After a typically low-key lead up, the NSW Local Government elections took place in September. But is this low-key approach right? Shouldn’t local council elections be subjected to in-depth policy analysis and candidate profiles? After all, the “local” in this form of government means their decisions have great personal and community impact.
In reality, you could be forgiven for not being aware there was an election on until just days before the event. The media doesn’t give council elections much billing. There are too many candidates spread across 152 local government areas. Then there are the issues. They’re not hip-pocket headlines and mostly very local, very parochial and often trivial.
This time around in NSW there was plenty of sideshows for the media, voters, councillor and mayoral candidates to ponder. State Government shenanigans not only dominated the media, but also provided fertile ground for a voter backlash against the Labor Party. And they copped it big time.
So much so that the shiny new Premier felt the need to apologise to the faithful before the vote counting was completed.
The ballot papers included the usual contingent of independents motivated by a determination to make a difference, self-hypnotised into a robust “can do will do” attitude. You wonder if they have done their homework on what’s ahead of them if they are voted in.
Of course they’ll be allowed to say their piece; of course the debate will be informed and objective; of course there’s money to fund their ideas; of course the community will recognise the outcomes and be thankful for their contribution and of course they won’t be late home for tea on meeting nights.
The politically savvy and somewhat paradoxically well organised Greens survive and prosper by somehow side-stepping the “trust me I’m a politician” tag. They aptly conjure up conspiracy theories out of a range of issues and plonk others on the table over which councils have little or no control. However they struck a chord with a diverse range of voters and the results reflect this.
The Liberals, at least in my part of the world, re-galvanised to make mileage from the Labor Party turmoil at state level. They seized the chance to break free of other brands they have masqueraded behind at other times and ‘came out’ as it were. This could be the start of something big – or at least the Libs hope so.
And of course there are the celebrities. Move over schoolteachers. Maybe they will draw media attention to local government. It’s just that ‘Picture/People’ style publications are not what most of us have in mind despite our passion for drama.
So what can the new councillors expect? Well, they will have studied up on the Local Government Act and many other statutes that influence their domain to clearly understand the role of the council officers and the respective responsibilities to the community – easy stuff.
Then there’s the councillor workload: inspections, committee meetings, budget reviews, regular council meetings and the business papers, sometimes hundreds of pages. Of course, all councillors closely review the business papers in detail before they debate and offer their considered opinion on the broad range of matters (and there are plenty) that councils deal with. History speaks for itself.
In fact, as a community we think it’s going so well we appear to be burdening local councils with far more responsibility than I suspect was intended when the boundary riders set the pegs back at the time of Federation.
We have allowed Federal and State Governments to do a wonderful job of letting stuff fall off the back of their budgets and programs and into the laps of local government, drawing them into realms they never anticipated, without the benefit of income to fund the demands.
Perversely, local government is not recognised under the Australian Constitution.
It’s in a hollow space. Yet both the Federal and State Governments have funded ministries, departments and bureaucracies to help ‘administer and regulate’ local government. What a great gig that is.
The councillors give their time for relatively little payment – no perky allowances, no car fleets and, worst of all, no ‘parliamentary’ pension. I reckon it would make the ABC’s old $1 a day look expensive.
As they settle in until 2012, there will be certainties – drama, scandal, rumour, gossip, inaction, blame, funding crises and planning nightmares. And that’s just on Mondays. More deeply, there are cracks in the system. We’re relying on our governments to fix it. There’s talk of major reform. Hmm … politicians fixing government – how smart are we?
Bob Hawes is development partner at Buildev and chairs the Property Council of Australia’s Hunter Chapter.
Bob Hawes |
Friday, 24 October 2008 4:14 PM |
