John Castrilli

Local Government Minister John Castrilli has announced $10,000 financial packages for local councils that agree to prepare submissions for voluntary amalgamation by the August deadline.

The state government expects to receive more than the 115 local government reform submissions it has already received, which highlight potential areas for reform in the face of possible council amalgamations.

The state government's plan for local councils to merge with one another has proven to be a struggle with only a handful of the 139 councils agreeing to amalgamate and less than half prepared to consider the reform.

Bad economic news and some personnel mismanagement are putting pressure on Colin Barnett’s leadership.

Simmering tensions between the Liberal and National parties within the State Government are threatening to come to a head next month. The issue? Local government reform.

Relentless optimism is a positive quality, as long as it’s based upon the evidence at hand.

The Western Australian parliament has finished all business until after the election on March 11, after it was prorogued by WA governor Kerry Sanderson.