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.