Staged in Adelaide from 23 to 24 October, the Local Government Association of South Australia’s (LGASA) 2008 Annual General Meeting featured two days of discussions on good governance, services, planning and financial management issues.
LGASA President, Mayor Joy Baluch, said the performance of the Local Government Finance Authority in particular has protected councils from the global financial downturn and has achieved its second highest profit on record.
She also acknowledged savings of 37 per cent in drinking water by metropolitan councils, announced an independent quality assurance role for former Attorney General, Trevor Griffin, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Australia’s Minister for Youth, Paul Caica.
Minister Caica said the MOU facilitates, promotes and extends the links between the Office of Youth and LGASA for the benefit of young people.
“It is a commitment of the South Australian Government and Local Government across the State to working together,” he said. “Quite often these agreements are just a piece of paper, but I am committed to seeing this go much further.”
He said the South Australian Government already has a number of initiatives in place to support Local Government youth services, including grants to assist the State’s 58 Youth Advisory Committees (YACs), and an annual YAC Fest event, which provides an opportunity for councils to network and share their experiences.
The most recent event bought together 300 people involved in YACs across South Australia. The Minister said a DVD demonstrating best practice in youth initiatives, and ideas to further recruit young people to take part in YACs is also available.
Also speaking at the meeting, State/Local Government Relations Minister, Gail Gago, outlined a number of proposals to increase public confidence in Local Government.
“Communities constantly want to see us working together to bring them the greatest service,” she said.
“With the global financial crisis, confidence in decision making is critical and those in public office must abide by increasing standards.”
Minister Gago said the South Australian system needs to become more transparent, but the suggestions that the Auditor General undertake financial audits of all councils would come at a high cost and would be a poor use of resources.
“The changes I am announcing today are about providing transparency to ratepayers about how their councils are operating, how their rates are being used and how decisions are made,” Minister Gago said.
“Strengthening the review framework around grievance procedures, as well as financial accountability, will enable us to identify any problems early and will ensure that any support or intervention is targeted to where it is needed.”
Under the proposal, the standards required of external audits will be improved.
On the basis of a report by a council’s auditor, the Minister could appoint an investigator – including the Auditor General – to look into any problems.
The Minister’s powers to investigate issues will also be improved, with the proposal that councils can be compelled to provide information to the Minister if it is required, to determine whether an investigation is warranted.
“These measures will ensure that public confidence in the councils will be properly restored,” Minister Gago said.
South Australian Infrastructure Minister, Patrick Conlon, told delegates that infrastructure is crucial to South Australia as its economy continues to grow.
“Infrastructure is the topic of our time,” he said. “And while providing 21st century infrastructure is the biggest cost in Government today, we must bite the bullet and do it.”
He said a key infrastructure area that needs to be developed is public transport.
“We have higher population densities, higher fuel costs and so forth, and we are seeing a paradigm shift to more people wanting to use public transport,” he said.
“In addition, there is demand for more people in South Australia, and public transport is the way to attract them.
“The way to win the competition for people is to offer a really good quality lifestyle – something better than everywhere else.
“Today’s communities don’t want a bandaid fix – so if we get the public transport issue right, it will be the best thing that can happen for our communities.”
Minister Conlon said the South Australian Government has committed $2 billion over the next couple of years to public transport and he is confident that the Federal Government will also contribute.
“Getting the money out there is going to be a challenge, but with Federal Government commitment, the transport will be able to be rolled out faster and easier.”
