Delusions of grandeur

Quick quiz – which Australian capital city has a population approaching 900,000?  That, apparently, is the size of a typical Australian capital city according to Councillor Susie Douglas of Gold Coast City.  "It is forecast that Gold Coast City's population will reach nearly 900,000 people by 2040, which is on par with the population of a capital city," she said.  This remarkable piece of hyperbole was part of an announcement that Gold Coast Council's economic development agency, Business Gold Coast, has an employment creation target of 8000 jobs annually.  The city council's $90 million stimulus package approved this year is the first of its kind by a local government authority in Australia.  Within this package, the council endorsed a $2.6 million investment attraction scheme, which provides financial assistance to encourage new and targeted investment to expand or move to the city.  The scheme was launched in October with a Business Roadshow which took in Sydney and Melbourne, a key outcome of this year's Gold Coast Bulletin Rescue Patrol.

Cowra’s new sewer plant

Leading Australian engineering group, Monadelphous recently won the $8.8 million contract for construction of Cowra’s new Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), the Cowra Guardian reports.

Monadelphous is highly regarded in the industry and has completed numerous sewage treatment plant upgrade projects for both state and local government authorities such as NSW Public works, Port Macquarie-Hastings Shire Council, Morton Bay Regional Council and Bundaberg Regional Council. The work at Cowra will commence in January and will take approximately 52 weeks to complete.

Council recognises the significant financial contribution of the NSW Government towards this project as part of their Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Program.

Victimisation in Warrnambool?

Three Warrnambool City councillors, including the mayor and a senior officer, were breath-tested within minutes of leaving their post-meeting informal dinner, The Standard reports.  Mystery surrounds why so many high-ranking city leaders were pulled over in close proximity to city hall in separate cars within a short space of time when police resources were stretched to the limit.  It adds intrigue to a heated debate around the council table this week about a call to ban alcohol from the traditional post-meeting dinners and meal breaks.  Some sources have wondered if there was a tip-off to police to instigate the breath tests after the November 16 meeting.  Cr Peter Hulin's motion on Monday night to end the tradition of alcoholic beverages being available at meal breaks or after meetings was met with resounding opposition from five other councillors and accusations of grandstanding.  Some said his motion appeared to be a payback for them lodging a complaint about him to the Local Government Authority about a breach of council confidentiality which led to a special panel investigation.

Helping erode civil liberties

Governments of every level and stripe don’t like nay-sayers.  However as the Fairfax group of newspapers reported last weekend, the Victorian government (described recently as the “best state government in Australia” – mostly because the others are so bad, a related article comments) is now releasing information on legitimate and peaceful protesters to the private security firms who manage access to possibly contentious projects.  Melbourne Water has also been involved in monitoring civil protests.  Councils probably don’t do as much only because they lack the funds and resources such as State police to do the work.

Tasmania Water looking for software

The Tasmanian water joint services utility Onstream has advertised for expressions of interest from vendors for a a land management and billing system.  The corporation began operations on 1 July 2009 and provides a range of professional services to the three regional water and sewerage corporations in Tasmania.

Make up your mind!

More than 500 South Australian officers and councillors have taken part in a program to make them better decision-makers.  The program, by the Local Government Managers Association and Wallmans Lawyers, was delivered by some of the state's leading legal authorities.  Wallmans partner Michael Kelledy said: "There is a very real lack of information available to people in local government when it comes to good administrative practices and decision-making.  This has meant local government decision-making has not always been as comprehensive or robust as the law requires, making it more susceptible to being challenged, whether by the Ombudsman, in the courts or otherwise."

The training comes just a year after a damning assessment of local government by then acting ombudsman Ken MacPherson, who told the Government's Economic and Finance Committee: "Some (councils) are utterly appalling."  While he made the comments amid allegations corruption was rampant in local government, Mr MacPherson said some elected members had not understood their responsibilities and accountability and administrative propriety suffered.

"What the Ombudsman's office had identified were shortcomings across a number of councils, which indicated nobody was making an effort to undertake the required training and ensure the bar was raised on good administrative decision-making," Mr Kelledy said.

More corruption in Wollongong

A year after the ICAC investigation at Wollongong Council and the rotten apples are still being found out.  This time it is, so Council claims, because of their new anti-corruption processes, reports the Illawarra Mercury.  Acting general manager Peter Kofod confirmed that a staff member had been dismissed after an internal complaint and investigation. But he was unable to provide specific details, saying the investigation was ongoing.  "What I can say is that this is an example of council's new policies and processes in action," he said. "We have made it very clear that this council will not tolerate any form of corrupt or dishonest behaviour."  Administrator Col Gellatly was also unable to provide further details.

Only last month, the council adopted a new fraud and corruption prevention policy which encourages staff to report fraudulent, dishonest or corrupt behaviour so it can be investigated.  "Council's professional conduct co-ordinator (ombudsman) has now been in place for more than a year, council has appointed protected disclosure officers and protected disclosure referral officers and introduced a corporate governance committee with external representatives," Mr Kofod said.  "It is impossible to create a corruption-proof organisation but through comprehensive new policies, processes and systems, we are showing it is possible to identify and take action against anyone associated with council who chooses to act unethically."

In October last year, ICAC handed down 27 corruption prevention recommendations after Commissioner Jerrold Cripps found an unprecedented level of corruption existed within the council, spanning five tiers of local government.  He found that former general manager Rod Oxley had created an environment that bred corruption.

SE Queensland water restructure ramping up

If job vacancy advertisements are anything to go by, activity is accelerating in the retail bodies being created to sell water to the residents of SE Queensland.  Three retail water companies have been formed, and an advertisement on online job site Seek on Saturday was looking for 6 business analysts for work in billing, finance, HR and land management.  This isn’t the first of such advertisements.  Let’s hope there are enough such experts to go around the three of them.

WA consolidation hastens slowly

In August, the Premier Colin Barnett announced his target of fewer than 100 councils within five years but so far, only nine councils have elected to amalgamate.  The Government is introducing a regional model for sharing services but Labor's opposition MP, Paul Papalia, says that is just another name for forced amalgamations.  "What the Minister is trying to hide is that the process that he created in February which has thrown the Local Government sector into complete disarray and derailed a collaborative, co-operative approach to reform has completely failed," he said.

Mr Papalia says the plans have derailed the reform process that was under way before the Barnett Government came to power.  "I think the minister really has to accept that his process has failed, that he has created a lot of damage in the local government sector," he said.  "He should return to a collaborative, co-operative process that was under way prior to him arriving."

Open government

All the hype about the NBN shouldn’t blind us to the fact that this Australian government doesn’t have an open government strategy and indeed has recently been shown up as running behind a number of countries including our country cousins across the Tasman.  This failing is one of the themes of this Blog, and I was reminded of this by a story in The Guardian about the US and the UK opening up government data:

On both sides of the Atlantic, governments are making more data available in more useful formats for developers. In Britain, the government aims to open access to postcode data by spring of next year.   This will most likely be the dataset that links postcodes to geographic location rather than the Postcode Address File (PAF) that links postcodes to addresses.  This is part of the Smarter Government project that Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced recently to get most government services and data online. The postcode data is just one of many datasets we can hope to see from the government, and with Sir Tim Berners-Lee involved, the formats will use open standards with input from the World Wide Web Consortium. The prime minister said that 1,100 datasets have already been released, and he said: “And there are many hundreds more that can be opened up - not only from central government but also from local councils, the NHS, police and education authorities”.  The government has also promised better access to data from local authorities.

Meanwhile here in Australia we still have councils like Lithgow harassing their business owners to give them information that’s already been provided to the ATO or the ABS, imposing unnecessary burdens.  Perhaps we need an National Government Information Initiative to match the NBN.  I’ve even got an acronym ready-made – NITWIT.

Planning gripes top the list

In  further show of why planning is such a cornucopia for patronage, graft, special favours and a quick buck, planning and development gripes are the basis of most complaints received by NSW councils, new figures show.  The NSW government in November released details of complaints received by the state's local governments, showing that a small number of areas received more than half of the grievances.

Shoalhaven City Council received the state's most complaints (75) during the 2008/09 financial year, although the figure is down from 127 the previous year.  Gosford, Tweed, Ku-ring-gai, Sydney, Wollongong, Mid-Western, Wyong, Bega and Shellharbour councils made up the remainder of the top-10 most complained about local government areas.

"It's very concerning that such a relatively small number of councils account for more than half of the 1,200 complaints received," Local Government Minister Barbara Perry said in a statement.  "We know that most councils do a good job but they need to remember at all times to work in the interests of their community."

Of the 1,200 complaints, 25 per cent were about planning and development, 15 per cent about governance and misconduct, and 11 per cent about enforcement, with conflicts of interest, customer service and mismanagement also featuring.  "Complaints can help measure community satisfaction with council decisions and can also provide a useful source of information and feedback for improving a council's services," Ms Perry said.  “It's also important to recognise that while there are a minority of councils that continue to receive large amounts of criticisms, the number of complaints against councils overall is down on last year."

During the 2007/08 financial year NSW councils received 1,450 complaints.

A call for more consolidation in Sydney

The chief executive of the Sydney Business Chamber, Patricia Forsythe, said in an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald last week that Sydney's 470 local councillors needed to move away from arguing over the appropriate size of a backyard swimming pool on to bigger issues such as affordable housing and infrastructure renewal.  "The councillors on these new Sydney super councils should be paid a full-time wage and be resourced accordingly. They need to see themselves as boards of directors who focus on the larger strategic issues facing their region, rather than managers lost in day-to-day administration," she said.

The Local Government Association hit back.  The president of the Local Government Association, Genia McCaffery, said councils were already focusing on ways to modernise their sector and reject overly simplistic assertions that "bigger is automatically better". She acknowledged claims that some economies of scale could be achieved but said amalgamating councils would not fix their under-resourcing.  "It won't remove the burden of an unfair rate-pegged system, inadequate tax allocations, a cost-shifting bill that totalled $431 million in 2007-08 or an infrastructure renewal backlog that grows by $500 million each year," she said.

Places like Brisbane manage with one Council for much of the city, and even Auckland is consolidating its 6 councils into one.  But apparently it’s too hard for Sydney where it’s obvious that three “super” Councils – Sydney, North Shore and Parramatta, say – could manage the city between them and the other Councils could quietly fade away.

Beating up Sydney Water

Can Sydney Water get anything right?  Only a few years ago they were damned by the Auditor-General for their abandoned water billing implementation; now their CRM has come under fire in a report by NSW auditor-general Peter Achterstraat has criticised Sydney Water's implementation of a Siebel customer relationship management system which is running $34 million over budget and one-and-a-half years over schedule.  The rollout of the Maximo asset management application has also been criticised.

"Sydney Water customer management system is now expected to cost $55 million, more than double original budget of $21 million and one-and-a-half years behind schedule," the auditor report said. The original due date was August 2009, but it is not set to be delivered until February 2011.  The expanded budget was due to external costs, according to the auditors. "The significant increase in budget is due to the system integrator costs," the report said.  IBM had won the integration work, but it seemed prices were higher across the industry than the utility expected. "The budget for this stage of the project was found to be inadequate after receiving quotes from prospective service providers," the report said.

The schedule was dragged out by a year-and-a-half because of extending the design phase and a long procurement process. The integration work went out to tender in October last year.  Once implemented, the project, which also has a second phase, bringing expenditure up to $68.9 million, is expected to reduce operating costs by $1.9 million a year. It is also expected to improve customer service and reduce reliance on multiple unsupportable systems.  "Sydney Water is currently undertaking a major upgrade of its IT systems," said a spokesperson for the utility, responding to the report. "The reason why two large IT projects have exceeded their original budget estimates is because they were early estimates."

It would appear the Sydney Water is again reviewing potential replacements for its water billing application.

Take away their toys!

In Alice Springs the local council has introduced a new by-law allowing it to impound cars that have been the subject of parking fines three times in a week.  The Town Council says the by-law is a response to community concern (don’t they always?).  The new provision is one of many included in new by-laws governing public places that were signed-off by the council earlier this week.  The council's chief executive, Rex Mooney, says the by-laws will not be in place until the Local Government Minister approves them early next year.  "This ensures that Council rangers have the power to actually either impound or to cause the vehicle to be moved on," he said.

This makes for some interesting enhancements to the hand-held devices that most Councils supply their parking inspectors.  Presumably the devices (which are usually a one-way communication device, uploading details of the day’s parking infringements) are now a two-way device, with updates being provided, presumably on a 7-day rolling data series, of what cars have had parking fines in the past 7 days.  And if a car moves three times in the same day and is giving a parking infringement each time?

The new water regime in Queensland

Bill Hoffman in the Sunshine Coast Daily has reviewed the new water regime for Queensland following the Federal government’s rejection of the Traveston Dam.  He calls for “an open and transparent review of policy and all available options” stating that “The existing desalination plant is beset with problems, the recycling project has been shelved for political reasons and the government has racked up a massive hidden bill for its taxpayers to little effect.”

Sydney? Rubbish!

City of Sydney Council is locked in a messy fight with the owners of one of the city's most exclusive apartment blocks over who pays to collect their garbage.  Among the prominent owners of The Tower apartments in Market Street are the former head of banking and property at Macquarie Bank, Bill Moss, now chairman of the boutique funds management firm Moss Capital, who owns a 35th floor penthouse. The millionaire racing identity Frank Tagg, who made his fortune with McDonald's franchises, has the penthouse down the hall.  Since the building was completed in 1999 their rubbish has been collected by the Swissotel hotel, on top of which The Tower apartments are built. Despite this, the council has been charging the building's 100 owners an annual fee of $201 for rubbish removal on their rates notices.

The owners have decided they no longer wish to pay for a service that is not being provided to them and are demanding that the city stop charging them. It is understood they are also considering trying to recoup the rates that have already been paid.  But negotiations with the council are not going well. Talks have broken down and the owners are considering taking the council to court. A solicitor's letter has been sent.  Consideration is even being given to more radical action: dumping the apartments' 100 bins on Market Street in an attempt to embarrass the council into action.  A spokesman for the council said yesterday that under the Local Government Act it was obliged to charge the levy, regardless of whether or not it provided the service.

"Given the particulars of this rare situation, ratepayers of The Tower apartments are charged the minimum waste charges," the spokesman said in a statement. He said the council would be happy to carry out the job of rubbish removal, but that the building's design meant its rubbish trucks had difficulty getting access to the bins.  The strata manager of The Tower apartments, Robert Anderson, from Advanced Community Management, confirmed there was a dispute but declined to comment on the detail.

Complaints to the regulator increase

In NSW surging electricity and gas prices have resulted in a record number of complaints about the billing practices of utilities companies at the same time as growing numbers of people face disconnection, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.  The Energy and Water Ombudsman, Clare Petrie, said that in addition to the big increase in the number of complaints because of price rises, more households were seeking help to pay their bills.

In the year to June there was a 35 per cent rise in the number of customers contacted by debt collection agencies about amounts due on their utility bills. This situation was expected to worsen as gas and electricity companies moved to speed up debt collection.  There was a 47 per cent rise in the number of households complaining about high bills or disputed amounts in the year to June, according to the ombudsman's latest annual report.  In some cases delayed billing and system problems resulted in customers receiving an unexpected high bill which they could not afford to pay all at once,'' Ms Petrie said.  Three quarters of all complaints handled by the ombudsman related to electricity.

NT Power & Water rolls out a new asset management system

The Northern Territory's multi-utility provider, is to roll out a $14.5m asset management system.   The four year project, to be designed and implemented by IBM, is aimed at delivering electricity, water and sewerage services to its customers more efficiently.   Power and Water Corporation serves about 80,000 customers across more than 1.3 million kilometres of the Northern Territory.  The project is part of a recently increased capital maintenance plan allocated across power generation, power networks, water, sewerage and business services in the Northern Territory.

AMC program director at the company, Sharon McAnelly, said an enterprise-wide system was required to streamline processes and report real performance.  “Better asset management systems capability means better information on asset performance and condition,” she said in a statement. “This will bring clarity to investment decisions, maintenance planning and delivery, and ultimately better customer services.”

The asset management system will be based on IBM’s Maximo Spatial Asset Management which will allows users to find assets within the company and provide information on their condition, cost, maintenance history, geographic location and relationship to other assets of various types.  The asset management solution will also utilise IBM Cognos TM1 to consolidate and analyse maintenance and capital works planning.  The project looks as though it has put back the long-planned upgrade to Gentrack’s billing application, which hasn’t had major work done on it since its implementation in 2002.

Queensland reviews accountability

Local Government Minister Desley Boyle says it is hoped a review of all legislation that places requirements on local councils will simplify arrangements and result in savings and improved council efficiency.  That would certainly be a novel outcome.

Moving the Brimbank saga along

Administrators have been appointed to restore order at Melbourne's troubled Brimbank council.  The Victorian Government announced the appointment of three administrators two months after it sacked the western suburbs council for misconduct.  Administrators Peter Lewinsky, Joanne Anderson and Meredith Sussex will form the new council and remain until 2012.  Victorian Local Government Minister Richard Wynne said the administrators would perform normal council functions, including holding statutory meetings and making decisions on matters tabled.  "The panel of three administrators, which will be chaired by Mr Lewinsky, brings the necessary experience and skills to tackle the extensive reform and rebuilding tasks at Brimbank," Mr Wynne said. Mr Lewinsky, who has previously worked as an administrator for the Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Trust and the Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, will assume the role of mayor.

However a leading Victorian barrister asserts that sacking the Brimbank Council was unlawful as there is not enough evidence of poor behaviour to justify the move.  In written legal advice to some of the 11 suspended councillors, Michael Pearce, SC, says they were denied natural justice when Local Government Minister Richard Wynne suspended them in September on a recommendation by council monitor Bill Scales.  The advice says that Mr Wynne could not have been satisfied by the Scales report citing a serious failure to provide good government, and that the minister failed to consider what steps councillors had taken to fix problems.

Have ratepayers received natural justice?

NT’s software woes get an apology

The software woes in the Northern territory have been mentioned here a number of times over the past few months (see June 2009 archives). The NT Local Government Minister has once again made an apology, this time at the Local Government Association's annual conference in Alice Springs. He apologised to the super shires for “forcing on them a financial system riddled with problems” but stands by the decision to use the system. Remedial work should be completed early next year. "Although the software was the right purchase of it there was inappropriate installation of it and configuration of the software system and that caused problems," he said. "It caused anguish for both the staff and elected members and I was apologetic to the council, councillors and the staff for the stress that it caused them."

The Opposition says technical difficulties with the system have cost the shires - and consequently ratepayers - hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost productivity and expenses.

The mote and the beam

Apparently the NSW Minister for Local Government has learned a few lessons from the farce that passes for debate in the NSW parliament.  Barbara Perry is releasing new guidelines to assist NSW councils in running more productive and effective meetings.  The updated guidelines cover procedures leading up to meetings, the meeting itself and what happens after a meeting.  “Efficient meetings help councils make better decisions for their residents and ratepayers,” Ms Perry said.  "The guidelines set out appropriate standards of behaviour and processes to help ensure that councillors, council staff and the community can participate in meetings. “It’s important that all voices are heard, that there are clear rules governing council meetings and that gatherings are orderly and productive.”

Making data available

One of the hobby horses ridden in this Blog is the more effective use of government data, with occasional side-swipes at Councils that harass local businesses to hand over data that's already been supplied to another level of government. With the introduction of Standard Business Reporting by the Australian government, and a greater use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL - the business extension of XML)government data should not only become more standardised but also more available.

This week (Friday, Saturday) the Federal Government will open its data to web developers during its first "hack" day. Around 150 attendees are expected to descend on the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra for GovHack, where developers will be encouraged to test the effectiveness of mash ups between Australian Government data sets and commercial APIs. This is the direction in which government at every level should be headed.

NBN’s cabling will be “less obtrusive”

The Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy, has told local government that aerial cabling for the Federal Government's $42 billion broadband network will be less obtrusive than the Telstra and Optus cabling of the mid-1990s.  "The Government is well aware of interest in how the rollout may interact with local planning laws and impact on local environments,'' Senator Conroy said. ''We have indicated that where possible and cost effective, fibre optic lines can and will be placed underground.  'In other instances, aerial cabling may be faster and more cost effective. It may be that local government can assist by providing access to facilities they might control such as ducts and rights of way."

Senator Conroy has quoted Dr Jonathon Spring, the architect of the Tasmanian implementation, as saying fibre optic is ''very attractive'' compared with earlier cabling because the wires are much smaller and can be deployed higher up the poles.  No decisions had been made yet about the ratio of overhead fibre and underground cables.

Mates’ open government

AdelaideNow reports that Councillors are allowed to receive and leak council documents to mates because of a loophole in local government laws.  The Local Government Association wants to close the loophole, which forces council CEOs to hand over documents to councillors, even if they have declared a conflict of interest and removed themselves from council meetings in which the matters are discussed.

LGA executive director Wendy Campana said while Section 83 of the Act required a council CEO to provide all councillors with a copy of all reports, Section 74(4) disallowed councillors from voting or even being in the council chamber when a topic on which they had a conflict of interest was discussed.

The contradiction means a councillor can be excluded from a meeting discussing a development application but obtain all council documents about the application and, potentially, give them to the developer. The rules are supposed to stop those tendering for government contracts or with applications before the council gaining an unfair advantage because they know or are related to a councillor.

The LGA state executive has resolved to seek a change in the law to allow CEOs to withhold the documents "for their and their council's protection".  Ms Campana said the LGA would consult with the Minister for Local Government about changing the legislation.

Sydney Water does poo better

Sydney Water has launched a new initiative which it says will protect Sydneysiders’ health and environment from the dangers of “poorly managed liquid trade waste”.   The utilities provider contracted Wastelink Pty Ltd to provide its locally-developed computer-based system designed to improve control, safety and efficiency across every stage of commercial liquid trade waste management within 12,700 square kilometres of Sydney.  The new system electronically records precise data from the point of collection, for example a restaurant grease trap or a manufacturing facility, right through to its destination at a liquid waste depot and disposal.  The new waste tracking system is called Wastelink.

Government early adopters report IT productivity boost

Broadband, IP network and storage consolidation projects have been identified as leading productivity improvements in government organisations "in the past few years", a Telstra study has found.  The survey of 200 federal, state and local government and statutory authorities found that 54 percent saw productivity increases from broadband networks, primarily in the area of application delivery.  About 40 percent identified the consolidation of data storage into fewer sites or a single site as a valuable strategy.

Unified communications also performed strongly with just under one-third of respondents believing it had positively impacted their productivity.  Outsourced application hosting, however, did not rank highly among those surveyed. Only 15 percent saw productivity improvements from "outsourced hosting of data and applications" and only nine percent said the same for software-as-a-service or cloud computing.  The cloud computing statistic could be simply a result of lack of early adoption of technology among government departments.

Between seven and 16 percent of those surveyed said they liked "to be one of the first to use a new product or technology."  The study also found that 29 percent of government organisations that were early adopters of technology were also likely to say their productivity had "increased a lot or a great deal" over the same period.  By contrast, those that adopted a ‘wait-and-see' approach were most likely to see productivity improve either "a little or not at all."  The lion's share of government organisations - apart from local governments who were most likely slowest to adopt ICT - said they liked "to be using new products but don't have budget to invest".

Queensland’s new water utility

Queensland Urban Utilities will handle the distribution and sale of all water to homes and business in Brisbane, Ipswich and towns in the Lockyer Valley.  With 1200 workers, 1.3 million customers and assets of $4.4 billion, it will be the first of three new distribution companies to set up shop in southeast Queensland.  It takes over water billing from Brisbane City Council whose ratepayers will, from January, have to get used to two bills: a reduced rates bill (because it will exclude water charges) and a separate bill for water and sewerage.

The water bill is likely to arrive in letterboxes a few days after the regular rates notice.  Overall charges would likely rise because of increased costs of bulk water, which accounted for 35 per cent of the typical household water bill.

Shifting costs in NSW

The Local Government and Shires Associations this week released a cost shifting survey.  It includes responses from 78 NSW councils, who were asked to estimate the price of shifting responsibilities such as waste levies, food safety regulation and medical services. Findings are based on the 2007-08 financial year. 

Among the six Hunter respondents, the amount of cost shifting was about $31 million.  Most affected was Lake Macquarie City Council, with $12.6 million, or 8.74 per cent of its $144 million operating income, paying for state-initiated responsibilities.  Newcastle and Maitland councils attributed $10.7 million and $4.6 million respectively to cost shifting.  Singleton, Gloucester and Upper Hunter shire councils said it chewed up between 3.78 and 6.12 per cent of their operating income.

Less at Burnside

The Burnside investigation first mentioned here in July has yet to provide an outcome. The ABC reports that the deadline for the report has now been exteded to January. The former auditor-general, Ken McPherson, has been looking into allegations of bullying, harassment and undue influence and was due to report by the end of October.

Local Government Relations Minister Gail Gago has told the South Australian Parliament that Mr McPherson expects his investigation is now likely to take a further four months. So far, he has received up to 65,000 pages of documentation and conducted seven formal interviews, taking on average six hours each.

More double dealing

Lithgow' Council's habit of asking businesses to supply infornation to it they've already supplied to a government entity has recurred this week. Council does not seem to understand that providing such data imposes a cost on business they have already incurred. The Lithgow Mercury reports that Lithgow Council is asking home based businesses in the Local Government Area to participate in completing an online survey to provide input into the Economic Development Strategy. Council is currently close to completing a major project surveying retailers and business support services within the Lithgow Local Government Area (LGA) but is also keen to acquire information regarding the Home Based Business Sector. Information received from this questionnaire will be collated by Lithgow Council and will be used to develop, assist and grow this increasingly important business sector. “This survey recognises that home based businesses are another critical sector to be supported within the Lithgow Local Government Area. The participation of this business sector will enable Council to identify actions specifically relating to this sector in order to assist the businesses develop and prosper,” Mayor Neville Castle said.

Cutting councils in the West

A once-in-a-century shakeup of local government in Western Australia is likely to see a swathe of shires stretching from the Northern Territory border to the Southern Ocean erased forever from the State's political map, WA Today reports. The revelation means a legion of candidates elected in the upcoming October 17 local government elections will not serve out their full four-year terms. A list of condemned councils, penned by the powerful Local Government Reform Steering Committee and obtained by WAtoday.com.au, will see the State's least sustainable shires, cities and towns culled.

The committee was hand-picked by Local Government Minister John Castrilli. The Department of Local Government has already told at least 45 shires on the secret list that amalgamation is "required". WA has 139 councils and is the last state in Australia to embark on significant local government reform.

The result is, predictably, turf warfare with a localised outbreak between the Cities of Stirling and Swan and the City of Bayswater. Stirling and Swan councils have teamed up against the City of Bayswater after the council "secretly" lodged a submission to Local Government Reform taskforce asking for a reduction in the larger councils' electorates. The State Government is looking to reduce the number of councils and make them more sustainable and efficient as part of its voluntary reforms. The city's submission proposed a merger with the Town of Bassendean and moving their eastern, western and northern boundaries to take in 14 of Swan's and Stirling's suburbs combined.

Meanwhile country shire councils, afraid of the State Government's plans for local government reform and possible forced amalgamations, have flooded the Department of Local Government with their submissions. Local Government Minister John Castrilli said more than 115 submissions had already been received, with more still coming in even though the State Government had initially imposed an August 31 deadline.

Mr Castrilli, who had been chastised earlier in the year for his "amalgamate or else" stance, said many local councils had highlighted potential areas for reform and had displayed enthusiasm about the strategic benefits that lay ahead. There are 85 local councils in WA serving populations of less than 2000 people, and Mr Castrilli believes the benefits from amalgamations across the state, including metropolitan Perth, would be very significant.

The Labor Opposition has, predictably, joined in, with the Member for the South West, Nigel Hallett, and the Member for the Agricultural region, Max Trenorden, releasing a report casting doubt over the benefits of amalgamations. The MPs travelled to South Australia and Queensland to research the implications of council amalgamations and concluded the process is often expensive and unneccessary. Mr Trenorden says they found some councils should have remained unaltered.

Action on e-waste (at last)

Mountains of old televisions and computers will finally be diverted from the local tip if the federal government agrees to a new electronic waste recycling scheme to be unveiled next month.

After 10 years of discussions, the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) is due to announce its decision on the best option for keeping about 17million computers and TVs out of landfill every year. Industry and consumer groups generally support a product-stewardship approach that obliges manufacturers to take greater responsibility for the collection and disposal of cast-off household equipment. Members of the Australian Information Industry Association have been voluntarily operating a takeback scheme in Victoria for several years, while the local TV industry and Consumer Electronics Suppliers Association formed Product Stewardship Australia as a non-profit organisation to develop a national scheme.

Earlier this year, the EPHC released a choice-modelling study which found shoppers would be willing to pay an extra $18-$27 on a new computer or TV to lift Australia's e-waste recycling efforts from just 9 per cent today to about 50 per cent. Cost-benefit analysis of nine possible options found that net benefits ranging from $517billion to $742bn in present-day values would be achieved, compared with doing nothing. The EPHC has also been considering submissions to a Regulatory Impact Statement on the proposed changes, ahead of its meeting on November 5.

Councillors behaving badly

Misbehaving councillors could be jailed or fined thousands of dollars if found to have breached the Local Government Act. A new bill introduced in the Victorian Parliament last month could see errant councillors slapped with massive fines of up to $70,000, or up to five years in jail. The Offences and Other Matters Bill was introduced in Parliament on 11 September in a bid to tighten up the legislation to bring penalties in line with community expectations.

The amendments have been one of several reforms introduced in the wake of the Brimbank City Council scandal, which exposed a litany of inappropriate behaviours from councillors and high-profile MPs. Under the new regulations, councillors found to have misused their position for personal gain will face a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, or more than $70,000 in fines.

A person acting as a councillor when deemed incapable could be fined $14,000 or thrown into prison for a year, while those found to have published misleading or deceptive voting material could be imprisoned for six months. Although some Brimbank residents have welcomed the changes, critics believed more needed to be done to bring rogue councillors into line.

Not the NSW's new licensing system

Getting a project up and running is sometimes a matter of juggling figures to make its return on investment look unbeatable and the project timeline remarkable. Such juggling carries high risks, as can be seen from a report from the Auditor-General for the Australian state of NSW who has slammed a large State Government IT billing project that is expected to be nine years late and $23 million over budget. The project is intended to centralize the application and issuing of licenses, apart from driver's licenses, used throughout the state. It was intended to replace more than 40 licensing systems in about 20 government agencies, issuing more than 4 million licenses of more than 300 varieties to individuals and businesses.

This is (at least) the second public sector billing project the Auditor-General has criticized. Most notable was his 2003 report, when Sydney Water ran into problems with a new billing system.

Launched in 2001, the project was to have been completed by 2005, although it is not now expected to be concluded until 2014. "It is now nine years late, $23 million over budget and will return less than one-third of the original estimated net savings," Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat said in a report released 7 October. "Put simply, this is poor project management."

Even in 2001 licensing packages such as Hansen were commercially available; nowadays US leader Accela has entered the local market. But governments are often persuaded they can do better developing a bespoke solution

Standing out

Eight councils have refused to join the new system of joint regional planning panels introduced on 1 July by the NSW government. The panels were intended to streamline the development approval process and depoliticise the planning portfolio by addressing a perceived lack of consistency between councils on building limits and other issues, shortening the approval timeline and cutting down on red tape.

Each panel consists of two council representatives from each council in the area, together with three government-appointed members, and each member has a vote. All work above a $10 million threshold is assessed by the panel, leaving local councils to manage only smaller approvals – a key area of criticism for those not in favour of the new system.

The councils who have refused to join are Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Byron Bay, Cessnock, Gunnedah, Palerang, Shoalhaven and Warren councils. The perception is that planning power has been transferred from local to state government. It is believed many councils have joined panels under duress. Local councils must still defend panel decisions in the Land and Environment Court, resulting in councils potentially having to defend a panel decision with which both their members on the panel disagreed. Panel members must also absent themselves from any Council meetings where a development that is being dealt with by their panel is under discussion.

Infor's Hansen Eight push

Water industry eyes will be on Gippsland Water's rollout of Infor Public Sector's Hansen Eight assets and utility billing application. Although the assets module has been sucessfully deployed at a number of Australian sites, the utility billing rollout will be a first for Australasia, after a mixed track record with implementations in the US. The software contains a robust module for managing, permitting and billing trade and industrial waste which, if successful, will be a leader in its class. Trade waste management and billing, although key to the activities of larger water companies, has often been neglected by water billing software vendors. Gippsland Water manages the Dutson Downs Resource Recovery Facility as part of its operations.

NSW's green failure?

Are there any success stories in NSW, or must its weary citizens wait for a change of government from tired Labour led by "Freckles" Rees to the policy-free zone of the Lib's "Barrell" Barry O'Farrell? Inside Waste Weekly reports that Green groups, local councils and private industry have rallied under the National Recycling Initiative (NRI) banner to pressure the NSW Government into providing better support for the recycling industry. They claim the state economy is missing out on a $600 million injection of private funds, and the creation of 2,000 ‘green’ jobs, because of bureaucratic inaction and a policy agenda that has degenerated into a “one trick pony”.

Around 30 leading figures from the waste and recycling industry participated in an NRI Forum at NSW Parliament House yesterday. While there was plenty of debate on finer details of required action on the national front, there were many points of agreement when it came to frustration with the NSW Government. One was that comments in March by then Environment Minister Carmel Tebbut, claiming the state “was on track” to meeting its recycling targets, were an insult to the intelligence of industry members.

Meanwhile it has been reported that Lake Maquarrie City Council has stockpiled a surplus $14.2 million collected from ratepayers through the domestic waste charge. Some council insiders believe the money should have been returned to ratepayers, but the council has defended its decision to keep it.

Under local government law, the council can use the surplus to reduce domestic waste charges or stash it to decrease future waste costs. The domestic waste charge is for the collection of garbage from properties. A council source described it as a "cash cow" and said the surplus should have been handed back to ratepayers.

But a council spokeswoman said the money had been stored to reduce future waste costs and charges. The Awaba tip would close in four to five years and the NSW Government was "forcing councils away from landfill", the spokeswoman said. This meant a new waste operation to replace Awaba tip would be "more expensive to provide". The stockpile would help offset the cost of a new operation and subsidise charges, rather than enacting an increase in charges in one year.

A council report on "the future direction of waste management" will be made public this year.

Adelaide's council calls for more consolidation

ADELAIDE City Council has called for local government leaders across the metropolitan area to hold official talks on forming super councils, AdelaideNow reports. Lord Mayor Michael Harbison has publicly advocated the number of councils across Adelaide be slashed to as few as three, but his council is yet to settle on a formal position.

Councillors this week voted to call on the Local Government Association to chair an open forum of metropolitan council leaders to debate the merits of amalgamation. The move comes amid fresh calls from Business SA and political leaders for a new round of local government reform.

Victoria's ombudsman and open government

Victorian Ombudsman George Brouwer recently found that the Government is flouting the spirit of freedom-of-information laws. This has been raised before, but Premier John Brumby keeps hiding behind statistics about the number of documents released. The problem, as the Ombudsman found, is that the basic posture of agencies is to obstruct, not release. This can be seen in the number of complaints to Brouwer about FOI. Last financial year these jumped by 40 per cent.

One of the biggest issues, the Ombudsman found, is that agencies and public servants were struggling with the concept of a conflict of interest. What this comes down to is people using their government position to advance their private interests. "My experience in dealing with whistleblower disclosures," said Brouwer, "reveals many public bodies are yet to demonstrate that they fully understand how to identify or deal with a conflict of interest."

Brouwer found this misunderstanding was most pronounced in local government. Indeed, the Ombudsman found many local councils are simply not ethically serving their communities.

Are South Australia’s Council CEOs paid too much?

LOCAL government chief executives in the past year have been awarded average pay rises of 7 per cent or up to $75,000.  The state's 19 metropolitan council CEOs are on average salary packages of more than $220,000.  One is even paid more than Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.  The average annual pay rise for CEOs to September this year was $14,469, while the average Australian worker's annual salary rose only $1768, from $46,228 to $47,996.  The Local Government Association claims that increases in private sector salaries have forced councils to raise the pay packets of their chief executives, .

The revelations come amid fresh calls from business and community leaders for Adelaide to cut council numbers and reduce the overall wages bill in local government.  LGA executive director Wendy Campana yesterday said "runaway" private sector salaries had forced councils to pay more for their CEOs.  "The simple truth is that you need to pay these sorts of numbers in the public sector relative to the size of an organisation to get the right sort of applicants," she said.  "This is our biggest problem, that we are shopping in the same market as the private sector, and that market continues to grow extremely strongly."

The Opposition wants South Australia's Local Government Minister to set up an independent body to review the salaries of council chief executives, but the Government says it has no power to do so.  Opposition MP Mark Goldsworthy says some CEOs earn more than the Premier.  "I actually think it's time we open this whole matter up and actually appoint an independent person, an independent body, to review the whole matter around CEO salaries," he said.  "Minister [Gail] Gago would have to call for that investigation and I think it's time that we did it."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/21/2691357.htm, http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,26102194-2682,00.html, http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,26106770-2682,00.html

The price of vigilance

The former information technology (IT) manager for the City of Whittlesea, Massimo Giordano, is one of three Melbourne men who have been jailed after defrauding the Victorian council of more than $2.5 million over a period of three years.  The County Court heard Giordano, 43, his brother Frank Giordan, 47, and friend Salvatore Cosentino, 55, issued false invoices to the council for IT equipment.  The scheme was uncovered when an accountant examined the council's financial records.

More electronic services development activity

Newcastle Council is the latest Council to be seeking development of its property information management system to enable e—government.  TenderLink and the Council’s Web site advises of a tender seeking the provision of a web enabled information management software system and the professional services needed to manage and carry out activities associated with its design, development, testing, training, implementation, and ongoing support.  The software system will be used for the electronic management of information and services related to Council's land, property and regulatory activities.

Not so open government

Busselton Shire Council’s “confidential” sessions are being leaked to the local media, it seems.  Outgoing shire councillor Bernie Masters wants action taken against councillors he claims leaked information on the confidential item last week that saw shire CEO Andrew Macnish terminate his contract.  Cr Hartley told councillors last Wednesday that another confidential item was coming up and if the same thing happened and if similar “rubbish” was in the media again he would be on to it “like a ton of bricks”.  He even spelt out the word ‘confidential’, just to get the message across, and said that the Department of Local Government had been informed.

In his urgent motion Cr Masters wants the council to note the publication in last week’s Mail of an article relating to the council meeting on September 9, when it was agreed in confidential session that the employment of Mr Macnish was to be terminated.  He also wants it to note that the article contained quotes and references to the confidential session of that meeting, which could only have been provided to the newspaper’s journalist Rob Bennett by a councillor or councillors.  As well, he wants the council to express its extreme disappointment that the Mail had chosen to publish information that the council considered to be strictly confidential, and rebuke the councillor or councillors who provided confidential information to the newspaper.

He said such action was contrary to the spirit in which local government and its councillors were expected to conduct themselves and was illegal under the Local Government Act.  Cr Masters decided to launch his motion before having read the article in the newspaper.  In an email exchange with the Mail before seeking Cr Hartley’s advice, Cr Masters told the Mail that it seemed unable to differentiate between an issue that was of public interest and one that was in the public interest.

Software replacement

Westernport Water has joined the search for a replacement water billing system, with tender documents issued Thursday. It's a second tender for the Phillip Island utility; earlier in the week they went looking for an Asset Management system.

Managing water resources

President of the Local Government Association Cr Genia McCaffery today acknowledged the vital role NSW councils play in managing water resources in NSW. Cr McCaffery was speaking at the 2009 LGSA Water Management Conference in Deniliquin - a part of NSW hardest hit by the most recent drought. Cr McCaffery highlighted a number of councils that have done some extraordinary work in developing new technology to help adapt to reducing water supplies.

“Some recent awards have highlighted the innovation and forward thinking that is shining through in water management in this State,” she said. “Orange Council has received a Green Globe Award and a NSW Water Environment Award for their ground breaking Stormwater Harvesting Project at Blackmans Swamp Creek. In a first for Australia, Orange is harvesting stormwater for the city’s drinking water supply with a project that has international eyes focused on the Central West of NSW. Using a weir and treatment ponds to clean the water before it returns to their main water dam, the project isn’t just a major advance in technology, but also a remarkably successful exercise in public communication and education, with the community willingly accepting this water for their drinking supply.”

Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour councils also received praise, for working together on the Shannon Creek Dam project. “This massive project received both a NSW Water and an Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia Excellence Award in the process,” said Cr McCaffery. “With a major investment in infrastructure they have more than doubled the capacity of the Dam by raising its crest almost 10 meters, and have built other facilities like a 90 kilometer supply pipe and pump stations. They have also focused on better management practices and conservation strategies to make sure that the dam will deal with an increasing population well into the future. These two projects show us just how smart, how adaptive and how cost effective Local Government can be."

Brimbank Council sacked

The Victorian State Labor government has sacked the Brimbank council for, among other things, the undue influence the local Labor Party has brought to bear on councillors. A report from a State Government-appointed monitor called for its "suspension and or dismissal". Administrators will be appointed to the western Melbourne council until November 2012, the Minister for Local Government, Richard Wynne, announced this afternoon. The action came after Local Government Inspector Bill Scales also found elements of the ruling Victorian ALP were still trying to apply undue influence on Brimbank Council.

"In the interests of good governance for the people of Brimbank and on advice from the Local Government Inspector, the state government has decided to suspend Brimbank City Council and will move to dismiss the council until the next local government elections in November 2012," Mr Wynne said. "Unfortunately, the Government has been left with no choice, given that Mr Scales has found that councillors have fundamentally failed to correct poor practices and issues of probity and misconduct."

An Ombudsman's report in May found Labor figures had meddled in the affairs of the council, including in the allocation of council resources to community and sporting clubs. The Ombudsman investigated the former council and a new council was elected in November.

Closed government

BURNSIDE Council has called police to investigate fresh allegations that confidential documents have been illegally leaked. AdelaideNow understands former mayor Jim Jacobsen sent council legal advice relating to an internal defamation case to the Local Government Association. Mr Jacobsen has been targeted in a suit levelled by several fellow councillors and members of Burnside's Development Assessment Panel over comments he has made.

At a meeting last night, councillor Julian Carbone said the leak was the latest "serious breach" in a string since the 2006 election. "I'm furious this sort of behaviour continues and it should be investigated fully," he said. A council majority led by Peter Pavan ultimately voted to refer the matter to police.

It is the second time in less than two months SAPOL has been called to investigate the leaking of confidential documents at Burnside. The Anti-Corruption Branch was alerted in July after Mr Jacobsen emailed documents about a looming State Government inquiry to State/Local Government Relations Minister Gail Gago. AdelaideNow also understands the ACB has conducted at least three other investigations at the council since the 2006 election.

Mr Jacobsen last night denied wrong-doing and said he sent the council's legal advice to the LGA for clarification under the belief it was invalid.

Open government

An Adelaide Advertiser investigation shows up the lack of accountability, the Advertiser editorialises. Local councils - which should be the closest arm of government to the people - are closing their doors to the public more often. Together, 17 metropolitan councils surveyed by The Advertiser - excluding Adelaide City and Mitcham councils - barred the public from discussion of 430 items in the past financial year, up from 383 the previous year.

Granted, councils are at a disadvantage compared with state and federal governments in that they do not have a private process like Cabinet through which to make confidential decisions. That said, the frequency of closed meetings would appear to be increasing at a time when there is greater public desire for transparency.

There is a case for confidentiality in rare instances, such as a sensitive staff matter or a discussion which may jeopardise ratepayer funds.

More red tape?

TWO of Queensland'ss mayors have warned changes to the Local Government Act could result in council processes disintegrating into a maze of red tape and “unworkable” rules. The reforms are part of the Local Government Act 2009, which will replace the 1993 Act in December. It includes changes to the rules on the pecuniary interest register and declaring material or any interest in development applications.

But Bundaberg Region Mayor Lorraine Pyefinch said the changes would start to infringe on her family's right to privacy. “I already have to disclose what assets my 21-year-old son has,” she said.

North Burnett Mayor Joy Jensen said the changes could deter people from becoming elected officials. “It's a difficult job at the best of times and this puts even more pressure on,” Cr Jensen said.

But Local Government Minister Desley Boyle said the new Act introduces five principles that mayors, councillors and local government employees must follow. “It sets clear expectations and high standards including transparent decision making, inclusive community consultation and engagement, accountability for decisions and integrity of behaviour,” she said.

Amalgamations to blame for higher rates?

The Queensland Government says amalgamation is not to blame for higher rates increases in some council budgets. Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) president Paul Bell says rates increases have jumped from around 5 per cent to an average of 10 per cent in the two years since amalgamation.

But Queensland Local Government Minister Desley Boyle says international economic pressures have caused high rates increases in all councils. "It's very mischievous," she said. "They've gone up just as much in non-amalgamated councils such as Brisbane, Gold Coast, Mt Isa. The cost of construction is one of the key factors affecting local government."

She says the global financial crisis affected local government income through reduced development applications and housing developments. "The much more likely connection is the huge global financial crisis," she said. "That would explain, for example, why non-amalgamated councils like Brisbane raised their rates over 6 per cent. Gold Coast raised its rates by 11.4 per cent, Mt Isa had a rate rise of 17 per cent."

The end of a NSW experiment?

Parramatta Council has advertised for bids to replace almost all of their core operating software – Financials and Payroll principally, with Asset Management as an option.  Almost everything, in fact, except their rating system.  Parramatta is one of the consortium of NSW councils (Randwick is another) who bravely went for a joint platform of software and services several years ago, currently managed by CapGemini.

Rumour has it that the problem lies not with CG but with aspects of the underlying Oracle platform; the Parramatta hierarchy are no fans of Oracle Corporation.

Bundaberg online

Bundaberg Regional Council is set to roll-out a new electronic development assessment system, to speed up the application process and reduce costs for councils and industry.  Following successful trials within Redland City Council, Bundaberg will become the second council in the State to bring the Smart eDA system online.

Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe, says the initiative has been developed by the State Government, in consultation with the Local Government Association of Queensland, councils and industry stakeholders.  He says the system will significantly speed up the existing development assessment process.  "Paper-based development applications are generally difficult to handle, disperse and monitor and place significant demands on councils in terms of staff and costs,'' he says.  "The electronic system provides Queensland with a more efficient, transparent and consistent development assessment process that will reduce the cost of development.”

According to the Minster, officers from the Department of Infrastructure and Planning delivered training to industry stakeholders in the lead up to the system's release.  "The Smart eDA website provides a single portal for industry and applicants to use across local government jurisdictions. Applicants can prepare and lodge their development applications online and also track their progress," Hinchliffe says.  "It transforms the current paper-based Integrated Development Assessment System process into an intuitive and interactive, internet-based process.”.

The new system will also enable the integration of council and State Government systems, while helping to identify any applicable referral agencies.  "By streamlining the assessment process, it is hoped that we can further cut red tape and reduce the delays and costs involved in this process, which is great news for home buyers and for local governments," Hinchliffe says.

Tech One’s water world

Technology One has sold their asset management and supply chain software to South East Queensland bulk water supplier Seqwater.  Tech One already supplies some of their software to the bulk of Victoria’s water authorities, as well as their Finance One product to the two largest water companies in New Zealand.  Their most recent Finance One sale to a Victorian water utility was to Barwon Water.  Just when will they get an industry-strength water billing application to round out their portfolio?

BASIS still has legs

Despite Basis not being selected for upgrade at Yarra Valley Water, it seems it still has its fans.  After a successful implementation in Philadelphia, the Holding Company for Water & Wastewater of Egypt has awarded a contract for the implementation of Basis2 nationwide, Reuters reports.

A cone of silence over Burnside

THE decision to keep secret the details of the investigation into the Burnside Council is riddled with ironies, says the Adelaide Advertiser.  Ironic that the inquiry itself was brought about because of alleged undue influence behind closed doors.  Ironic that the State Government wants protection of witnesses when those likely to be witnesses were clamouring for a public audience for months before the concerns were heeded.

Ironic that the Government will use the evidence of the inquiry to decide if the council should be dismissed, but won't release the information because it could be unsubstantiated.  Ironic that the exemption from the Freedom of Information Act was made by the executive government through regulations, avoiding any dissent of the Parliament.

Ironic that the legislative powers of councils to hear matters in camera in the Local Government Act explicitly exclude the ability to do so to avoid embarrassment, a power the inquiry has now been given with the stroke of a pen.  Finally, it is ironic that the State Government will table the final report in Parliament to avoid legal action against those involved, but won't use this simple mechanism to protect any and all evidence given to the inquiry.  Of course, chief among the reasons the inquiry will be kept secret, save for a sanitised report to be tabled, is damage control.

ACT taxes ruled illegal

The ACT Government says a Federal Court ruling that its utilities tax is invalid will make it harder to bring the Territory Budget back to surplus.  The tax charges for the use of Territory owned land by utility networks and is budgeted to raise about $18 million a year.  The Queanbeyan City Council took ACTEW to the Federal Court alleging the ACT Government had invalidly imposed duties of excise on Canberra's water authority.  ACTEW had been charging the council a utilities tax since 2007 and a water abstraction charge since 2000.  The council has been withholding the abstraction charge from ACTEW which costs Queanbeyan ratepayers more than $3 million a year.  Yesterday the Federal Court ruled the tax was an excise duty and therefore made the act it was established under invalid. But it found the water abstraction charge was not a tax and therefore is a legally legitimate levy.

LGAQ embraces a defining approach (uh-oh)

Queensland council leaders will gather as one this week to discuss how best to deal with the state government's bullying tactics, says the head of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ).  LGAQ executive director Greg Hallam told AAP on Sunday the Bligh Government had treated councils poorly and a recent decision to abandon subsidising local infrastructure and programs would ultimately cost first home buyers.  "They treat councils like they're another department they can control when they want," Mr Hallam said.  "To scrap the infrastructure and subsidy programs means about $5,000 will be added to the cost of a new housing block which means the first home buyers grant will pay this.  There is a lot of concern about what the government has done and their bully-boy tactics."  The two and half day conference will be attended by more than 700 delegates with up to five members from each council across the state attending.

The Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has set up a fighting fund to pay for publicity campaigns against unpopular state and federal government decisions.  LGAQ president Paul Bell told the lobby group's annual conference in Brisbane that $600,000 has been put towards the fund.  ouncillor Bell says it will be topped up each year.  "That fund will be a million dollar fund very quickly," he said.   "It'll be a fund that will be there to fight the big issues of councils and communities that need to be taken into the public stage at any time we feel significant issues are being imposed on local governments and on local communities."

The LGAQ says this year's conference is one of the most significant of the past few decades. LGAQ executive director Greg Hallam says there will also be a debate about whether a moratorium on sacking staff from amalgamated councils should be lifted before the agreed timeframe of 2011. He says councils are increasingly looking to the Commonwealth for financial assistance in the wake of State Government funding changes. "It'll be a defining conference in terms of there'll be a mood shift in the conference one way or another about what the new world order looks like," he said.

Now it’s cash for council access

THE South Australian Auditor-General has been asked to investigate a scheme in which companies pay up to $20,000 to rub shoulders with council executives to win council business.  A ratepayers group wants an investigation into Local Government Managers Australia, a professional association for council executives which takes money to fund its "gala" dinner and other parties from companies vying for business from Adelaide councils.  LGMA SA promotional material says: "South Australian local government spends almost $1 billion annually on goods and services. LGMA SA can assist you to obtain a share of this market for your products and services."

Residents and Ratepayers Association president Kevin Kaeding said the association objected to help obtaining council business being offered in exchange for sponsorship deals.  "It just smells that there could be something not right about this – $45,000 on a gala dinner partly paid for by businesses and at a time when ratepayers are facing cutbacks," he said.  About 250 executives from throughout SA councils are part of the scheme.

LGMA SA president Mark Withers, who is also chief executive officer of the City of Charles Sturt, said even though the members were public servants, the organisation was not for profit.  "It is just a normal sponsorship arrangement, you get exposure to all these local government professionals in the sector," he said.  "The safety net for us is that LGMA does not consume any of the products or the services of the sponsors, it is marketing and exposure, not procurement." Private companies which gave $10,000 to LGMA this year were waste disposal firm SITA, accountants UHY Haines Norton, Norman Waterhouse Lawyers and management consultant CAM.

A spokesman for Local Government Minister Gail Gago said: "The LGMA cannot influence or direct the policies and decisions of individual councils."

Are Sydney growth area “the pits”?

Michael Suttor, principal at Michael Suttor Architects, is adamant that inferior transport and road services are to blame for the population declines endured by these “growth” areas, Danielle Bowling reports in the latest edition of Architecture & Design.  “I can’t understand how people that need to commute between Campbelltown and Sydney tolerate being two hours in their car either way. It’s just the pits,” he said.  There are a number of tradespeople living in Sydney’s outer suburbs, Suttor explained, and “inadequate” roads and facilities in these areas makes it impossible for them to commute.Inadequate road and transport facilities in Sydney's outer “growth” suburbs are forcing residents to pack their bags and move to the big-smoke.

Figures in the latest comparative data on councils published by the Department of Local Government for 2007-2008 shows that in the past five years, areas such as Liverpool, Campbelltown, Penrith, Sutherland and the Hawkesbury have registered population declines.  On the other hand, Mosman, Canada Bay, North Sydney, Willoughby and other areas closer to the city are enjoying an increase in population, with 90 per cent of new homes now being built within Sydney's existing urban footprint.

Low jinks in Victorian councils lead to greater State government scrutiny

Local Councils in Victoria will be policed by an investigation unit established in response to a string of scandals and growing anger at poor performance.  Premier John Brumby has announced a Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate, to be headed by a ''chief municipal inspector'', to help improve the performance of the sector.  The announcement was made on the same day the Ombudsman released another damning report on the performance of a local council, this time Port Phillip.  It follows a scathing Ombudsman's report on the Brimbank Council and coincides with a decline in community support for local government, according to a State Government survey.

Opposition local government spokeswoman Jeanette Powell said the Government had been ''shamed'' into introducing the compliance inspectorate.  Darlene Reilly, president of the Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association, also believes the Government was forced into action. ''They are just putting out spot fires at the moment,'' she said.  Municipal Association of Victoria president Bill McArthur said the Government was not being ''very consultative'' and should be providing more training on regulations for the local government sector.

Tasmanian State Government to pay for water concessions

The Tasmanian Government has announced it will pay all concession subsidies under its new water and sewerage reforms.  The Local Government Association last week rejected an offer to share the burden for pensioners and low-income earners.  The government originally wanted councils to pay the full cost.  The Premier, David Bartlett has confirmed the government will fully fund the concession of $130 for eligible customers.

"Today the cabinet decided to implement a regime by which no concession holder will be disadvantaged through water and sewerage reforms and no local government authority will be disadvantaged through water and sewerage reforms," he said.  It will cost the government $6.5 million to fund the concessions this financial year.

The Local Government Association's Allan Garcia says there should never have been any question about who should pay.  "Most councils would be very satisfied that standing up for the principle that this is a welfare payment that should be met by the state government is the appropriate response, there'll be no happiness or no glee, it's our expectation and we were very disappointed that it was going to go another way in the first place," he said.

WA local government consolidation mooted

WA Premier Colin Barnett has revealed his target for local government amalgamation.  The Premier told the WA Local Government Association's annual general meeting he expects there to be fewer than 100 councils within 5 years.  Mr Barnett says the majority of the current 139 councils have less than 2000 residents which is not viable.  "Reform is essential to keep local government being relevant, to be able to provide services, and to be able to minimise the effect on residents in terms of rate increases," he said.

The WA Local Government Association says it's committed to voluntary reforms.

WA Council amalgamations

Local governments want more time to assess the State Government's plans to amalgamate councils.  The Local Government Minister John Castrilli has called on municipalities to merge to create larger regional councils.

The WA Local Government Association (WALGA) says the minister did not make it clear until this week how he wanted the mergers to work.  The WALGA president Bill Mitchell says now that councils have a clear understanding of what is expected, they need more time to assess the proposal.  "We've wasted 2 or 3 months talking with our communities, arguing a certain model with them, now that has to be thrown out and we have to start all over again. and we only have less that 3 weeks to do that," he said.

Allowing conflicts of interest

The Greater Bendigo Council wants new conflict of interest rules for councillors to be relaxed.  The rules, which were introduced late last year, prevent councillors from taking part in any discussion on an issue if they have a conflict of interest.  The council wants Local Government Victoria to let councillors take part in debates and then abstain from votes if they have a conflict.

Mayor Kevin Gibbins says the rules are too restrictive and councillors have to remove themselves from discussions too often.  "This conflict of interest, whilst it's important, we need to be able to still represent people's views," he said.  “So what we're wanting is the previous system ... there's pages and pages of rules which, in most cases, are not workable."

LGA slams former Queensland Premier

The Queensland Local Government Association has blamed former Premier Peter Beattie for a public mistrust in how politics and business operates in the state. Association executive director Greg Hallam says the flawed system of accessing ministers via lobbyists must be fixed, as there has been a complete breakdown in public confidence. He says he has faith in Premier Anna Bligh. "I've got no doubt that the Premier is an honest politician but she's inherited a mess," he said. "We do need to get to the bottom of this issue and we do need to restore public trust in the system."

Former premier Wayne Goss agrees. "The longer any side of politics is in power the more risk there is that cobwebs will settle," he said. "That's not a criticism of Peter Beattie; it can happen with either side of politics." Mr Hallam says all major planning decisions should be made openly, as they are in local government. "If these things are done openly and transparently then a lot of the misconceptions and innuendo will go away," he said. "Unfortunately at the moment the system is ripe for people making accusations about improper behaviour."

Ms Bligh has announced a ban on success fees paid to lobbyists.

Another Brimbank?

A Sunday Report in today's Age highlights the murky recesses of local government, this time in the City of Dandenong. It's the sort of shenanigans that in other States might be investigated by a standing Corruption Commission. But, as Melissa Fyfe opines in the same edition, Victoria's politicians have never seen the need for such a body.

Conflicts of interest in Geelong

Geelong councillor Cameron Granger has faced court briefly over claims of failing to declare a conflict of interest and failing to leave the council chambers during a vote. Having traded in his former brown locks for a new strawberry-blond hairdo, Cr Granger appeared at Geelong Magistrates' Court yesterday for a contest mention.

The case was adjourned after prosecutors requested more time to gather evidence, but the court heard Cr Granger was keen to have the matter dealt with as soon as possible. Cr Granger and fellow councillor David Saunderson were charged in May after allegedly failing to declare they received donations for the 2004 council elections from Lascorp when a vote involving the developer was debated. They later reported the incident to Local Government Minister Richard Wynne and Local Government Victoria for investigation.

Cr Granger and Cr Saunderson stood down from their positions on the City of Greater Geelong council in June, pending the court case. "I have determined that the most responsible course of action is to take leave of absence from council until there is a resolution in relation to charges I face in the Magistrates' Court," Cr Granger said at the time. "I will, however, remain active in the community, as I always have." Cr Saunderson was listed to appear yesterday along with Cr Granger, but Magistrate Ron Saines heard that had been a clerical error, with Cr Saunderson already down to appear on a later date. Cr Granger will reappear in court on August 12, and Cr Saunderson on September 8, both for contest mentions.

Bundaberg introduces “smart” application process

Bundaberg’s new electronic development assessment system is set to speed up the application process and cut costs for councils and industry. Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Stirling Hinchliffe says Bundaberg is the second local government in Queensland to adopt the Smart eDA system. “The Smart eDA initiative has been developed by the State Government, in consultation with the Local Government Association of Queensland, councils and industry stakeholders, to streamline and speed up the development assessment system,” he says. “Paper-based development applications are generally difficult to handle, disperse and monitor and place significant demands on councils in terms of staff and costs.”

According to Hinchcliffe, the electronic system provides Queensland with a more efficient, transparent and consistent system. Redland City Council has reportedly already trialled the system, and is now using it successfully. “The Smart eDA website provides a single portal for industry and applicants to use across local government jurisdictions. Applicants can prepare and lodge their development applications online and also track their progress,” Hinchcliffe says. “It transforms the current paper-based Integrated Development Assessment System process into an intuitive and interactive, internet-based process. The system also enables the integration of council and State Government systems and helps to identify any applicable referral agencies.”

Officers from the Department of Infrastructure and Planning visited Bundaberg last week to deliver training for industry stakeholders before the system is rolled out in the next month.

Queensland local government amalgamation: dishonest or inept?

The State Government's forced amalgamation of Queensland local authorities looks like costing the best part of $200 million, many times the $27 million the state set aside for the exercise. The very reasonable argument for amalgamation was that it would make councils more financially secure. But regardless of any longer term benefits, the massive cost blowout of the exercise tells us one of two things; either the state was cynically misleading us from the beginning, or it was simply incompetent in calculating its cost/benefit equation.

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The on-going Burnside Council saga

Burnside Council will face an independent probe into allegations of bullying, undue influence and defamation. Former auditor-general Ken MacPherson will investigate and report back to the South Australian Government by the end of October. The Government made preliminary enquiries into the council after its chief executive resigned last month over claims of an unsafe working environment. He is back in the job since then.

SA Local Government Minister Gail Gago says inquiry findings will be released publicly. She says the investigation is an important reminder to all councils.

More money for NSW councils?

The pricing regulator wants bigger increases in council rates and a four-year rate-setting term as part of an overhaul of the way they are determined. The proposals follow more than 30 years of rate capping in NSW, during which time there has been a continued shift of services from the federal and state governments to councils, leaving them hamstrung financially. Councils have turned increasingly to developer levies to fund their spending programs, which has made new homes more expensive in NSW than other states and slowed housing construction.

The chairman of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, Dr Michael Keating, said rate pegging had not checked council revenues, "partly because of the increased reliance on user charges and partly because of the many exemptions allowed". As a result, the tribunal said a more transparent rate-setting process was needed. Rates make up about a third of council revenues. They rose, on average, 4.4 per cent in 2008-9. Yesterday it outlined two alternatives: to maintain rate capping while implementing measures to assess council's costs, or alternatively, to exempt councils from rate pegging for four years if they can show strong support from ratepayers for the move. "We don't prefer one [option] over the other," Dr Keating said. "We see the two running in parallel, and the councils deciding which way to go. "Some councils may feel comfortable not having plans, and letting someone else set the rules, shifting the responsibility to the Government."

If implemented, the proposals would pave the way for councils to increase rates well above the present, in tandem with improved accountability to ratepayers. The president of the Local Government Association of NSW, Genia McCaffrey, said: "We would urge Premier [Nathan] Rees, who has said he is willing to review rate pegging, not to oppose these changes." The tribunal also wants councils to adopt longer-term planning such as a four-year financial plans as an "integral part of increased financial autonomy". As part of the proposed overhaul, the tribunal would develop an annual cost index for local government, reflecting changes in council costs and productivity. Under the first option, the annual rate cap set by the Government would be determined after reviewing this annual index. And councils that establish four-year planning and rate-setting program may be permitted to raise rates faster than the annual rate cap.

Over the past decade council revenue in NSW has risen at twice the rate of inflation, and earlier work by NSW Treasury found that between 1995-6 and 2003-4 rates in the state rose 29.2 per cent, less than half the 66.1 per cent rise in Victoria and well below the 55.6 per cent rise in Queensland. One thing "we want to test is the practicality of option B," Dr Keating said, which would give government the role of checking whether a council had support for its spending plans, before allowing them to raise rates. This could be done by having the plans put forward at council elections, with all councillors elected agreeing to them, indicating broad support for bigger rate rises than could be obtained otherwise.

Motorists pay for councils' rate losses

Sydney drivers with more parking tickets on their windshields lately may not have only themselves to blame. Cash-strapped councils are increasingly relying on parking fees and fines, developer charges and other sources of revenue to fill their coffers as rate-pegging limits the amount they can charge the old-fashioned way. Rates have plummeted as a proportion of council income in the past decade, a Herald analysis of council financial data reveals.

One of the most dramatic falls is in Waverley, where rates in the council area - which takes in Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches - fell from more than half of revenue (55 per cent) in 1997-98 to less than a third (29 per cent) in 2007-08. The Mayor of Waverley, Sally Betts, said rate-pegging, where the State Government limits the amount by which councils can increase their annual rates, had forced councils to search for money elsewhere.

Mt Isa Water not for sale to SunWater

Mount Isa Water chief executive officer Ian Pascoe has denied the sale of the group to SunWater. Mr Pascoe described rumours of the sale as “speculation” and based on an old report, Brokering Balance: A Public Interest Map for Queensland Government Bodies. “This was something that came out of the Webbe/Weller report and there was an option that SunWater take it over as a subsidiary,” Mr Pascoe said. “Everything is a bit of speculation, nothing has been finalised.”

A Department of Environment and Resource Management spokesperson said the report recommended that category one water authorities should be retained as they were commercial entities which provide a regional approach to the management of water.

Giving data twice

It's no wonder that small business owners complain about the intrusion of government into their lives. Each and every quarter they have to provide business activity to the Tax Office and statistical activity to the Bureau of Statistics. Now Lithgow Council have decided that owners can answer these types of questions all over again. In June this year Lithgow Council officers commenced a major project surveying retailers and business support services within the Lithgow Local Government Area. To date Council officers have visited retailers in the Lithgow area collecting over 100 surveys.

“The response rate has been extremely high and it is a credit to the community for the level of support shown for this important project,” Mayor Neville Castle said. The survey will now be taken through the shopping areas of Wallerawang and Portland. Outlying villages will also be surveyed. Council officers will be visiting these areas in the week commencing July 20.

The survey asks a range of specific but brief questions ranging from how many employees businesses have and how tourism affects their trade, to suggestions as to what can be done to improve business prospects in Lithgow. The information provided by businesses will be used to provide further direction into the Economic Development Strategy, Tourism Strategy and Local Environmental Plan.

“The aggregated information will be of great value in solving local problems, planning for the future and general promotion of the community and region,” Cr Castle said. Business owners are asked for their continued support for this initiative by investing up to five minutes of their time to answer the survey questions with the assistance of Council officers when they arrive at their premises. If the appropriate person is not available at the time the Council officer will return when more convenient.

The Burnside saga

Adelaide businessman Rick Powers is accused of being the unelected influence behind the strife-torn Burnside City Council. With a ministerial inquiry underway, Melissa Mack and Farrin Foster investigate the man and his methods. Leafy eastern suburbs are the home of Adelaide’s rich and would-be famous. From the Adelaide foothills to the plains below, the Burnside Council administers one of the state’s highest income areas, with high ratepayer expectations. Now those expectations are shattered, along with reputations. Internal disputes have wracked the council to such an extent that the State Government may be forced to intervene – and if necessary, replace a democratically elected mayor and councillors with a government-appointed administrator.

In the midst of all this, a high-profile but only semi-public battle is waging over the role and influence of one seemingly ordinary ratepayer, Adelaide businessman Rick Powers. Powers first came to public notice last century, when he was named in a National Crime Authority investigation into Operation Hydra and the sex industry and vice trade in Adelaide. “There was an unfortunate incident that did occur 30 years ago,” Powers told The Independent Weekly. “I’m not going to talk about anything to do with 30 years ago.”

In 1983, Powers was convicted on a charge of keeping a “common bawdy house”. This followed a raid on a premises known as Caesars, described by Powers himself as a high-class swingers club, in Pulteney Street in the city. “I did own a building,” Powers said this week when asked about the episode. “Maybe I knew things were going on but it seemed like a good investment to me. I’m just not interested in talking about it. It comes back to bite you on the arse 30 years later.”