Local Government Act Review 2016 Community Forums EMERGING ISSUES Governance and Legislation Branch Local Government Victoria

Consultation Identification of issues – 2015 – release of a Discussion Paper, commissioning of background papers, technical working groups 2.Reform directions – 2016 – release of a Directions Paper with further opportunity for submissions 3.Legislation – release of an Exposure Draft Bill with opportunity for further input

Emerging Issues Council Roles and Powers Elected Council and CEO Representative Structures / Elections Council Operations / Local Laws Complaints Handling Community Consultation / Strategic Planning Rates and Charges / Financial Management Conflict of Interest / Council Compliance Performance Reporting / Reducing Red-tape

Councils’ Role and Powers Context The 1958 Act defined all actions a council should undertake and some have suggested a return to this kind of prescription – including drawing a distinction between ‘core functions’ and other functions However, no modern local government act in Australia now does this The submissions indicated a desire from some citizens for more involvement in deciding what functions their councils should perform Should council roles and functions be more narrowly defined in the Act? Should councils be required to consult their communities about which functions they undertake?

Elected Council and CEO Does the Act support a strong partnership between CEOs and councillors? If not, how could the working relationship be strengthened? Context Councillors are responsible for strategic decisions and community representation while CEOs are responsible for council operations Some submissions argue that more needs to be done to assist the elected council and CEOs to work effectively in partnership in the interests of the community Some submissions have argued that Mayors be given longer terms or more powers

Representative Structures Which electoral structures should be used to elect councillors? Should we move to more consistent structures between councils? Context Councils may be constituted in one of five structural models (unsubdivided, single, uniform multi-member, non-uniform multi- member and a combination of single and multi-member wards) The number of councillors is fixed at between 5 and 12 One option for greater consistency is to provide for only these three options: Unsubdivided municipalities Uniform multi-member wards Single member wards

Elections Who should be eligible to vote at council elections? Should voting be compulsory for all voters? Should filling all the squares in the ballot paper be optional for large candidate fields? Context Some have suggested that the voting franchise should be extended to include permanent residents and/or people renting businesses Others suggested limiting voting rights to people on the state roll only Some submissions have suggested voting should be compulsory for all voters (including over 70s and property franchise voters) Others have suggested – as applies in the Legislative Council - for multi-member and unsubdivided municipalities, preferences should only be required for the number of vacancies contested (partial preferential voting)

Council Operations How can councils strengthen accountability to the community? Are their new and better ways for councils to delegate powers and functions? Context Some submissions raised issues on council operations relating to: The amount of material kept confidential by councils Too many council meetings held or decisions being made “in camera” The need for the reasons behind council decisions, and factors taken into account, to be publicly available The desirability of a public report back to the community at the end of a four-year council term against the council plan Some councils having too many special committees being given too much authority

Local Laws Can local laws be improved? Should they be harmonised? If so, how? Is there a need for greater consistency across councils in local laws dealing with the same issue? Context The power to make local laws is one of the most important councils have, impacting very directly on constituents It is critical that the processes for making local laws and the actual laws themselves are of a high standard Local laws vary in how well they are expressed and /or can be understood People with properties or businesses in different municipalities have questioned why similar issues are dealt with differently by different councils

Complaints Handling Should all councils be required to have a complaints handling policy? Should ‘complaint’ be defined in the Act? Context A number of submissions express frustration with a perceived lack of responsiveness to complaints directed at councils The Ombudsman has suggested all councils should have a complaints handling policy Councils may be inundated with complaints by a small number of people or by one person opposing a single decision Improved complaint handling can embed a continuous improvement culture and deal more expeditiously with both legitimate and vexatious complainants

Community Consultation How should councils engage their communities in formulating the council plan? Should this be prescribed in the Act or left to individual councils to determine? Context Many citizens now want a stronger voice in shaping their council’s four year plan and related strategic documents Councils argue that it is difficult to engage the community through traditional methods such as meetings and submissions and some are adopting innovative methods The current Act provides submission rights in relation to specific matters, e.g. budgets New technologies may increasingly allow more people to be engaged more meaningfully in strategic planning and informing council directions

Strategic Planning Should the Act introduce a requirement for longer term community plans or is a four year council plan adequate? What other mechanisms for participation could be required to be used by councils? Context Many councils now prepare community plans which provide a long term strategic vision (e.g. 10 years) and that allow community involvement in the lead up to council plan preparations Some councils are now using participatory budgeting processes, allowing the community to directly shape all or significant parts of the council budget Other councils are using people’s panels and citizens juries to involve communities in major projects or decisions

Financial Management: Procurement Is competitive tendering sufficiently embedded in council practice to allow councils to be left to manage procurement without state oversight? Context Currently councils must follow compulsory competitive tendering requirements, publicly tendering for goods or services valued at $150,000 or more or $200,000 or more for works If a council believes that a tender process is not necessary or appropriate its only option is to seek a ministerial exemption All councils now have audit committees who oversee financial and risk considerations

Rates and Charges Should there be a single, standardised valuation system for setting rates? If so, what should this be? Should councils retain the capacity to set differential rates? What other charges should councils be able to set? Context Councils currently can choose between three systems for valuing land: site value (SV), net annual value (NAV) and capital improved value (CIV) The Act provides a limited number of exemptions from rates There is also a provision for differential rates which is only available to councils using CIV In addition, councils can set service rates and charges and municipal charges It is argued that this system is complex and little understood by ratepayers

Conduct: Conflict of Interest Could conflict of interest provisions be simplified? How? Would a general test of ‘material personal interest’ or ‘pecuniary interest’ be appropriate? Context Conflict of interest provisions in the Act cover 17 sections – many more than comparable legislation The effort to legislate for a vast array of scenarios of conflict individually has created a level of complexity and confusion There are instances of councillors declaring conflicts which do not apply because they are overwhelmed by the range of provisions This confusion can unnecessarily restrict councillors in the exercise of their responsibilities In addition successful prosecutions under these provisions has proved difficult

Council Compliance How can we ensure council compliance with the Act? Should there be an expanded role for the Minister to intervene? Context Breaching many sections of the Act does not constitute an offence - there is no penalty applicable for councils failing to comply Some have argued that there should be a penalty for any breach of the Act, as a matter of principle As a tier of government councils are not easily bound by traditional enforcement regimes A graduated regime of enforcement has been proposed: local accountability mechanisms; administrative sanctions (eg revoking local laws); & legal/court sanctions to reinforce council compliance

Reducing Red-tape Could a system be developed to exempt high performing councils from regulations? Context Some have argued that consistently high performing, high compliance councils should be granted greater autonomy under the legislation This could consist of the Minister exempting these councils from specific requirements if they could show they were exceeding the standards set out in regulations Methods of demonstrating high performance would have to be agreed