mining boom.
Figures provided by the Shire of Coolgardie to the ABC confirmed the initial budget for Bluebush Village blew out from $9 million to more than $24.5 million.
The workers' accommodation opened in late 2022 but had lower-than-expected occupancy rates following the demise of WA's once-booming nickel industry.
Shire president Malcolm Cullen said the first step in the sale process was for acting CEO Aaron Cook to prepare a report detailing the requirements for a major land transaction, with cost estimates and timeframes.
"It's a process that we promised the community we would look into, and we are definitely going down that path," Mr Cullen told the ABC on Wednesday.
"It is a great facility and we feel it does create a significant economic benefit for the community of Kambalda being in the middle of the town."
