The Local Government Review Panel (Panel) was formed to undertake a comprehensive review of the Local Government Act 1995 (WA) (LG Act), with a vision that local government be agile, smart and inclusive.
The Panel, chaired by David Michael MLA, provided its final report to the State Government in May 2020, which outlines 65 recommendations for a new Act. The State Government released the report publicly in August 2020.
The Panel considered the themes of clear legislative intent, an agile system, inclusive local democracy, smart planning and efficient service delivery, and enhanced accountability, self-regulation and integrity.
In Part 1 of this series, we focus on the recommendations relating to Council governance. In Part 2, we summarise the recommended high-level reforms relating to local government operations.
Part 1 – Council Governance
1. Electoral cycle
Current: Local government elections are staggered. They are held every 2 years with Councillors serving a term of 4 years.
Proposed: Local government elections are held once every 4 years, midway between the State Government elections.
Possible consequences include:
- Increased potential for loss of corporate knowledge if no existing Councillors are re-elected.
- Reduction in administrative costs for local governments.
- Potential increase in voter participation resulting from greater emphasis on larger, less frequent elections.
- Completely 'new' or refreshed Councils may have a stronger mandate to develop and implement renewed or refreshed plans and strategies, rather than those of the previous Council.
2. Preferential voting
Current: First-past-the-post voting system, under which a voter casts a single vote for their candidate of choice and the candidate with the most votes gets elected. Most jurisdictions in Australia have adopted a form of preferential voting in local government elections.
Proposed: Optional preferential voting be adopted, so voters have the choice whether to vote for one, some or all candidates on a ballot paper.
The consequence is a result that it, arguably, more representative of the community's views. Successful candidates are those who have a majority of votes.
3. Community boards
Current: The size of the 137 local governments in Western Australia vary, from less than 200 to over 200,000. It is suggested that some local governments are too small to sufficiently meet their responsibilities and that others are too big to properly represent and respond to the needs and interests of all sectors of the community.
Proposed: Optional for local governments to establish community boards. A community board is a separate body which represents and advocates on particular community interests, such as a suburb, town within a large Shire or remote Aboriginal community, or based on an issue. The board may only make decisions if the Council has delegated decision making powers to it.
It is proposed that the community boards will be similar to those currently operating in New Zealand. There are approximately 110 community boards in existence in New Zealand, all of which possess varying powers and responsibilities. Community boards are not used elsewhere in Australia.
Local governments could flexibly tailor the structure and operation of their community boards.
4. Integrated Planning and Reporting (IPR)
Current: According to the review panel, Integrated planning and reporting, or IPR framework is not currently well understood across the local government sector and its implementation is irregular.
Proposed: IPR to be given greater prominence as a centrepiece of 'smart' planning and service delivery by requiring local governments to use an IPR framework. An IPR framework is intended to promote and link more effective strategic planning, regional cooperation, community engagement, financial management, service delivery and monitoring, and reporting of outcomes.
Other features:
- IPR principles are to be included in a new LG Act, requiring strategic planning to consider service delivery to meet community needs, community development and vision, implementation resource requirements and risks, and monitoring and reviews.
- Strategic Community Plans are to be replaced with Community Strategies, and Corporate Business Plans are to be replaced with Council Plans, which are prepared by the incoming Council.
- Baseline reporting system, requiring local governments to report against a range of performance measures covering financial management, service delivery, governance and community wellbeing.
5. Audit committee
Current: Local government audit committee members are appointed by the local government. The majority are to be Council members.
Proposed: The role of the committee is to be an Internal Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARI Committee). The majority of the ARI Committee members including the Chair, are to be independent of the local government and drawn from a panel of suitably qualified persons.
Other features:
- The ARI Committee is to monitor the local government's performance in implementing its IPR framework.
- The Chair of the ARI Committee is to have a public facing role. It will address Council on relevant matters and report at the Annual Community Meeting.
- The ARI Committee will develop an audit plan focusing on compliance, risk, financial management, fraud control, governance and delivery of the Council Plans; identifying continuous improvement opportunities and monitoring projects/programs. It will also conduct mandatory internal audits.
6. Elected member and CEO training
Current: The Local Government Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (WA), as part of the phase 1 priority reforms, provided for mandatory universal training for election candidates and Council members.
Proposed: Further training requirements and ongoing professional development for new CEOs; compulsory induction training and ongoing professional development for all councillors; training modules for councillors to include in depth material on IPR and land use planning; and expanded use of peer review and support to be encouraged within local governments.
If you would like to understand more about Council governance, or the recommendations contained in the Panel's final report, please contact our team.