LGAT newsletter item – Christina Holmdahl, President Local Government Association of Tasmania, 26 October 2021

From the President

Earlier this month I wrote to all elected representatives to provide an update on the local government review process initially proposed by the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council (PESRAC).  The State Government has confirmed they will now work directly with our sector on the future of local government.  This change provides an opportunity for the Tasmanian local government sector to position itself to meet the challenges of the 21st century, as now the sector can have a greater say in the design of the process.

LGAT welcomes genuine collaboration on developing opportunities for councils and the communities they represent, and we know that as the level of government closest to communities, local government will support a process that delivers change in the best interests of Tasmanian communities.

Importantly, the Minister for Local Government has made it clear that this review is not about council amalgamations, but rather about council functions and services and if they can be improved to support the community today and into the future.

We know from other states that successful local government reviews are community-led, seeking to understand each community’s challenges and strengths to identify the right services for them now and into the future.

It is clear the Minister is genuinely interested in a collaborative review that results in a stronger local government sector in Tasmania.  LGAT has a strong history of working collaboratively with State Government to enable local government to best serve the needs of our communities. I am confident the Minister will follow this approach as we work together on local government’s future.
We are at the beginning of an exciting period for the Tasmanian local government sector and I look forward to sharing further information as it becomes available.

LGAT newsletter item – Dion Lester, LGAT CEO, 26 October 2021

Issue in Focus

Councils, as the level of government closest to communities, are place shapers who drive most people’s attachment to, and satisfaction with, the area in which they live. Councils play a defining role in fostering communities, where people and place are deeply connected to the work that local government does.

The role of councils has changed significantly over the years, along with community expectations of what services a council should provide. Once focused on ‘services to property’, councils now provide a broader range of ‘services to people’. Recently, with the PESRAC Final Report, Tasmanian councils have been placed under external pressure to ‘reform’. However, rather than read this as structural reform (i.e., amalgamations), the interest of the state government, and our sector, has shifted to how local government can maintain contemporary service delivery to communities while also addressing current and emergent challenges.

We know that the benefits associated with local government reform can be grouped into one of three categories:

  • Economies of scale – maximising the use of resources and/or services at the least cost.
  • Economies of scope – creating a wider range/higher quality of services/resources.
  • Strategic capacity – having the skills and resources needed to act as high-capacity organisations that manage complex and sometimes unexpected change.

Most past reports on local government reform have focused on how increased scale (and assumed cost savings) can be achieved. This focus on purely financial benefits is detrimental when it excludes other issues, such as achieving economies of scope and strategic capacity.

Bigger is certainly not better and most importantly one size does not fit all, for example, what might be appropriate for Tasman may not be for Launceston.  This also applies across service areas – waste management should be managed at a different scale to community development.

The following factors are critical to the success of council review and reform arrangements:

  • The process should be motivated, not by crisis, but a clear strategy and desire to look at opportunities, share expertise and resources, not by crisis.
  • The timeframes need to allow change to be gradually introduced and accepted.  Councils and their communities are unable to achieve the best possible outcomes when timeframes are too short
  • A bottom-up approach is essential, where reform is influenced and supported by local government and their communities. Creating a state and local government bilateral process establishes a sound basis for managing change and ongoing implementation.
  • The political autonomy and independent character of councils must be maintained, as many communities possess a highly developed sense of place and identity which they fear will be weakened through reform arrangements.
  • Reform that involves the selective rather than wholesale (one size fits all) consolidation of functions.  The benefits of reform are specific to particular technologies and/or services.  Selective consolidation of functions that councils could perform in common or collectively (like ‘back office’ functions) is more effective than wholesale consolidation.
  • There must be adequate engagement with the community to ensure any changes are in their interest, and there is transparency, trust and to prevent uncertainty or anxiety.
  • The process must be well organised and planned and take into account the nature of local government service delivery, contemporary best practice, local conditions, and community feedback.

A successful reform investigation will involve extensive collaboration with our sector to learn what communities really need and to examine the best and most efficient options to deliver on those needs.