Late last year, the South Australian Government instigated structural reform for Council boundaries. With an emphasis on Councils working towards voluntary mergers, and a continuing role in the process by elected members, amalgamations have been taking place, albeit slowly. However, the State Government’s recent move to sack the Council of Adelaide City now threatens to derail the process.
Voluntary mergers
With the Government seeking a 50 percent reduction in Councils by May 1997, the Local Government Boundary Reform Board was set up to drive the process.
The Board believes that more than half of the State’s Councils will be involved in voluntary amalgamations with their neighbours by the end of the year. To date, there have been eight amalgamations involving 17 former Councils. A further amalgamation proposal from two Councils will be considered by the Board later this month.
Some 20 groups of Councils, representing more than 50 individual Councils, are actively pursuing structural reform and are likely to lodge proposals by the end of 1996. Annette Eiffe, Board Chairman, has complemented the cooperative approach taken by many Councils.
“I would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the tremendous commitment and personal contributions made by the elected members and staff of those Councils that are voluntarily embracing structural reform,” she said. “Nothing just happens. It takes people to make it happen and this is what we are seeing around the State.”
Board proposals
The Board does have the power to initiate its own structural reform proposals where no voluntary amalgamation proposal is put forward or where the Board can identify clear benefits for local communities. Currently, a Board initiated proposal is being developed involving four Councils and part of a fifth Council on Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide.
If one or more of the affected Councils rejects a Board initiated proposal, a poll must be conducted by postal voting over the whole affected area. The poll requires a 40 percent turnout across the whole area and a majority vote against the proposal to prevent a Board initiated amalgamation proposal from proceeding.
LG support
To date, all mergers have been at the volition of the Councils involved. The amalgamated Councils have retained all Councillors from the merging bodies until new elections are held in May 1997.
Support for this restructure process has been positive across Local Government due to the voluntary nature of the process and the guaranteed ongoing involvement of democratically elected representatives.
Commissioners for Adelaide City?
However, this is now threatened with Legislation introduced into State Parliament earlier this month. If passed, the Local Government (City of Adelaide) Bill will result in Adelaide City Councillors being replaced by three temporary Commissioners, appointed and answerable only to the Minister for Local Government. In recent months, there has been ongoing discourse between the Brown Government and Council.
The Lord Mayor Henry Ninio has stated that Council is not to blame for the State’s woes. He said that figures for the last financial year destroy the Premier’s claim that the Council has been hindering development in the City.
In 1995/96, of 769 development applications valued at $122 million, only eight were refused. These were valued at $40,000, or less than half a percent of the total value of all applications. The current budget contains a record capital works allocation of $13.8 million that aims to transform the appearance of the City centre. The Local Government Association of South Australia is very concerned about the legislation.
“This blatant disregard for democracy and due process has the potential to be repeated,” said Cr John Ross, President Local Government Association of South Australia. “It poses the question who will be next?
“Local Government has been undergoing reform for some time but, unfortunately, this has not extended to the State Government decision making processes. The community now needs to carefully consider whether these processes are in fact serving the broader public interest.”
