Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

NSW Managers shape their future
The NSW Division of the Institute of Municipal Management (IMM) staged its Annual Conference in Sydney from 27-29 July. Using the theme 'It's Our Future ... The Way Ahead', then President, Stuart McPherson said that the program provided delegates with another chance to have their thinking challenged.

Less than 500 days to go!
Popular sessions at the NSW IMM Annual Conference were those relating to the impact of the Year 2000 Bug. Tony Gates, Manager Year 2000 Compliance Project at the NSW Office of Information Technology, told delegates, with less than 500 days to go, it is vital for all organisations, public and private, to recognise they have a problem they must do something about.

Editorial
Intense lobbying over recent months by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and its member State and Territory LGAs has paid off with the announcement that Council rates, water and sewerage charges will be GST free under the Federal Government's Tax Package. However, ALGA believes that despite this exemption Councils and their communities still face a massive GST bill of hundreds of millions of dollars per year on Council services.

President's comment
Each edition we feature the views of a State Local Government Association President. The following is from Councillor Peter Woods OAM is President, Local Government Association of NSW and President, International Union of Local Authorities (Asia-Pacific Region).

NSW acknowledges management excellence
The innovative capacity of Local Government to achieve greater efficiency and provide better service delivery to their communities has been acknowledged by the 1998 NSW Institute of Municipal Management and Sydney Morning Herald Management Excellence Awards. Local Government demonstrated once again that it is capable of finding creative solutions to manage the range of functions and services that come under its auspices. This year 49 entries were received across the four Award categories.

Pros and cons of Local Government management
In delivering the Presidential Address at the recent NSW Institute of Municipal Management Annual Conference, Stuart McPherson*, pointed to the fact that Local Government salary packages for senior managers still regularly gain attention from the daily press. The following is an abridged version of his speech.

Off again, on again Tas amalgamations
A successful Supreme Court action by three Tasmanian Councils, Devonport, Central Highlands and Southern Midlands, has resulted in the postponement of Council elections scheduled for August. This has also put on hold Council amalgamations which would have seen Tasmanian Councils reduced from 29 to 14.

Whistle while you work
As people strive to be more efficient in a competitive work environment they often work longer hours, fret about their performance and forget to enjoy what they do. Ironically, the resulting stress can lower workplace performance and productivity. Not so at Victoria's City of Ballarat where almost all staff have attended one of a series of full day seminars aimed at keeping balance in their lives.

Reducing risks in child care
An innovative child safety video titled 'Child Safety Made Easy', produced by Victoria's Hume City Council, is an invaluable resource for childcare workers and families across Victoria. It highlights major causes of childhood injuries, and promotes simple steps to prevent these injuries, in an easily understood visual format.

Traineeships create winners all round
Many Councils actively encourage improved employment opportunities in their communities through promoting local business and investment opportunities. But Victoria's City of Whittlesea has taken this a step further, utilising its own position as a large local employer to provide clerical and administrative traineeships.

TQM enhances customer service
Wyndham City Council has achieved significant advances in its customer service through its innovative TQM Through Customer Service Teams training course. The course, which is quite unique, combines Total Quality Management, customer service and teambuilding.

Training made easy
A comprehensive Induction Program and Staff Manual developed by Manningham City Council's Aged and Disability Services is successfully guiding new staff through the hazards of their many and varied workplaces. This is making the task of induction much easier at Manningham and elsewhere.

National Business Award to Council Manager
Robin Batt, Cultural Centre Manager at Frankston City Council in Victoria, has won the 1998 Mobilenet Corporate and Government Award as part of the 1998 Telstra Business Women's Awards. Robin's role in establishing, managing and directing the Frankston Cultural Centre has seen it develop an impressive record of achievement, growth, creative programming and financial credibility.

What you need to manage in addition to technical skills
Developing a vision for a City is one thing, getting it to actually happen is another. How the day to day work achieves the long term vision requires a management framework which sets priorities, delivers agreed standards of service and reinforces the guiding principles of the organisation. The Launceston City Council has recently developed the 'How We Do Our Work' model to guide management performance. It is based around the criteria used by the Australian Quality Awards.

Partnerships - a key to regional development
The Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government, Alex Somlyay, has described partnerships with and between local governments as a key to the success of the Government's Regional Australia Strategy. The Commonwealth Government's Regional Australia Strategy, outlined in the 1998-99 Budget Statement, represents an unprecedented level of funding and assistance for regional Australia.

GreenWeb - Sydney
Councils and Communities Working in Partnership for Biodiversity Conservation The GreenWeb - Sydney: Vegetation Management Plan was initiated by the Sydney Regional Organisations of Councils in response to concern about the loss of bushland in the Sydney metropolitan region and the uncoordinated and ad-hoc approach to its management. The GreenWeb encourages a consistent and cooperative approach to revegetation in the Sydney Region.

'Towards Best Practice'
The NSW Local Government and Shires Associations (NSWLGSA), with seed funding under the Local Government Development Programme, have undertaken the development of an electronic information exchange to record and link information relating to benchmarking and best practice relevant to Local Government in NSW.

Moving Forward in Regional Cooperation and Community Planning!
In May 1996 sub-regional partners consisting of the ACT and NSW Governments, NSW councils of Yass, Yarrowlumla, Gunning, Queanbeyan and Cooma-Monaro, and the Commonwealth commenced a strategic planning project to develop a Framework for improved co-ordination of planning and provision of human services in the ACT and Sub-region.