Huon Valley Council 2015 … Mayor Coad seated, second-left …
The people of the Huon Valley had been denied the opportunity of a professional and independent report on the potential for local government reform, said Mayor Peter Coad today (Thursday, May 28).
He was commenting on Huon Valley Council’s decision on Wednesday evening not to accept an invitation from three other southern councils to join them in discussions to consider options for reform of local government, as suggested by the Minister for Local Government, Mr Peter Gutwein.
Council, by a 5-3 vote, resolved that “correspondence be provided to Glenorchy City Council, Kingborough Council and Derwent Valley Council thanking them for their correspondence and providing them with a copy of council’s resolution of 22 April 2015”.
Council’s 22 April decision was to hold its own review of previous reports it had commissioned, and to “remain in an ‘as is’ position until the review process is completed”.
Cr Coad said today (Thursday): “The Huon Valley Council’s resolution last night (Wednesday May 27), in my view, reflects the decision of councillors who have not taken this issue to public meetings or surveyed the community to find out what their wishes are. They have decided that they speak for all residents of the Huon Valley, and will not even consider discussing voluntary amalgamation and other mutual issues with other southern councils.”
At Wednesday evening’s council meeting, Mayor Coad read a prepared statement at the conclusion of debate on an alternative motion (voted down) by Councillor Rosalie Woodruff calling on council to join inter-council talks.
In it, he said: “Minister Peter Gutwein wrote to me about local government reform on the 17 April. In his letter, he said he would provide State Government funding for significant initiatives, both in size and strategy.
“He extended the date for councils to respond to his invitation to speak with him until 1 June, and also offered funding up to $50,000 to enable three or more southern councils to engage expert advice and to consult with their communities.
“The Government has a list of highly qualified consultants on local government matters, and co-operating councils would be able to choose the most suitable from the list.
“If Huon Valley Council would agree to accept the Minister’s invitation, I believe it would be a step in the right direction. This would provide the people of the valley with a professional and high quality report that would help them consider all the issues. They could then choose from among the options to improve services and contain costs.
“The Minister has always said that he wants the community to be engaged throughout the whole local government reform process. This is something I fully support.”
Today (Thursday), Mayor Coad said: “The Huon Valley Council has resolved not to accept the Minister’s invitation to participate in an independent review. While I do not personally agree with the council’s decision, it was a democratic process on how that decision was arrived at.
“I am disappointed that the people of the Huon Valley have been denied a professional and high quality report that they could consider and choose a way forward. These options could have contained significant opportunities to improve services yet retain the identity of the region.
“The consultant’s report would have considered in detail the prospects for shared services and/or voluntary amalgamation. And it would be independent of councils and the State Government.
“It is vital that we have the best information available on which to make decisions, and vital to the wellbeing of the valley.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, he said: “The Heart of the Huon team members want to rely on an old map that is four to 10 years old. How can it still be relevant to a journey that we must take today? What the Heart of the Huon team is offering is an old route map. We should not be telling the people of the valley what’s best for them . . .
“I believe that a $10,000 review of old council reports is no way forward to determine the future of the Huon Valley for the next 20 years. We must engage with other councils in a formal way that builds partnerships and relationships.
“The Heart of the Huon team have been critical of my attendance, and that of Cr Smith, at Kingborough Council meetings. Don’t they want us to be informed about what is happening at our neighbouring council? All good businesses build partnerships, so why can’t the Huon Valley Council, in the interest of its ratepayers, do the same as it works towards beneficial local government reforms?
“All reforms involve costs. These have to be seen as investments, and managed in a way that brings longer term benefits to the community . . .”
Today (Thursday), Cr Coad said: “Council has set aside $80,000 to review the future of one of its halls, yet it can only find $10,000 to review the future course of the council and how it can improve services to the whole community.
“We must consult with our communities much more than we currently do, and we must debate the issues that are important to them. Providing quality information is the first step in such a process.”
Cr Coad concluded: “As mayor, I believe this issue has caused a serious division within the council. A number of Heart of the Huon team councillors have made strong criticisms of me and my position on this and other issues.
“I know the people in the Huon Valley appreciate the importance of good neighbours, and I am confident that our community wants change for the better. I believe this government-initiated review, in partnership with neighbouring councils, offers a great opportunity to move our community forward in a positive and constructive way.
“I wish to advise the people of the Huon Valley and the Kingborough communities that council has made a decision not to independently research the benefits we can all gain by working together. I congratulate the other councils for their positive and constructive invitations to participate in the Minister’s local government reform process.
“The sky did not fall in in 1993 when forced amalgamations occurred. Why should undertaking independent research make it fall in now?”
• Bob Hawkins, in Comments: #1. By your reasoning, Leon, we Huon Valley ratepayers should put up with Wednesday’s bad decision by council even though it will be to our cost. I’m with Mayor Peter Coad. At least he is looking to the future. And it’s going to be ugly if we don’t grasp the nettles of change. If the Heart of the Huon councillors continue to sabotage our valley’s chances of communicating with the outside world, and extracting the best we can from it, we’re going to end up having no role in influencing the valley’s way ahead. We had about 13 years of head-in-the-sand local government under now-MLC Robert Armstrong, and he left council with reduced services and our financial position heading towards a big zero. Something has to be done to salvage the financial fiasco for a start. And the money needed to do that is not going to come from this valley — because it just isn’t here.
