Prior to the WALGA (WA Local Government Association) AGM, the Hon Colin Barnett MLA, Premier of Western Australia, addressed the conference.
Mr Barnett left us in no doubt that by 'structural reform' he means a lot less local authorities. At present, there are 139 local governments serving around 2 million people in Western Australia.
Mr Barnett said he would like to see less than 100 local government authorities in 5 years time. He stated that the status quo is not an option. He also mentioned that forming VROC's (Voluntary Regional Organisations of Council) was only the second best option.
This leaves the Shires of Kent, Kukerin/Dumbleyung and Lake Grace with a huge dilemma. We have chosen the VROC path as our preferred method of reform. We would like to be given a chance to work with this before making any formal commitments such as a ROC (Regional Organisation of Councils) or amalgamation.
Representatives of these three councils have had discussions about our options during the week and will take our thoughts back to the rest of our councils when we return.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Local Government Week, Day Three
Our third and final day began with the introduction of four fine young leaders in our state:
- Elizabeth Shaw, 2009 WA Young Citizen of the Year
- Tim Goodwin, National Indigenous Youth Movement Member
- Albert Jacob JP MLA, Member for Ocean Reef
- Cr Lisa Schofield, City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
These four were articulate and dynamic with much to say about letting young people in our communities have a voice. They all advocated Youth Advisory Councils as an effective way for young people to begin engaging with councils.
Although one or more said that councils need to look at new and innovative ways in which local government can engage with their community, they didn't really offer any suggestions.
Cr Lisa Schofield suggested more incentives for young people to join local government, but again, wasn't specific in saying what incentives are needed.
I believe that the Shire of Kent is trying to make the job of being a councillor more accessible to young people. We are looking at purchasing laptops for councillors to access all our council emails and paperwork such as agendas. We have also increased our remuneration package. If you are at all interested in joining council, please contact me to discuss this further. It can be very rewarding and enables you to make a difference in your community.
Lisa also mentioned that our community needs educating about local government, but she didn't offer up any ideas about how this is to be achieved. I'm hoping that my blog goes someway into assisting our community with learning about the current issues affecting local government and the community.
Following our young leaders, we were inspired by the amazing story of young film maker Khao Do as he delivered a fascinating talk about his life. Arriving in Australia as a two year old refugee, travelling in a tiny, overloaded fishing boat, Khao went on to become an award winning film maker and was named 2005 Young Australian of the Year.
I didn't take any notes during Khao's presentation as I was totally absorbed in his story. What an amazing young man who faced incredible stumbling blocks along the way to success. He is an ardent footy fan and spent his school years desperately trying to make it big in the senior team, despite being, "too small, not the right ethnic type and not very good at football". He finally ran out with the team one day and kicked their first goal in a game which they eventually won.
Khao stressed that his personal mantra is to "always look at what you have and not what you lack". An excellent way of looking at local government in this particular political climate!!
- Elizabeth Shaw, 2009 WA Young Citizen of the Year
- Tim Goodwin, National Indigenous Youth Movement Member
- Albert Jacob JP MLA, Member for Ocean Reef
- Cr Lisa Schofield, City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
These four were articulate and dynamic with much to say about letting young people in our communities have a voice. They all advocated Youth Advisory Councils as an effective way for young people to begin engaging with councils.
Although one or more said that councils need to look at new and innovative ways in which local government can engage with their community, they didn't really offer any suggestions.
Cr Lisa Schofield suggested more incentives for young people to join local government, but again, wasn't specific in saying what incentives are needed.
I believe that the Shire of Kent is trying to make the job of being a councillor more accessible to young people. We are looking at purchasing laptops for councillors to access all our council emails and paperwork such as agendas. We have also increased our remuneration package. If you are at all interested in joining council, please contact me to discuss this further. It can be very rewarding and enables you to make a difference in your community.
Lisa also mentioned that our community needs educating about local government, but she didn't offer up any ideas about how this is to be achieved. I'm hoping that my blog goes someway into assisting our community with learning about the current issues affecting local government and the community.
Following our young leaders, we were inspired by the amazing story of young film maker Khao Do as he delivered a fascinating talk about his life. Arriving in Australia as a two year old refugee, travelling in a tiny, overloaded fishing boat, Khao went on to become an award winning film maker and was named 2005 Young Australian of the Year.
I didn't take any notes during Khao's presentation as I was totally absorbed in his story. What an amazing young man who faced incredible stumbling blocks along the way to success. He is an ardent footy fan and spent his school years desperately trying to make it big in the senior team, despite being, "too small, not the right ethnic type and not very good at football". He finally ran out with the team one day and kicked their first goal in a game which they eventually won.
Khao stressed that his personal mantra is to "always look at what you have and not what you lack". An excellent way of looking at local government in this particular political climate!!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Local Government Week, Day Two
Today our first session was all about the economic recovery, a financial health update.
Dr Chris Caton isn't your average boring old economist. He's clever, funny and very interesting. He gave a concise and visually interesting outlook on global economics, trends and forecasts.
Chris states that Australia is in recession. Apparently, there's no official definition for 'Recession'. The unofficially accepted condition is when the GDP is down for two successive months. This hasn't actually happened in Australia, so the powers that be can say, 'we are not in recession'.
However, Dr Caton believes that the unemployment rate is a good indicator, and, Australia's unemployment rate has risen to the level where we are now in the grip of a recession. Certainly not as severe as we have previously experienced, but a recession, none the less.
All in all, Australia is looking pretty good. Our recovery appears to be slower than other countries, but this is due to the fact that Australia's fall wasn't as steep. Another interesting thing to note was that Australia's economic rises and falls are closely related to the US economy. Well, no real surprise there.
Dale Alcock followed with a reasonably interesting talk, but minus the facts and figures on the screen. If he'd taken a bit of time to throw together a few charts to support his comments or even photos, his point would have been just that much stronger.
He had a few daggers to throw at the Towns of Vincent and Cottesloe in regards to planning, both approvals and policies. Why didn't he have some photos to back all this up? I admire Dale immensely, but someone in his company needs to get him organised and into the 21st century when it comes to the tools of technology.
Unfortunately, after that, I developed a huge headache that looked like it might turn into a migraine and I had to leave part way through the next speaker's session on Constitutional recognition for local governments.
The evening was spent in a very productive way with a get together between the Shires of Kukerin/Dumbleyung, Lake Grace and Kent to discuss our options with regard to the new information we've gained from both the National's Leader, the Hon. Brendon Grylls and the Local Government Minister, the Hon. John Castrilli.
Each of our Shires is putting forward the preferred option of 'no' to amalgamation, which is one that our constituents have requested. We will indicate that our councils prefer the VROC model of reform.
However, as more information is coming to hand and the media are starting to take hold of the issue, it's appears that this may not be the acceptable option. Both Ministers have stated that they will not accept the status quo, with Mr Gryll's indicating the R4R carrot will be withdrawn for that particular choice. So much for 'a voluntary process'. I'm very disappointed in Mr Gryll's stance. I voted for the National Party with the idea that their platform was to protect rural interests.
Therefore, our shire representatives may need to look at different models such as a formalised ROC. To me, this looks like another level of government. Will a ROC work? I don't know. I'd like the chance to try a VROC first, but there doesn't seem to be any chances within this process since timelines are extremely short and extremely rigid.
I just hope that the decisions we make will be the best ones for our communities. I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders right now.
Dr Chris Caton isn't your average boring old economist. He's clever, funny and very interesting. He gave a concise and visually interesting outlook on global economics, trends and forecasts.
Chris states that Australia is in recession. Apparently, there's no official definition for 'Recession'. The unofficially accepted condition is when the GDP is down for two successive months. This hasn't actually happened in Australia, so the powers that be can say, 'we are not in recession'.
However, Dr Caton believes that the unemployment rate is a good indicator, and, Australia's unemployment rate has risen to the level where we are now in the grip of a recession. Certainly not as severe as we have previously experienced, but a recession, none the less.
All in all, Australia is looking pretty good. Our recovery appears to be slower than other countries, but this is due to the fact that Australia's fall wasn't as steep. Another interesting thing to note was that Australia's economic rises and falls are closely related to the US economy. Well, no real surprise there.
Dale Alcock followed with a reasonably interesting talk, but minus the facts and figures on the screen. If he'd taken a bit of time to throw together a few charts to support his comments or even photos, his point would have been just that much stronger.
He had a few daggers to throw at the Towns of Vincent and Cottesloe in regards to planning, both approvals and policies. Why didn't he have some photos to back all this up? I admire Dale immensely, but someone in his company needs to get him organised and into the 21st century when it comes to the tools of technology.
Unfortunately, after that, I developed a huge headache that looked like it might turn into a migraine and I had to leave part way through the next speaker's session on Constitutional recognition for local governments.
The evening was spent in a very productive way with a get together between the Shires of Kukerin/Dumbleyung, Lake Grace and Kent to discuss our options with regard to the new information we've gained from both the National's Leader, the Hon. Brendon Grylls and the Local Government Minister, the Hon. John Castrilli.
Each of our Shires is putting forward the preferred option of 'no' to amalgamation, which is one that our constituents have requested. We will indicate that our councils prefer the VROC model of reform.
However, as more information is coming to hand and the media are starting to take hold of the issue, it's appears that this may not be the acceptable option. Both Ministers have stated that they will not accept the status quo, with Mr Gryll's indicating the R4R carrot will be withdrawn for that particular choice. So much for 'a voluntary process'. I'm very disappointed in Mr Gryll's stance. I voted for the National Party with the idea that their platform was to protect rural interests.
Therefore, our shire representatives may need to look at different models such as a formalised ROC. To me, this looks like another level of government. Will a ROC work? I don't know. I'd like the chance to try a VROC first, but there doesn't seem to be any chances within this process since timelines are extremely short and extremely rigid.
I just hope that the decisions we make will be the best ones for our communities. I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders right now.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Local Government Week, Day One
Today started with a bang. Frans Johansson, author of the Medici Effect, delivered a fast paced, loud and fascinating talk entitled 'Renaissance - The Medici Effect'.
This guy was incredibly dynamic, energetic, clever and funny. But it was what he had to say that made the most impact.
Frans talked about how teams and organizations can create an explosion of remarkable ideas at the intersection of different fields, cultures and industries. The main points from his talk were as follows:
-'Intersections' -Develop new ideas from combining ideas from various perspectives
-'Diversity drives innovation'.
-All new ideas are combinations of existing ideas eg. The Bikini + The Burqua = The Burqini
-Diverse Teams see things differently - therefore, make sure your teams are made up of very diverse minds and cultures
-The more ideas you have, the more likely you are to have a good idea. (Simple really, but not something we always do!)
A wonderful example was given about the challenge given to architect Mick Pearce. He was asked to build an attractive, functional tall building in Harare, Zimbabwe. But, the catch was, it was to have no air-conditioning! Now, Harare tends to get pretty hot in summer and temperatures can drop to single figures overnight.
Fortunately, Mick was a pretty broad thinker and he was able to achieve the seemingly unachievable by studying termites. Termites use a clever system of cooling and heating in their mounds that are built in the African plains. They direct breezes at the base of the mounds with cool, wet mud and channel these through the mound when needed. They build new vents and close old ones in order to regulate temperature precisely.
The company which hired him immediately saved $3.5m simply by not purchasing the air conditioning hardware. Temperature is a constant 22 degrees and the buildings use 10% less energy than those around it.
The two speakers who followed held little interest for me as their talk was all about City Revitalisation. Of the two, Evan Jones, National General Manager of Planning, Mulitplex Living, was very interesting and had some great examples of good and bad town planning.
After lunch, Brendon Grylls presented an update on Royalties for Regions. He also explained his support for Minister Castrilli's reform strategies. Brendon spoke eloquently and showed his passion for the survival of rural communities.
The President of the Shire of Roebourne presented a really interesting look at what it's like to have a community that is booming due to mining, but then has to cope with all the negatives that come from this including artificially elevated living costs, difficulties getting infrastructure on the ground and the fly in, fly out population problems.
The following speaker sent everyone to sleep. We all headed for the coffee when he finally finished! The sad thing was, he had a lot of interesting things to say, he was just unable to say them in an interesting way.
The afternoon finished with the man of the moment, the Minister for Local Government, Hon. John Castrilli MLA. He once again re-iterated his plans for the state. It seems he will not move beyond his single and only idea of amalgamation as the one size fits all solution for structural reform in Western Australia.
Following this, we had the CEO of the new entity of the City of Geraldton-Greenough. Since this was an extremely sensible amalgamation, I was prepared to turn off, but this young and dynamic guy was very interesting and had a lot to say about how WA is so Perth-Centric. Other states are not so Capital City oriented.
The next speaker was also very interesting and topical for me as he is the Chair for the South East Avon Voluntary Regional Organisation of Councils. This group has been successfully running for five years and follow a model of organisation which is based on a South Australian model. Section 42 of the Local Government Act (SA) allows for a local government to establish a subsidiary. The system uses a Body Corporate Charter. The Minister approves the application and the Charter. The group is lobbying State Government to change the Western Australian Local Government Act to allow for the same system.
A panel of the previous speakers then took questions from the audience. Confusingly, the Minister strongly dismissed the idea of VROC's as a suitable strategy for reform. He stated that he is looking at amalgamation and amalgamation only as a reform measure.
I wish he'd been around at the first session and listened to Frans Johansson. He may then realise that there are many ways in which a local government can achieve reform without having to amalgamate.
This guy was incredibly dynamic, energetic, clever and funny. But it was what he had to say that made the most impact.
Frans talked about how teams and organizations can create an explosion of remarkable ideas at the intersection of different fields, cultures and industries. The main points from his talk were as follows:
-'Intersections' -Develop new ideas from combining ideas from various perspectives
-'Diversity drives innovation'.
-All new ideas are combinations of existing ideas eg. The Bikini + The Burqua = The Burqini
-Diverse Teams see things differently - therefore, make sure your teams are made up of very diverse minds and cultures
-The more ideas you have, the more likely you are to have a good idea. (Simple really, but not something we always do!)
A wonderful example was given about the challenge given to architect Mick Pearce. He was asked to build an attractive, functional tall building in Harare, Zimbabwe. But, the catch was, it was to have no air-conditioning! Now, Harare tends to get pretty hot in summer and temperatures can drop to single figures overnight.
Fortunately, Mick was a pretty broad thinker and he was able to achieve the seemingly unachievable by studying termites. Termites use a clever system of cooling and heating in their mounds that are built in the African plains. They direct breezes at the base of the mounds with cool, wet mud and channel these through the mound when needed. They build new vents and close old ones in order to regulate temperature precisely.
The company which hired him immediately saved $3.5m simply by not purchasing the air conditioning hardware. Temperature is a constant 22 degrees and the buildings use 10% less energy than those around it.
The two speakers who followed held little interest for me as their talk was all about City Revitalisation. Of the two, Evan Jones, National General Manager of Planning, Mulitplex Living, was very interesting and had some great examples of good and bad town planning.
After lunch, Brendon Grylls presented an update on Royalties for Regions. He also explained his support for Minister Castrilli's reform strategies. Brendon spoke eloquently and showed his passion for the survival of rural communities.
The President of the Shire of Roebourne presented a really interesting look at what it's like to have a community that is booming due to mining, but then has to cope with all the negatives that come from this including artificially elevated living costs, difficulties getting infrastructure on the ground and the fly in, fly out population problems.
The following speaker sent everyone to sleep. We all headed for the coffee when he finally finished! The sad thing was, he had a lot of interesting things to say, he was just unable to say them in an interesting way.
The afternoon finished with the man of the moment, the Minister for Local Government, Hon. John Castrilli MLA. He once again re-iterated his plans for the state. It seems he will not move beyond his single and only idea of amalgamation as the one size fits all solution for structural reform in Western Australia.
Following this, we had the CEO of the new entity of the City of Geraldton-Greenough. Since this was an extremely sensible amalgamation, I was prepared to turn off, but this young and dynamic guy was very interesting and had a lot to say about how WA is so Perth-Centric. Other states are not so Capital City oriented.
The next speaker was also very interesting and topical for me as he is the Chair for the South East Avon Voluntary Regional Organisation of Councils. This group has been successfully running for five years and follow a model of organisation which is based on a South Australian model. Section 42 of the Local Government Act (SA) allows for a local government to establish a subsidiary. The system uses a Body Corporate Charter. The Minister approves the application and the Charter. The group is lobbying State Government to change the Western Australian Local Government Act to allow for the same system.
A panel of the previous speakers then took questions from the audience. Confusingly, the Minister strongly dismissed the idea of VROC's as a suitable strategy for reform. He stated that he is looking at amalgamation and amalgamation only as a reform measure.
I wish he'd been around at the first session and listened to Frans Johansson. He may then realise that there are many ways in which a local government can achieve reform without having to amalgamate.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Outcome from Meeting with Minister
- Today the people in the Great Southern had the opportunity to talk to the Minister for Local Government, John Castrilli, at a public meeting in Wagin.
I was disappointed at the small contingent that turned up at the Town Hall. The Shire of Kent was well represented with four councillors and two community members.
People came from far and wide, with representatives from Wickepin, Katanning, Woodanilling and a number of other shires.
The Minister opened with the meeting by reading out the range of 'benefits' that are outlined in the Local Government Reform Steering Committee's "Structural Reform Guidelines, February 2009.
They are listed as:
- increased capacity for local government to better plan, manage and deliver services to their communities with a focus on social, environmental and economic sustainability
- increased capacity for local government to have adequate financial and asset management plans in place
- enhanced efficiency in the processing of planning, building and other licence applications made by business and community
- greater ability to attract staff including the provision of further career development opportunities
- greater competition for positions on council, and, in addition with other reforms, potential for enhanced government capacity
The process, as I understand it from the Minister's talk today, goes as follows:
1. Councils are to send Submissions to the Ministers office by August 31st with their preferred reform, amalgamation proposals and preferences.
2. The Minister will then give his recommendations to the State Government (around Dec 2009)
In providing recommendations, the Minister stated:
a) Those Councils wishing to amalgamate will be given every assistance to do so.
b)If a rural council indicated they did not wish to amalgamate, he would recommend to the State Government that they not be forced to do so.
The Minister was asked to clarify what the term 'building capacity' meant as this was a phrase he used frequently. I don't believe we received an answer to this.
Another question was raised as to the meaning of the use of the word 'diversity' in the assessment of a council's checklist. The term was used in the report back to the council indicating there was not enough diversity in their council structure. Again, the Minister was unable to clarify the meaning.
I asked a question of the Minister, "Why are you pushing amalgamation as a reform when there is research (FSRB in South Australia) showing that 'amalgamation brings with it significant costs and exaggerated benefits; and there are many other forms of cooperation and integration between councils with amalgamation being the most extreme and confronting form of integration'. The report also found that 'there are ways to overcome this disparity between councils' capacity to fund service delivery, including shared delivery service models, strategic alliances and virtual local governments.' "
I asked, "With this in mind, why is the Minister pushing amalgamation as the only sort of reform?"
The Minister's response was that the South Australian Government did not commission that report (SO???) and then proceeded to confuse everyone with a convoluted explanation of the South Australian model which did not really answer my question at all.
There were many impassioned comments and questions to the Minister which were answered with a similar circular response. The standard answer was that it was all about 'capacity building' and it was 'a voluntary process'.
The Minister seemed to have to rely on his Aide to supply vital answers and information to the meeting. His responses were repetitious and standardised, with little hard evidence or any indication of the distinctions that should be applied to city and rural council reform.
Interestingly, he mentioned that State Government needs to undertake reforms as well to improve their efficiency. My belief is that, when State Government complete an efficiency and sustainability checklist, then put forward a submission based on the results of the assessment of this checklist, and undertake the recommended reforms, then Local Government can follow suit. And, not before!!
At the conclusion of the meeting, I was asked to provide a comment for ABC Radio. I agreed to do so, and the question was, "What is the feeling you take away from this meeting today?"
They would have edited out any swearing, so I went with a response that indicated our frustration at the reform process, especially the checklist, and that I came away disappointed and frustrated.
I wish I'd had more time to think about it, as I would have re-iterated the fact that the State Government has still not provided us with any significant proof that their reform process of amalgamation will improve services and efficiencies.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
An argument against amalgamation
The aim of council amalgamations, so the Minister for Local Government, John Castrilli says, is the 'potential to save ratepayers millions of dollars per year'. The Minister is advocating that amalgamation will reduce the cost of local service provision through increased operating efficiency. In other words, 'bigger is better'.
No systemic review of these outcomes has ever been done in Australia! If I could find any paper or report that shows that council amalgamations led to cost efficiency and better service delivery, I would support amalgamation.
There is revealing research into the impact of amalgamation in South Australia by the Financial Sustainability Review Board (FSRB) (2005) in its Final Report: Rising to the Challenge: Towards Financially Sustainable Local Government in South Australia (Dollery 2005). The FSRB (2005, 48) found that council 'size does not seem to matter much, with both larger and smaller councils both typically registering operation deficits in 2003-04.' Also mentioned is whether population density was a factor and the conclusion reached was 'the same is true for density characteristics, with both the denser and sparser groupings also both registering operating deficits that year'.
The Board also argued that although the architects of earlier structural reform in South Australia claimed the reform process had achieved 'recurrent savings' of $19.4 million per annum, 'whether the ongoing savings have in fact continued is a moot point'. The Board also concluded that, 'fewer, larger councils are not the instant or easy fix that many would like to believe, especially in non-metropolitan areas dominated by the "tyranny of distance" and other impediments'. (FSRB 2005, 85)
From these observations, the Board also concluded that 'amalgamation brings with it significant costs and often exaggerated benefits' and that 'there are many intermediate forms of cooperation/integration among councils, with amalgamation being the most extreme (and confronting) form of integration'.
Also, 'there are ways to overcome this disparity between councils' capacity to fund service delivery, including shared service models, strategic alliances and virtual local governments'. The report also stressed that 'collaboration between councils can and should be a major contributor to councils being financially sustainable in the future'.
The Commonwealth Grants Commission (2001, 52-3) found five main reasons for financial difficulties that confront Australian local government, three of which result from higher levels of government placing strictures and controls on local government:
1. 'devolution' - where a higher sphere of government gives local government responsibility for new functions
2. 'raising the bar' - where a higher tier of government through legislation or other changes, raises the complexity and/or standard at which local government services must be provided, thereby increasing the cost of service provision
3. 'cost shifting' - where federal or state government ceases to provide an essential service, thereby forcing the local authority to take over the responsibility
It is doubtful that amalgamation is going to alleviate or reduce these problems. No one has been able to prove that 'bigger is better'.
The City of Wanneroo has indicated in a document entitled 'Draft Community Engagement Brief', dated 18/6/2009, 'amalgamation programs conducted in other states have generally failed to improve financial sustainability. Indeed, it would seem that the financial position of many local authorities, both large and small, has continued to deteriorate. A national report by PricewaterhouseCoopers in recent years, indicated little difference from a sustainability perspective, between councils where amalgamations had been forced and councils in States such as Western Australia where forced amalgamations had not occurred'.
So, with all this evidence indicating just the opposite of what the Minister hopes to achieve through this reform, why is he still pursuing this course of action?
No systemic review of these outcomes has ever been done in Australia! If I could find any paper or report that shows that council amalgamations led to cost efficiency and better service delivery, I would support amalgamation.
There is revealing research into the impact of amalgamation in South Australia by the Financial Sustainability Review Board (FSRB) (2005) in its Final Report: Rising to the Challenge: Towards Financially Sustainable Local Government in South Australia (Dollery 2005). The FSRB (2005, 48) found that council 'size does not seem to matter much, with both larger and smaller councils both typically registering operation deficits in 2003-04.' Also mentioned is whether population density was a factor and the conclusion reached was 'the same is true for density characteristics, with both the denser and sparser groupings also both registering operating deficits that year'.
The Board also argued that although the architects of earlier structural reform in South Australia claimed the reform process had achieved 'recurrent savings' of $19.4 million per annum, 'whether the ongoing savings have in fact continued is a moot point'. The Board also concluded that, 'fewer, larger councils are not the instant or easy fix that many would like to believe, especially in non-metropolitan areas dominated by the "tyranny of distance" and other impediments'. (FSRB 2005, 85)
From these observations, the Board also concluded that 'amalgamation brings with it significant costs and often exaggerated benefits' and that 'there are many intermediate forms of cooperation/integration among councils, with amalgamation being the most extreme (and confronting) form of integration'.
Also, 'there are ways to overcome this disparity between councils' capacity to fund service delivery, including shared service models, strategic alliances and virtual local governments'. The report also stressed that 'collaboration between councils can and should be a major contributor to councils being financially sustainable in the future'.
The Commonwealth Grants Commission (2001, 52-3) found five main reasons for financial difficulties that confront Australian local government, three of which result from higher levels of government placing strictures and controls on local government:
1. 'devolution' - where a higher sphere of government gives local government responsibility for new functions
2. 'raising the bar' - where a higher tier of government through legislation or other changes, raises the complexity and/or standard at which local government services must be provided, thereby increasing the cost of service provision
3. 'cost shifting' - where federal or state government ceases to provide an essential service, thereby forcing the local authority to take over the responsibility
It is doubtful that amalgamation is going to alleviate or reduce these problems. No one has been able to prove that 'bigger is better'.
The City of Wanneroo has indicated in a document entitled 'Draft Community Engagement Brief', dated 18/6/2009, 'amalgamation programs conducted in other states have generally failed to improve financial sustainability. Indeed, it would seem that the financial position of many local authorities, both large and small, has continued to deteriorate. A national report by PricewaterhouseCoopers in recent years, indicated little difference from a sustainability perspective, between councils where amalgamations had been forced and councils in States such as Western Australia where forced amalgamations had not occurred'.
So, with all this evidence indicating just the opposite of what the Minister hopes to achieve through this reform, why is he still pursuing this course of action?
Meeting with Minister
The Minister for Local Government, John Castrilli, has organised a number of meetings around the state in order to explain the government's local reform agenda.
Time will be allowed for the public to question the minister about their concerns.
Everyone is urged to make an effort to attend the meeting with the Minister. The meeting for the Great Southern is to be held in:
I'm taking my car, so please contact me if you would like a lift to the meeting. I will be leaving straight after school at 3.10.
Time will be allowed for the public to question the minister about their concerns.
Everyone is urged to make an effort to attend the meeting with the Minister. The meeting for the Great Southern is to be held in:
Wagin
Tuesday 4th August from 4pm to 6pm.
I'm taking my car, so please contact me if you would like a lift to the meeting. I will be leaving straight after school at 3.10.
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