“It is a characteristic of Local Government in Northern Territory to have a council in virtually every town,” said Tony Tapsell, Executive Officer, Local Government Association of the Northern Territory (LGANT). “Most of our 63 Local Governments are small and many lack capacity, particularly the professional people, to enable them to perform an increasing range of responsibility required of Local Government. The more remote a Council, the wider the service areas, such as health, policing and welfare, the Council is expected to perform as there are no other agencies in the area to do this.”
Tony Tapsell said that statements by the Minister for Local Government, John Ah Kit, has set a clear direction centred regional service delivery and facility management.
LGANT agrees that there is a serious problem concerning financial viability for many smaller councils. Staffing is an ongoing issue, with councils often not having the professional people or resources necessary to meet Local Government accounting regulations, apart from addressing a raft of environmental and social issues. Any loss of people from a community affects a council’s grants and its ongoing financial viability. LGANT believes that structural reform is inevitable.
“We are working to position ourselves to get the best deal we can and to give our member councils enough information to plan for changes expected over the next 12 to 15 months,” Tony Tapsell said. “These are not new threats. They have been here for some time, not only in the Northern Territory but other States have or are experiencing similar changes.
“The hardest thing is getting Councils to commit to the change process – to start driving it rather than having it forced on to them. Councils need to be planning for how they might look in the future, to go out and consult and see how others have dealt with the changes. We are looking at how change has been carried out in other States. We are talking to those involved in establishing the Greater Argyle Council centred around Goulburn in New South Wales.”
LGANT is providing information for member councils to develop plans to make changes. The Northern Territory Government and LGANT are also working on a Partnership Agreement. A draft was produced in 2003 with further negotiations ongoing.
“This agreement will formalise relationships covering how we communicate, consult over matters and introduce legislative changes,” Tony Tapsell said. “Issues such as cost shifting and means to avoid duplication by looking at roles and responsibilities will also be covered. Land use planning needs to be sorted out. We need a process for advancing development assessments taking account of Aboriginal land issues.”
The Partnership is expected to cover the following.
- Legislation
- Consultation processes
- Roles and responsibilities
- Finance
- Representation
- Local Government reform
- Sharing technology.
Regular meetings between the LGANT Executive and relevant Territory Ministers will also be established.
LGANT will present the draft Partnership Agreement for ratification at its Annual General Meeting in October 2004. A final sign up with the Government would then take place towards the end of this year.
