Today on the Local Government News Roundup, we’re getting close to knowing how many councillors have been elected to State Parliament; two more mayoral election results; Council CEOs in the news; Councils struggling to keep up with open space maintenance; Adelaide’s new Lord Mayor collapses at a Christmas function; and the NSW Government called on to stop bullying councils.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Listen to this episode here, and find the link for your podcast player here for any of the 179 episodes so far. Scroll down for the transcript for episode 179 with story links.
Transcript (with story links:)
Hello and welcome to the Local Government News Roundup. This is your update for the 4th December. I’m Chris Eddy
Today, we’re getting close to knowing how many councillors have been elected to State Parliament; two more mayoral election results; Council CEOs in the news; Councils struggling to keep up with open space maintenance; Adelaide’s new Lord Mayor collapses at a Christmas function; and the NSW Government called on to stop bullying councils.
That’s all ahead on the Local Government News Roundup, brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
First up today,
The latest from last weekend’s State Election has one more sitting councillor confirmed as a new MP – Paul Mercurio from Mornington Peninsula SHire has claimed victory in the seat of Hastings, having extended his lead to almost 1,000 votes according to the ABC
Along with Kim O’Keeffe in Shepparton; Jade Benham in Mildura; and Gabrielle De Vietri in Richmond, that makes four sitting councillors elected to the lower house.
The seat of Preston remains too close to call, with Darebin Councillor Gaetano Greco still holding onto a chance of taking victory on preferences. Preference distributions will be conducted by the VEC from this Tuesday, 6th December.
The VEC will conduct the computerised calculation to finalise the Upper House results on 13th December.
With another three councillors looking likely to be elected to the upper house, and two others possible, there’ll be at least 7 and possibly as many as 10 countbacks or by-elections to happen in early 2023.
Two more mayoral election results to report this week.
Darebin City Council has elected Julie Williams as its new mayor, taking over from Lina Messina who spent two years in the role.
Susanne Newton has been elected as deputy mayor for the next year.
And at Moorabool Shire, a two term mayor has given way to a new mayor also.
Rod Ward has been elected to the position, taking over from Tom O’Sullivan – while Ally Munari is the new deputy mayor at Moorabool.
We await Boroondara, Latrobe and Wodonga to conduct their deferred elections in the coming weeks to complete the 2022/23 mayoral elections.
For those watching the gender balance, we currently have 42 men leading Victorian councils and 34 women, a ratio of 55 to 45 per cent.
You can find a list of all of the results to date on the Local Government News Roundup website.
In other news this week:
There’s been a call for patience from the public this week as councils and the state government struggle to get on top of backlogs of mowing in parks and along roadsides.
The Age has reported on how the La Nina weather pattern has caused faster than normal vegetation growth, and sodden ground making access difficult for workers.
People are taking to Facebook, talk back radio and council customer service lines to complain, and some residents have taken to mowing public parks themselves.
Contractors report difficulties in recruiting sufficient staff, and MAV President David Clark said the weather had compounded difficult budget conditions for councils.
You can read more about the impact on many councils on the Age website – link in the show notes.
The Mayor of Gannawarra Shire Council has paid tribute this week to outgoing CEO Tom O’Reilly, who finishes up in the position on 21st December.
Earlier this year, the Council narrowly voted to advertise the CEO position.
Mayor Charlie Gillingham thanked Mr O’Reilly for his passionate commitment to the Gannawarra, overseeing its transformation as a leader in alternative and innovative agricultural projects, renewable energy initiatives and nature based tourism.
No word yet on a replacement for Mr O’Reilly.
The Roundup’s CEO appointment watch list currently shows 8 councils with pending CEO appointments, including Gannawarra Shire, Melbourne, Port Phillip and Greater Geelong City Councils.
Yarra City Council has received global recognition for climate leadership, being named an A-List city by the international non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project.
The designation makes Yarra one of only seven local governments in Australia, and 122 globally recognised with the top score for action on climate change.
Mayor Claudia Nguyen said the A-list rating demonstrates the council’s leadership in taking measurable climate action.
The Macedon Ranges Autumn Festival has been crowned the state’s best of its kind at the 2022 Victorian Tourism Awards.
The festival, which is delivered by Macedon Ranges Shire Council, took the win over the Ballarat Heritage Festival and the Adventure Park Geelong Winter Glow Festival.
As a category winner, it will now be in the running for a national award to be announced in Sydney in March.
Coming Up: Lismore’s CEO survives a move to sack him, but he won’t be staying on; Adelaide’s new Lord Mayor collapses at a Christmas function; the NSW Government called on to stop bullying councils; and more than half the councillors resign at one Western Australian council.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Join the VLGA for an update from our Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project Partners on Women in Local Government research project.
This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office
The panel will include Professor Dr Andrea Carson, La Trobe University,
Professor Leah Ruppanner, University of Melbourne, and Kathryn Arndt, CEO, VLGA. You can find out more on the VLGA website – link in the show notes.
Now in today’s National Roundup:
Drama has been unfolding at Lismore City Council in recent days, with interim CEO John Walker surviving an attempt to remove him prior to the completion of his short term contract.
Mr Walker was appointed in February for 12 months, becoming the council’s 5th GM in as many years.
Media outlets have reported that a confidential motion to terminate Mr Walker’s contract early was unsuccessful.
This was followed by a statement from Mayor Steve Kreig that Mr Walker had withdrawn an application to stay past his contract date of 8th February next year.
Mayor Kreig said the current recruitment process was continuing, and he was confident of finding a suitable replacement.
Drama also in Adelaide this week, when newly elected Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith collapsed at a function and was taken to hospital.
According to the Adelaide Advertiser, Dr Lomax-Smith is back on deck and put the dizzy spell down to dehydration after participating in an early morning bus tour with other newly elected councillors.
She said she hoped her experience would be a reminder to others to keep up their fluid intake as the temperature rises.
Meanwhile, the council is due to discuss the return of free meals and drinks on meeting nights for councillors and staff, after the practice was abolished by the previous council in 2019.
The discussion on the new Council’s governance model will also include the Lord Mayor’s proposal to meet twice monthly, after the previous council met only once per month.
(Adelaide Advertiser, 2/12/22)
The peak local government body in New South Wales has stepped up its opposition to a government requirement that councils carry the depreciation costs of rural fire service assets.
LGNSW President Darriea Turley this week said councils across NSW have been set up to fail their annual audits because the state government is forcing them to take responsibility for assets they don’t own or control.
She said it is a ridiculous notion that is leading to a dramatic increase in the number of councils being hit with qualified audits.
Cr Turley said the bullying of councils by the NSW Government needs to end, and the government should take back control of the RFS assets.
To Western Australia now, where a small regional town is without a council after more than half of its elected members resigned.
The ABC has reported that five of the nine councillors at Donnybrook-Balingup, including the Shire President, have stepped down after allegations of bullying and intimidating behaviour by some residents towards councillors and staff.
In these circumstances, legislation allows for the council to be dissolved and a commissioner to be appointed.
Local Government Minister John Carey told the ABC he was awaiting department advice before makin a decision about next steps
The election of a deputy mayor at South Australia’s District Council of Grant has been adjourned to a future meeting, after an anonymous ballot failed to separate two candidates for the position.
Governance rules allowed for a coin toss to decide the outcome, but according to a report from Mt Gambier’s Border Watch, the council chose to wait for a future meeting when it’s hoped all members would be present.
(Border Watch, 2/12/22)
The Tasmanian Government will launch a survey this week seeking community views about the conduct of this year’s local government elections.
Local Government Minister Nic Street said the survey results will inform a more formal review next year of the legislative framework for future local government elections.
He said there would also be a focus next year on developing better mechanisms for dealing with the most serious cases of councillor misconduct.
And finally to Queensland, where the behaviour of some Brisbane City Councillors is in the spotlight.
The ABC has the story of how the repeated practice of one councillor turning his back on another while she is speaking has led to a heated exchange, and a reminder from the meeting chairman about respectful behaviour.
The behaviour from both councillors has been described by some as rude and unprofessional, while others have observed a practice of robust debate.
If you wish, you can watch some of the behaviour from the link in the show notes, and make your own judgement.
Now to today’s International Spotlight, highlighting some stories of interest from beyond our borders..
A new report from the OECD has demonstrated the importance of local and regional authorities in underpinning societal resilience in Ukraine.
The report finds that further strengthening of the capacity of local authorities will be vital to post-war recovery in the country.
Over 10,000 local councils have been merged into 1469 municipalities since 2014, which the report says has been a key factor in empowering authorities to adapt emergency responses to local needs.
The OECD says since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, municipal governments have been at the forefront of civil defence, and vital to the war effort.
In California, cities have been warned to prepare for a fourth year of drought and extremely limited water supply next year.
CNBC.com reports that water allocations this year were slashed to 5% of normal for agencies serving around 27 million people, and 750,000 acres of farmland; with the next allocations due to be announced in February.
Water storage is near historic lows, and more extreme water conservation actions are expected to be announced soon.
The US West has experienced its driest two decades on record, with conditions likely to persist for years.
And from Italy, reports that more than 90% of municipalities are at risk from landslides and natural disasters have prompted calls for a crackdown on illegal construction.
Studies show that legal and illegal construction is contributing to tragic outcomes from events like a recent landslide on the island of Ischia, in which eight people have been confirmed to have perished.
Municipalities are being urged to stop allowing construction in areas known to be at risk. Controversially, the government has on occasions granted amnesties for illegal constructions.
More on that story from The Guardian – link in the show notes.
That’s the latest from the Local Government News Roundup.
You can find more information at our website – lgnewsroundup.com – including our regularly updated list of Victorian mayoral election results and CEO appointment news.
I hope you can join us again soon for more from the Local Government News Roundup, brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Until then, thanks for listening and bye for now.