Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Tasmania's new partnership deal
Jim Bacon's new Labor Government is promising Tasmanian Councils a new deal. Through separate Partnership Agreements with each of the State's 29 Councils, the two spheres will work together 'in Tasmania's economic recovery'.

Capital City governance
In South Australia, a new Capital City Bill comes into place later this month. The Bill results from a Governance Review, concerning State/Capital City relations, that reported earlier this year. One of the recommendations, now contained in the Bill, is the establishment of a Capital City Committee.

Editorial
Describing it as 'tax reform Black Friday for Councils and their communities across Australia', President of the Australian Local Government Association, Councillor John Campbell, believes all Local Government's concerns about being locked out of the recent Premiers' Conference have been realised.

President's comment
Each edition we feature the views of a State Local Government Association President. The following is from Mayor Ron Yuryevich, President Western Australian Municipal Association.

Outback Highway gains momentum
A proposed new transport corridor traversing Australia from the south west to the north east is set to add an important link to the national road network. It will also open up the Centre to far reaching development potential.

Your feedback is appreciated
Management and staff at Local Government FOCUS would like to thank readers who took the time to complete our 1998 Survey. Once again we received a range of responses from elected members and officers, across all States and Territories and from metropolitan and rural Councils.

Safer WA: a community approach
In August, during Local Government Week, an agreement was signed by the then President of the Western Australian Municipal Association (WAMA), Ken Pech, and the Premier, Richard Court, acknowledging that both spheres of government have an important role to play in tackling crime in local communities. The 'Safer WA' agreement commits both spheres to work together to make communities safer.

Alcohol policy leads to better health and reduced crime
With twice the State average of alcohol consumption, the Shire of Broome in Western Australia decided to develop a policy to minimise problems stemming from alcohol abuse. Council's Community Development Unit, which oversees the policy, coordinated a community response to the problem. This led to the development and implementation of a comprehensive action plan.

CCT the other side of the ledger
In the October '98 edition of Local Government FOCUS a report from the 'CT 1998 Competing Solutions' Conference gave the reader the impression that compulsory competitive tendering had been an unqualified success, producing unprecedented efficiencies and improvements to Council services. Closer scrutiny of the CCT juggernaut in Victoria, however, allows plenty of room for another general conclusion.

Cost effective water filtration
Crow's Nest Shire Council recently completed construction of its second water treatment plant which will filter water for the 1,300 residents of Crow's Nest township. The facility was designed and constructed by Council staff.

CivicView for the new millennium
The City of Caloundra, one of Australia's fastest growing centres, after an exhaustive evaluation of available Local Government software packages, has chosen the CivicView product from Insight Informatics.

Low cost promotion
Self promotion can create a more positive and cooperative attitude in the community and higher morale and productivity internally. However, small Councils simply do not have the same level of resources to devote to promotion as big City Councils. But, there are many low cost methods of achieving the same results as a public relations department.

Learning based on real life experience rather than theory
The City of Unley in South Australia has developed a management training manual which reverses the common teaching method by beginning with a real life situation rather than theoretical examples.

Automated purchasing
With the introduction of the ANZ Visa Purchasing Card your Council can now streamline its current purchasing methods.

Small Shires share and save
Tammin and Kellerberrin Shires in Western Australia have set out to overcome some of the problems faced by small Councils through an innovative sharing agreement. With the intention of maintaining excellence in service provision and client satisfaction, the two Councils have integrated their financial services to achieve cost reductions and better productivity for both organisations.

Staff empowerment means 'doing better business'
Faced with implementing the numerous changes taking place in Local Government, together with a major restructure, Rockhampton City Council acted to offset the uncertainty, suspicion and potential for low morale that major change can create among staff.

WAMA's inaugural best practice awards
The Town of Kwinana, the Shire of Swan and the City of Bunbury recently won the Alcoa of Australia Leadership in Best Practice Award in the inaugural 1998 Western Australian Municipal Association Awards for Best Practice in Local Government.

Message from the Minister
Welcome to this special issue of National Perspective. I am delighted to present to you the winners of The National Awards for Innovation in Local Government for 1998.

About the Awards
The National Awards for Innovation in Local Government (NAILG) are a Commonwealth Government program established to foster and acknowledge continuous improvement and innovation in the local government sector. The Awards offer the opportunity to raise awareness and disseminate information about alternative and 'smarter' ways of delivering outcomes and services to the community.

1998 Winners and Entrants
For a full list of 1998 winners and entrants visit the NOLG website at www.nolg.gov.au