March 20th saw the New South Wales Government announce the formation of the Local Government Review Panel. The Local Government and Shires Association (LGSA) have welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Don Page, as the Panel is to address the serious issue of long term financial viability for local governments.
Following up on some of the key issues outlined at the ‘Destination 2036’ meeting of Mayors and Councillors in Dubbo in August 2011, the Review Panel will provide a forum for councils, communities and other key stakeholders to articulate their concerns and ideas for reform. President of the Shires Association of NSW, Cr Ray Donald says that, “The Panel demonstrates that Minister Page is keen to pursue a better situation for local government in NSW. It puts everything on the table and allows councils and the community to really talk to the NSW Government about what needs changing.”
At a time when many NSW councils are speaking up about the limitations imposed by State legislation in terms of revenue raising, the ambit of the Review Panel seems pertinent. President of the Local Government Association, Cr Keith Rhoades, AFSM, says that the Review Panel “Must be focused on how councils can be adequately funded to enable an improvement in their ability to provide valuable and effective services to the community. We accept that Local Government in NSW cannot stay as it is in the long term – at ‘Destination 2036’ we were all in agreement about this.” However, according to Cr Donald, “The LGSA will continue to stand strong on our position that there should be no forced amalgamations of councils in NSW as a result of this Panel investigation.”
Overall, the formation of the review Panel is construed as a positive step for local governments in NSW. “Since June 2009, the LGSA have been raising questions within the NSW local government sector through our ‘Modernising Local Government Initiative’ about how we might enable local government to deal with the challenges of the coming 20 years,” says Cr Donald. “The ‘Destination 2036’ process initiated by Minister Page has furthered this discussion, opening up the most constructive dialogue that Local Government has had with a NSW Government for many years.”
