Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Corporatisation what it means
With many Victorian Councils seeting up business units as part of the Compulsory Competitive Tendering process, the question has been raised should the next step be taken - to corporatise? This was the theme selected for a recent seminar.

First Aus President for IULA-ASPAC
Councillor Peter Woods has been elected President of the Asia-Pacific region of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA-ASPAC), Local Government's peak worldwide body. Elected recently at the IULA Executive meeting in Tokyo, Peter is the first non-Asian elected to this position.

Editorial
Being a large nation with a small population, the tyranny of distance has always been a handicap, but rapid development of telecommunications and information technology is fast bridging the gaps. Australia is one of the front running nations in the development of information technology, and in particular the Internet. In setting up our FOCUS Web site in 1996, we believed this was an excellent way to assist Councils across Australia to share ideas and keep up to date with key issues. We were also keen to provide a link for Councils around the world to share their ideas and successes, as well as view what Australian Councils are doing. During November, we launched FOCUS Forum. This increases the interactive capacity of our site enabling people with an interest in Local Government to directly exchange ideas, pose questions or engage in debate on policies, issues or events Online.

Preparation and legislation the key to corporatisation
Before Councils rush to corporatise their workforce in preparation for National Competition Policy, they should be aware of the potential pitfalls. In the absence of specialist legislation to enable corporatisation, Leyon believes Councils can run into many legal, political and administrative complications. Many of these arise from the lack of autonomy Local Government works under. This compromises the ability of Council business units to effectively compete.

Councils feature in National Planning Awards
Both Brisbane and Melbourne City Councils are among the winners in the recent Royal Australian Planning Institute (RAPI) National Awards. These prestigious annual awards recognise excellence in Planning.

Meander Valley GM is Tasmania's top boss
General Manager of Meander Valley Council in Tasmania, Geoff Fellows has struck a blow for Local Government, winning the 1997 Tasmanian Boss of the Year Award. Geoff was nominated for the annual award, presented by the Secretaries and Administrators Association, by Personal Assistant Leanne Harrison.

Sister city visit brings benefits to Swan Hill
Victoria's Rural City of Swan Hill has raised its international profile and opened up increased trade opportunities following a visit by Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Bill and Mrs Lesley Maher, to its sister city, Yamagata in Japan.

Wyong and Warren win 1997 Bluett Awards
The 1997 prestigious Bluett Awards, the most valued prize in Local Government in NSW have been taken out by Wyong and Warren Councils. The Awards honour Councils that have achieved the greatest relative progress during the previous financial year.

Reader Survey - what you had to say
Our 1997 Reader Survey was included as an insert in the October edition. Respondents were asked how often they read FOCUS, how they rated the publication, what they liked about it and what they would like to see changed. A total of 81% of respondents said they regularly read FOCUS, with 17% reading it sometimes. Respondents rating the publication as 'Good' or 'Excellent' ranged between 76 and 84%.

'Community' is the customer
The implementation of Customer Service Charters needs further consideration of two important issues. In the areas of amenity, public health and safety, the questions of what constitutes the service and exactly who are the customers have not been fully examined.

Improve your planning with CDATA96
Once every five years the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts a Census of Population and Housing. The Census is a snapshot of the nation on Census night. This data forms a vital information source for organisations who make important planning decisions throughout Australia.

Port Phillip Counci limproves efficieny with new financials*
Following the City of Port Phillip's amalgamation in 1995, a key strategy for the new Council was to start with a sound IT infrastructure. Council decided to replace its old system with an integrated Financial Management Systems (FMIS) and workflow from Computron Software.

Councils demonstrate value for money
It is probably only human nature, but unfortunately for Councils, ratepayers tend to be quick to spot rate rises but slow to recognise the benefits their rates bring. To foster better communication about their activities, this year Parramatta City Council in NSW sent ratepayers five pages of details about Council expenditure with rate notices.

Cost effective training &endash; building inhouse expertise
For training to be cost effective it must impart skills, knowledge and behaviours that become part of the long term culture of the organisation. A one day or even one week program has little capacity to permanently affect staff behaviour and attitudes. An effective solution is to train inhouse trainers to have responsibility for maintaining the focus of the organisation on new approaches to their work.

Achieving maximum efficiency
A major problem facing Councils is the number of places where information can be stored. Work may often be duplicated, and accessing and distributing relevant material can be time consuming resulting in out of date information. Furthermore, security may be compromised. With a document management system like Advanced Document and Administration Manager (ADAM), all Council's important documents and files can be stored securely in one place, making it quick and easy for authorised users to find information.

Bad contractors or bad contracts
In assessing the quality of the service, there is a tendency to blame contractors for poor outcomes. However, this may be unfair. The issue arises as to whether the contractor is to blame or whether the contract itself was inadequate.

Expediting infringement payments
Xpedite has announced the release of a next generation Penalty Control System (PCS). PCS has been developed in conjunction with users to assist Councils and other enforcement agencies manage parking, litter, animal and local law infringements.

Fleet safety
A landmark study, 'Fleetsafe', conducted by the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) is set to change the culture of vehicle management in the region.

Call for entries now on for 48th Annual Report Awards
More and more, Australia is leading the world in quality annual reporting with some of this country's reports rivalling the best in the world. Driving the surge in quality annual reporting in Australia and, increasingly, New Zealand has been the prestigious Annual Report Awards (ARA). Now in their 48th year, the Awards have established a benchmark for excellence in annual reporting that has been accepted by some of the country's largest publicly listed companies as well as many government and not for profit enterprises. 

AMCORD wins another excellence for planning award
The Australian Model Code for Residential Development, AMCORD, has won a Certificate of Merit at the Royal Australian Planning Institute's (RAPI) 1997 National Awards for Planning Excellence in Adelaide. AMCORD qualified for the National Awards after receiving the RAPI South Australian Division Award in 1996. Winning this prestigious planning award is further recognition of AMCORD's success as a manual of best practice in integrated performance based residential development.

Welcome from the new Minister
I would like to welcome readers to this, the second issue of A National Perspective, and my first as the new Federal Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government. As member for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax, the role of Local Government and the development of regional and rural Australia is very important to me. I share with Local Government an interest in making Australia a better place in which to live and do business, and I am very pleased to have been given the opportunity to work towards achieving this goal.

Thredbo Community Hall
The Snowy Mountains village of Thredbo has received nearly $250,000 to help build a new Community Hall which will serve as a memorial to those who were lost in the landslide of 30 July this year.

SBDC paves the way for legislative review for LGs
The Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) is a statutory authority in Western Australia with a mission to create opportunity and wealth for small to medium-sized businesses in that State. The core activities of the Corporation consist of business, information and management education services.

Commonwealth funding for structural reform
The Commonwealth is providing over $1 million under the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) to foster structural reform of councils. Structural reform includes cooperative service provision, major resource sharing initiatives, joint service delivery enterprises, boundary change and amalgamations.

Benchmarking Projects
The Commonwealth has funded a number of council-led benchmarking projects under the Local Government Development Program (LGDP). It has agreed to fund Cessnock City Council, Singleton Shire Council and Wyong Shire Council to benchmark open space and recreation and roads maintenance. Funding of $50,000 has also been provided for benchmarking to a group of seven Western Australian councils. The group, which includes Narrogin, Merredin, Northam, Donnybrook-Balingup, Bridgetown-Greenbushes and Plantagenet councils, will focus initially on waste management, administration and governance costs, recreation and culture.

Northern Territory Performance Indicator and Benchmarking Seminar
There has been significant advancement on the development of performance indicators over the last four months, with extensive consultations having occurred with the local government industry. These consultations culminated in the organisation of a successful Performance Indicator and Benchmarking Seminar which attracted 14 of the Territory's largest councils.

Local Government Workplace Reform Project
The Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW is funded under the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) to undertake the Local Government Workplace Reform Project. This project aims to increase the pace of workplace reform across Local Government in NSW to make real improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of Local Government operations.

Urban Futures
Issue 22 of the Urban Futures journal was very well received. Issue 23 is now available. This extremely interesting issue features several articles and a book review relating to the theme of 'community' and social belonging.

Local Government National Report
The second Local Government National Report will be available in December 1997. The Report relates to the 1996-97 financial year, a year in which the Commonwealth provided $1.2 billion in untied financial assistance grants to local government.

Natural Heritage Trust - Coasts and Clean Seas
Coasts and Clean Seas is a major component of the Commonwealth Government's Natural Heritage Trust. It is designed to help tackle coastal and marine pollution problems, threats to marine biodiversity and habitat degradation, and to promote sustainable use of Australia's coastal and marine areas, including estuarine areas.