In each edition we feature the views of a Local Government Association President. The following is from Alderman Kerry Moir, President of the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory.
In my previous article in January 2006 in this publication I foreshadowed changes of a significant nature that were due to occur for Local Government in the Northern Territory. As recently as two weeks ago some of those changes were finally announced, with perhaps the most far reaching being in a speech at the Association’s general meeting on 11 October 2006 by the Minister for Local Government, Elliot McAdam, on Local Government reform. The reforms include the establishment of a Local Government Advisory Board (‘the Board’) made up of 12 representatives from the Territory and Australian Government, Local Government, Aboriginal Land Councils and other bodies. The Board will have three responsibilities, namely, to provide advice to the Minister on:
- Local Government regional management plans
- the framework of Municipals and Shires to be established across the Northern Territory
- legislative changes to implement the reform framework.
Essentially the whole Local Government framework is under review, although those Councils that will feel the impact more than others are the ones that have populations under 5,000 people and, in the Northern Territory, that is all but five of the current 63 Councils. The reforms could produce as few as 13 Councils under this scenario.
The Association has encouraged reform for many years on the realisation that, like elsewhere in Australia, many Councils are unable to sustain their operations, have desperate skills shortages and struggle to keep up with the onerous demands that are placed on them. We knew change had to come and now that it has, it is all quite overwhelming. We have no doubts about the challenges facing us, although we are also aware that we are not alone among Local Government with this experience and may even have need to call upon those of you who have experienced such restructures for advice from time to time. The changes are significant and we are going to have to make the Territory and Australian Governments accountable for their support in implementing them.
Money, in particular, is going to be needed, and a lot of it, if we are to create Councils with huge geographical areas covering multiple towns and be able to establish offices and employ managers with considerable expertise in handling Local Government operations under cross cultural conditions. We also do not want to lose many of the good people that we have out in the regions because that would be disastrous.
There is, however, commitment to the process from the Local Government sector with the Association resolving at its general meeting last month to support the framework proposed. To some this might sound surprising but in many respects there is a feeling that to continue on as we were is not an option.
It is always an interesting mix of people when representatives from all three spheres of government meet and by the looks of it we are in for quite a few meetings on reform. We know that getting the representatives from other spheres to understand how Local Government works is a challenge in itself but rest assured, we will be doing our best to try and make this happen and in doing so hopefully achieve better outcomes.
