Local government reforms must be focused on community needs - Tasmania Examiner

Last week we saw the release of the greatly anticipated final report from the Premier's Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council. One of the recommendations was for the Tasmanian Parliament to sponsor a process to drive structural reform of Tasmania's local government sector. As the level of government closest to communities, local government supports a reform process that delivers change that is in the best interests of local areas. However, in order that community voices are heard, the reform process must be collaborative with councils and communities. It must work to understand what councils are delivering well, the challenges they face and importantly, take the time to understand community needs. Each community's challenges and strengths must be understood, to identify the right services for them now and into the future. Reform should focus on delivering what communities need in a sustainable way by creating a more robust and capable system of local government. The structure must support this objective. Bigger is not always better and we know from structural reform in other states that cost savings are unlikely to materialise and may not best serve community needs. Through the Local Government Association of Tasmania's 21st Century Councils Project, local government has already commenced investigating how we can best serve the needs of modern Tasmanian communities. Tasmanian councils have told us that there is significant support for reforms that: leverage local democracy - community proximity to elected members and decision-making is a strength of local government. Reform should not reduce this proximity, nor a council's direct accountability to the community; support inter-council collaboration to improve the viability of council service delivery through shared services and resources, and rebalancing obligations with State Government to focus on supporting strategic outcomes at the local level as opposed to burden shifting. The challenges different communities and the councils that support them face are many and varied, as are their individual circumstances. This militates against 'one size fits all' approaches to structural reform. What the experience of COVID-19 has shown us, is councils' ability to support local-level economic development is essential to revitalising the economy and building more resilient communities. However, this has only been possible due to the strong links between community members and their council. Through this PESRAC recommendation we have an opportunity to learn what communities really need and to examine the best and most efficient options to deliver on those needs. This opportunity will be lost if the focus is solely on structure. Successful local government reform must be motivated by a desire to share expertise and resources and be driven by local leadership and engagement. It must retain the political autonomy and independent character of councils, be targeted in any consolidation of functions, and be carefully planned and tailored to accommodate differing local needs. The primary goal of any reform should be to create a more robust and capable system of local government. Given the challenges local governments face are many and varied, success will ultimately depend upon how well reforms support local circumstances and needs. Our recovery must be community-led, as each community has its own issues and strengths, and are the best placed to determine how to meet those needs. Strong links between the community members and those supporting recovery is essential. Local government has a strong history on working collaboratively with state government to serve the needs of our communities. We look forward to seeing this same approach as we work together to drive community-led recovery in Tasmania.

Last week we saw the release of the greatly anticipated final report from the Premier's Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council. One of the recommendations was for the Tasmanian Parliament to sponsor a process to drive structural reform of Tasmania's local government sector.

As the level of government closest to communities, local government supports a reform process that delivers change that is in the best interests of local areas. However, in order that community voices are heard, the reform process must be collaborative with councils and communities. It must work to understand what councils are delivering well, the challenges they face and importantly, take the time to understand community needs.

Each community's challenges and strengths must be understood, to identify the right services for them now and into the future. Reform should focus on delivering what communities need in a sustainable way by creating a more robust and capable system of local government. The structure must support this objective. Bigger is not always better and we know from structural reform in other states that cost savings are unlikely to materialise and may not best serve community needs. Through the Local Government Association of Tasmania's 21st Century Councils Project, local government has already commenced investigating how we can best serve the needs of modern Tasmanian communities.

Tasmanian councils have told us that there is significant support for reforms that: leverage local democracy - community proximity to elected members and decision-making is a strength of local government. Reform should not reduce this proximity, nor a council's direct accountability to the community; support inter-council collaboration to improve the viability of council service delivery through shared services and resources, and rebalancing obligations with State Government to focus on supporting strategic outcomes at the local level as opposed to burden shifting.

The challenges different communities and the councils that support them face are many and varied, as are their individual circumstances. This militates against 'one size fits all' approaches to structural reform. What the experience of COVID-19 has shown us, is councils' ability to support local-level economic development is essential to revitalising the economy and building more resilient communities. However, this has only been possible due to the strong links between community members and their council.

Through this PESRAC recommendation we have an opportunity to learn what communities really need and to examine the best and most efficient options to deliver on those needs. This opportunity will be lost if the focus is solely on structure.

Successful local government reform must be motivated by a desire to share expertise and resources and be driven by local leadership and engagement. It must retain the political autonomy and independent character of councils, be targeted in any consolidation of functions, and be carefully planned and tailored to accommodate differing local needs.

The primary goal of any reform should be to create a more robust and capable system of local government. Given the challenges local governments face are many and varied, success will ultimately depend upon how well reforms support local circumstances and needs.

Our recovery must be community-led, as each community has its own issues and strengths, and are the best placed to determine how to meet those needs. Strong links between the community members and those supporting recovery is essential.

Local government has a strong history on working collaboratively with state government to serve the needs of our communities. We look forward to seeing this same approach as we work together to drive community-led recovery in Tasmania.

• Christina Holmdahl, LGAT president.
  

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Local government reforms must be focused on community needs - Tasmania Examiner
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