NSW councils must change to be Fit for the Future

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) assessment of NSW councils demonstrates that reform is essential, says the Urban Taskforce.

“With 60% of NSW councils assessed as being unfit for the future including 71% of Sydney councils, change is essential,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “The assessment by IPART that up to $2 billion could be saved over 20 years demonstrates the enormous potential to improve how councils operate.”

“The Government’s preference is to merge smaller councils into larger structures but some of the assessment data indicates that similar sized councils can be either fit or not fit for the future. Bankstown Council and Liverpool City Council both have 200,000 people but only Bankstown is deemed to be fit for the future. Newcastle City Council with 160,000 people is deemed to be not fit for the future while Wollongong City Council with 200,000 people is deemed to be fit for the future. Clearly there is more than size that makes councils efficient.”

“The largest council in Sydney, Blacktown with 330,000 people, is deemed by IPART to be not fit for the future and presumably needs to amalgamate with one of its neighbours.”

“The benefits of merging councils as outlined by IPART include more efficient service delivery, integrated strategic planning and partnering with government but these benefits could also be achieved by shared service centres tasked with service delivery, strategic planning and partnering with government. The Joint Organisation model being trailed by the NSW Government in the Hunter and Illawarra regions could also achieve greater financial savings.”

“The NSW Government needs to take a strong line with councils to achieve reform. In some cases this will lead to mergers and in other cases it will lead to joint organisations. Metropolitan Sydney must have a fewer number of councils than the current 41 but it is important that advocacy for local communities is still at the heart of local government. An important issue for Metropolitan Sydney is to ensure that the Greater Sydney Commission has sufficient powers to drive district wide decision making particularly if the Government is not able to merge as many councils as it would like.”

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