Media release – Australian Services Union, 30 June 2023
Tasmania’s Local Government Review is a failure of communication and consultation
Tasmanian voices from every corner of the state have denounced the proposed Local Government Review’s utter failure of consultation, with workers left unable to adequately question or comment on how the proposals will impact on their lives.
From entire councils being unrepresented in the process to individual workers being ignored or effectively blocked from making their cases, the entire review process has been a shambolic disaster.
Where feedback on the review was successfully obtained, it is universally critical of the predetermined push for amalgamation the Local Government Board has advocated.
The Local Government Association Tasmania (LGAT) has gone to the greatest lengths in attempting to pursue broad input from anyone with a stake in the review only to be thwarted by the government’s ineptitude.
Here are just a few of the review’s failings:
· Catchments community information packs (amalgamation scenarios) deliveries were significantly delayed.
· Some councils had just five business days to digest information, brief their workforce and support attendance at consultation sessions. In many instances this did not happen.
· Review papers are overly complex – between 35 and 50 pages each, plus supplementary papers.
· Maps and proposed boundaries are not easily deciphered and unclear clear about what is included in scenarios.
· Videos released by the LG Board after work hours on Friday for a session occurring on Monday, or at 3:30pm Monday for a Tuesday session. This limited time was not adequate for workers to view the content.
· Barriers were put in front of worker attendance -having to seek approval, inconvenient times for workers with children, distances.
· Consultations are in only nine face-to-face catchments meaning travel distances are vast or in the case of the islands, near impossible.
· Workers did not receive explanations from the Board or have their questions answered.
· Insufficient information to answer workers questions or to enable effective feedback was offered.
“As a local government worker, I was disappointed with the short notice that was provided after the scenarios were made public, and the lack of diverse representation in attendance at the staff session I attended,” said local government worker and ASU Vic Tas branch president Melanie Gent.
“Notably, there was not one single person in high vis, and some affected councils were not represented at all. There were about 45 people for a proposed area with at least 1000 staff. Workers have a huge stake in the Future of Local Government Review – but their voices are shut out.”
In every region the ASU heard reports of communication failures and allegations in some areas that workers were deliberately misinformed or not told of sessions. Where workers did attend, they were unambiguous about the social and financial perils of amalgamation.
“As a community member and council employee, I am really concerned that we are being asked to comment on scenarios that will affect our future and the future of our communities without having all the information needed to make an informed decision,” said a worker from one of Tasmania’s south-east councils.
“The scenarios indicate services will be centralised. This means smaller communities will lose direct access to council, and with the centralisation of services away from smaller communities there will be job losses in that community.
“These things alone will have a bigger effect on regional areas than in urban populations.
“The Board does not seem to comprehend that beyond providing the traditional council services, councils in regional areas are a hub of the community – providing support well beyond the standard council charter. We assist vulnerable members of our community to access services, to fill out forms for other organisations, provide housing and support individuals and the community more generally in so many ways. All these community benefits are ignored in the board reports.’”
The ASU calls upon the Tasmanian Parliament to reassess the biased and flawed approach of the board to the promotion of Local Government amalgamation and, at the least, recommence the consultation process.
