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.