24 April 2013
The Local Government Review Panels report with a number of approaches to reforming local government in NSW makes sense but without forced amalgamations it is unlikely to lead to major changes, says the Urban Taskforce.
The focus on three different structures for local government- County councils for the country- Fifteen councils for metropolitan Sydney- Three super councils based on Parramatta, Liverpool and Sydney is a good approach to the diversity of our state, says the Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. Our concern however, is that without forced amalgamations these proposals will go the same way as previous reviews that were never implemented.
The best way forward which is suggested in the report is to use the structures proposed under the County council model for regional grouping of councils with shared service centres.
Clearly major reforms are required of the states councils but the report seems to support two opposing concepts- One that amalgamations lead to bigger and more efficient operations while also reinforcing the ˜local in the local government. This can either happen through smaller structures within small councils or through regional grouping of existing councils.
The proposal for a metropolitan council of mayors based on the south-east Queensland model is also a good option if the major amalgamations do not occur.
The citizens of NSW have seen many visionary proposals for the re-structuring of local government by many different review panels but virtually none of these have led to real reform. It is essential that the government has an achievable plan and can ensure implementation within the next few years.
