Fremantle lives and grows while Cockburn simply dies according to a prematurely released blueprint of the Barnett government’s latest merger plans.

Fremantle will swallow up tiny East Fremantle council and take Palmyra and Bicton from Melville while also expanding south into North Coogee, Hamilton Hill, Coogee and Spearwood.

Melville will also expand south, taking Coolbellup, North Lake, Leeming, Bibra Lake and Jandakot airport.

The rest of Cockburn will be folded into a vastly increased City of Kwinana, which may be renamed City of Jervoise Bay.

The blueprint mirrors a submission by Kwinana to the local government advisory board and is a massive departure from a previous plan which had Fremantle and East Fremantle disappearing into Melville and Cockburn merging with Kwinana.

Fremantle deputy mayor Josh Wilson is no fan of mergers overall but says this plan is largely what the council had argued for, an organic enveloping of hinterland suburbs into Fremantle.

“I said at the first community meeting that I thought we could fight for this cause and win, and I still believe that,” Cr Wilson says. “Logic, leadership and community passion together are irresistible.”

That said, he won’t relax till it’s all over: To date the process has been such a moveable feast that anything might happen by the time the borders are finalised.

One dark spot is the government’s apparent determination to carve out North Fremantle and park it in its Western Suburbs super council. Fremantle Labor MP Simone McGurk is calling on the government to provide urgent clarification about its plans.

Cockburn mayor Logan Howlett admits he’s “surprised” and “shocked” by the maps, which had been inadvertently included in this week’s release of new boundaries for Perth and Vincent.

“The principle of dissecting a healthy local government to support smaller unsustainable councils goes against the entire local government reform purpose,” he says. “The state government has backflipped on its proposal for local government reform which saw Cockburn merger with Kwinana.

“It said there would only be minor tinkering of boundaries.”

Cockburn-based community groups plan to rally at parliament house in two weeks to protest.

Historical Society of Cockburn president Alex Campbell describes the mergers as “absolutely ridiculous”: “Queensland spent something like $60-odd million on mergers and $38 million undoing it. Cockburn is a progressive council that is successful, no wonder the other councils want a piece of it.”

Atwell Residents’ Association president Jon Guy: “We don’t want to see Cockburn split down Armadale Road. We are a growing regional council and it doesn’t make any sense to merge.”

Spearwood community leader John Cunai: “We are a council in the black and should not be sacrificed and offered up the lap of the amalgamation gods.”

Mr Howlett says he’s requested an immediate meeting with WA local government minister Tony Simpson: “Under our proposal, Kwinana businesses would stand to pay up to 10 per cent less in their current rates. Carving off parts of Cockburn would only push up the rates for those that are left. If the aim is to make services more cost effective, then this is not the way to do it.”

by BRENDAN FOSTER