The Territory will achieve a number of objectives with a recent decision to enter into whole of government partnership agreements with local Councils.
Director of Advice and Support, Mike Rennie, said that the partnership agreements will progressively establish the basis for a new and productive relationship at a whole of government level between the Territory and individual local Councils.
The agreements will be progressively negotiated between Councils and the Territory dealing with issues that both agree are worthy of settling through this mechanism.
Initially, it is expected that the agreements will be negotiated with the Councils covering the larger population centres. Progressively they will become important for the Councils in rural and remote areas.
“As is well known, the Territory faces special challenges in establishing effective service delivery frameworks in rural and remote areas,” Mike Rennie said. “Partnership agreements will provide the opportunity to sort out long running problems with agency arrangements and should reduce confusion and duplication in the delivery of services.”
The initiative to develop partnership agreements will strongly complement the overall reform and development agenda.
Partnership agreements will only be negotiated with those Councils that are agreed to have the capacity to properly represent their areas and effectively deliver services.
