Special edition - Labor Local Government Reform Bill No Images? Click here Vol 3: Special Edition - Friday 26 October 2018 Labor Local Government Reform BillOn Wednesday the Labor Party introduced a local government reform Bill in the Legislative Council as an alternative to the State Government’s rate capping proposal. The Local Government (Ratepayer Protection and Related Measures) Amendment Bill 2018 has been introduced with the in-principle support of SA-BEST and the Greens SA, and outlines a range of measures that they believe will bring greater transparency and accountability to the local government sector. Some of the key aspects of the Bill include:
A copy of the Bill is available to download here. With support from the LGA Executive Committee, the LGA Secretariat has been in discussions with Labor, SA-BEST and the Greens about this reform package over the past few months. There have been a lot of improvements made to the Bill during these discussions, and while there are aspects of the Bill that now better align with the LGA’s Local Government Reform Package, there are still some proposals that appear excessive and impose higher standards of transparency and accountability on local government than apply to Federal and State Government. The additional costs that councils would incur in meeting these proposed new legislative requirements, and the impact they would have on council budgets and South Australian ratepayers, should also be considered. One example of this is the proposed changes to council audit committees, which would remove elected members from these committees entirely and result in additional operating costs, particularly for regional councils. The LGA will not be providing a position on this Bill until we have heard the views of our members, and details of how we will consult with councils will be provided next week. As an Association and a sector we support local government reform, and want to work with the Government and Parliament on sensible changes that will benefit our communities. I encourage you to carefully consider the reforms that have been proposed in this Bill, and also let us know if you have further ideas for change that should be considered by the Parliament. LGA President Sue Clearihan For further information or to submit |