The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is hosting the sixth national ‘Future of Local Government (FOLG) Summit’ on 23 and 24 June 2010 at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne.
This is a groundbreaking international event that every Councillor and senior management team member would gain significant benefit by attending.
The previous FOLG Summits have been recognised as high quality events run by Local Government for Local Government, with the objective of providing a strategic focus for the sector.
Covering questions such as what is Local Government trying to achieve, and how can it win a better deal for itself from other levels of government, this is your opportunity to be involved in, and to influence, these discussions.
“I realise that Councillors and senior staff are invited to a range of events each year but this summit is different,” said John Hennessy, MAV’s Manager Business Development.
“It is all about the Local Government sector determining its own preferred future direction, rather than reacting to decisions by other stakeholders.”
The 2010 Summit will address a new challenge: we know the future will be hi-tech, carbon constrained and local, but what will be the role of Local Government in that future?
Other levels of government seem to assume councils will become the more efficient service delivery arm of government.
In the UK, the paradox is that everything is measured but the outcomes are poor. There are significant downsides in focusing on a performance culture and overlooking the outcomes councils exist to facilitate.
But does Local Government have a vision for itself in the future? Is it facilitating the building of more resilient communities and promoting community wellbeing?
As more and more ‘top down’ service delivery programs fall short of what they need to achieve because of the lack of local connection, ‘listening to the voice of the community’ could well be the key to a more sustainable, effective and efficient public sector.
The previous Future of Local Government events have concluded that the sector needs to embrace reform and change rather than have it imposed.
These issues are all highly pertinent to the current national drive for Local Government to achieve more sustainable funding arrangements.
It is agreed that a pre-condition for this to occur is that the sector needs to be able to demonstrate capability, cohesion and self management.
This is a trend that is occurring in many countries and this summit provides the opportunity to identify where Local Government wants to be in the future: in a ‘Golden Age’ or in ‘Doomsday’?
Online registration and other details, including previous summit material, are available at www.mav.asn.au/folg10
