• Rosalie Fisher was one of about 300 to show her support for keeping Cockburn. Photo by Carmelo Amalfi

“COCKBURN stays! Barnett goes!” chanted hundreds of angry Cockburners rallying outside the WA parliament Thursday.

Protesting the proposed plan to divide the city between Kwinana and Fremantle they arrived in busloads dressed in the city’s blue and orange, shouting “Hands off Cockburn!” and waving anti-merger signs, “If it aint broke, keep Cockburn”. Community members, staff, councillors and MPs gathered to present a petition that collected 12,000 signatures in just weeks.

Cockburn hopes to escape oblivion with its submission this week to the powerful local government advisory board. It needs to convince the board it should, instead of a Kwinana-Fremantle division of Cockburn’s entrails, recommend to WA local government minister Tony Simpson a straight Cockburn-Kwinana merger.

Mayor Logan Howlett told the crowd “we will fight to the very end”, accusing the Barnett government of doing shonky deals with neighbouring local authorities: “The chopping up of one of Australia’s most financially viable, sustainable and efficient local governments into three parts is not local government reform,” the petition states. “It is politically motivated destruction of long term investments made by Cockburn’s ratepayers.”

Mr Simpson accepted the petition and said: “The government put in last week a submission to the local government advisory board, we haven’t put in a final map. There are over 20 submissions into the advisory board … the most important thing for me as minister is to ensure our local governments are sustainable …”

“We are!” the crowd interjected.

Hamilton Hill’s Rosalie Fischer says Cockburn is one of the few councils which spends time and money supporting programs for people of all ages.

“They have been wonderful to me as an invalid,” the disability pensioner told the Herald. “This carve up makes no sense and helps no-one but the other councils, which don’t even support people like me.”

Felicity McGeorge says mergers are not about “how often our recycling bins are emptied”. She urges support for Cockburn’s submission.

“This community proposal is about where our hearts lie. It is about the choice we made to make our homes in the community that we not only identify with but have contributed to.”

Cockburn Labor MP Fran Logan says the municipality is being carved up because of the premier’s obsession with cutting councils: ”And you as ratepayers are going to pay for it. Your $800 million worth of assets that you paid for will be split up and given to Fremantle, Melville and Kwinana.”

Former councillor Tony Romano, who helped draw up the council’s submission, says the government has it wrong: “Taking apart Cockburn will not remedy the issues faced by other councils such as Fremantle,” he says. “There is a better way.”

Mr Howlett agreed: “It’s been full-on this week. Every person I’ve spoken to is furious, even people from outside Cockburn as far as Rockingham are angry.”

He says complaints have flooded in: “Even long-standing Liberal Party members say they will cancel their memberships if the merger goes ahead.”

by CARMELO AMALFI