City of Melville rewriting Yes Minister

Mr Don Kedic's letter to The West Australian today captures the community's sentiment (Page 22, 9 April)

"Paul Murray, archive your article "Council battle a local farce" (Opinion, 6-7/4);

should ever a new series of Yes Minister be mooted by BBC TV, it would provide the ready-made framework for a side-splitting episode.

The City of Melville and its disaffected minority of disgruntled ratepayers are definitely setting new benchmarks for why many see local government as a pit of wasteful spending and incompetence.

But then again, perhaps metropolitan local government is becoming more and more the ideal training ground for higher political aspirants to hone those dubious qualities."

We would add : 1) there are many disgruntled ratepayers in the City of Melville, not a dismmissive minority as Mr Murray advertises, and 2) we think the State Government agencies and oversight bodies responsible for providing the "adult" supervision of local government also need to be included in any new Yes Minister episodes, ultimately those State Government 'fat cats' also need to be held to account.

Local government needs to be brought under control, not only at the City of Melville, but across the country. The sorry state of local government is an Australia wide issue, it has the insidious hallmarks of the banking industry prior to the Banking Royal Commission. What are the local government regulators actually doing?

Media enquiries to City of Melville Residents and Ratepayers Association, [email protected], https://www.facebook.com/MelvilleResidentsRatepayersAssoc/