Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Big wheels or little cogs diversity in Local Government

In welcoming delegates to the Institute of Municipal Management's 17th National Congress, Federal President, Alf Mott said that the Congress is centered on Local Government achieving excellence through diversity. He said that as private sector corporations are focusing on specialisation to improve their performance and competitiveness, Local Government by its very nature is an extremely diverse industry.

With Council populations varying from 800,000 to under 500 people, and situations such as the East Pilbara Shire having less kilometres of road yet 400 times the area of Brisbane City Council, the diversity of Australia's many Councils is clear.

"Local Government faces a number of challenges which require an unprecedented capacity to change," Alf Mott said. "Challenges include reforms, such as national competition policy, contracting out, structural and regulatory reform.

"Match these reforms with the need for Councils to balance the emotional, spiritual and the artistic with changing technology, professional and business objectives, and we have a very diverse set of backgrounds against which decisions in Local Government are made."

He said that clearly, if this diverse Local Government industry is to contribute real effort to Australia's social, environmental and economic competence, it requires resourcefulness, ingenuity and quality leadership.

"Local Government must develop innovative solutions to the challenge of providing facilities and services the community has come to expect at an affordable price," Alf Mott said.

"Leading change is about Local Government managers achieving world management standards. The Institute of Municipal Management has a major role to play in ensuring that these standards are achieved and promoted.

"It is about creating an environment where people excel, about delivering superior performance and reshaping the way in which Local Government operates."

In officially opening the Congress, Alf Mott welcomed a large contingency of overseas delegates representing Local Government from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, USA and Republic of South Africa.

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