The City of Perth council was put on notice for dysfunctional conduct during a meeting on Tuesday night [1].
This action signals a potential shift in local governance for Western Australia's capital. The state government is now reconsidering the merger of local councils to resolve systemic instability within the city's leadership.
Local Government Inspector Tony Brown issued the notice following a behind-closed-doors meeting on May 20, 2026 [1]. The move comes after the inspector deemed the council's behavior dysfunctional [1].
A Western Australian minister said that council amalgamations are back on the table [2]. This suggests that the state may move to consolidate the City of Perth with other local government areas if the current council fails to rectify its conduct [2].
The inspector's intervention represents a formal warning to the council members. While the specific details of the dysfunction were not disclosed in the public notice, the state's willingness to pursue amalgamations indicates a low tolerance for continued instability [1], [2].
The prospect of amalgamations has long been a point of debate in Western Australian local government. By linking the current dysfunction to the possibility of mergers, the state government is using the threat of structural change to compel a change in the council's internal culture [2].
“The City of Perth council was put on notice for dysfunctional conduct.”
The state government's move to put the City of Perth on notice, combined with the mention of amalgamations, indicates a transition from monitoring to active intervention. By revisiting the idea of council mergers, the Western Australian government is leveraging a structural threat to force a resolution to the leadership crisis in the capital city.
