Future Directions for NSW Local Government
Wednesday, June 26th, 2013Thankyou for the opportunity to make a submission on Future Directions for NSW Local Government. I do so as spokesperson for Braidwood Greens and from the standpoint of Palerang councillor, 2004-2012. It has been endorsed by Braidwood Greens members.
This submission deals with the two main issues of funding and amalgamations, but it also touches on a number of other matters, especially those related to democracy.
Funding
The preamble on page 4 gets straight to the the big issue of funding, referring to “a local government system facing major financial problems with apparently little awareness of just how serious the situation has become. ”
Local councils cannot fail to be aware of how hard it is to fund the programs they are expected to run and the services they provide, and Palerang is no exception.
The paper states that new directions must allow local government to provide “better services, infrastructure and representation for the communities it is intended to serve.
“The Panel’s goal for local government is therefore:
A more sustainable system of democratic local government that has added capacity to address the
needs of local and regional communities, and to be a valued partner of State and federal governments.”
This goal is laudable, but it is hard to see how it will be achieved without the funding that is so desperately needed.
Nowhere in the sustainability and finance section of the preamble, or anywhere else, does the paper mention increased funding from external sources. Nowhere does it recognise the imperative for state and federal governments to stop cost-shifting. It is all about redistribution of existing funds and reassessing the current state government policy on rate-pegging. Indeed, the whole argument for amalgamation seems to be predicated on the basis of insufficient resources for the current number of councils. (more…)