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International profile for LG in South Australia

The newly formed South Australian Local Government Consulting Group has won tenders for two international projects, working with the Governments of the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The tendering successes are a triumph for the Government Services Export Unit set up to bring export dollars into the State. Together the two projects are worth over half a million dollars.

GSEU General Manager D'arcy Walsh said South Australia has extraordinary strength in Local Government and is ideally placed to provide this assistance. The first project, The Philippines Australia Short Term Training Program (PASST), involved training in policy writing and development for the Philippines Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

As part of the program, 15 Philippine Government officers travelled to South Australia for a comprehensive benchmarking tour. Council hosts included the Cities of Charles Sturt and Adelaide, the Rural City of Murray Bridge and the Barossa Council. The four Councils provided the group with numerous examples of best practice in the governance of local communities and inter government relations.

These included the Capital City Act determining the relations between the State and Adelaide City Council, Charles Sturt's Strategic Planning Process and Barossa Council's environmental management of its world renowned wine producing region. Integrated policy requirements for tourism, economic development and effective river management were appropriately demonstrated at Murray Bridge in the highly enjoyable forum of a houseboat cruise.

Director of DILG Roberto Abejero said the study tour had been a great experience. "This has been a fantastic opportunity," he said. "We hope to compare your system to our own, implementing appropriate strategies where possible to improve governance and quality of life in the Philippines."

The visitors were impressed by the level of cooperation between different spheres of government in Australia, the relative smoothness of the recent amalgamation process in South Australia and the involvement of Councils in environmental matters.

The second project, a year long program to assist the Sri Lankan National Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government in its relations with Provincial and Local Government, was won from an international field. City of Prospect City Manager, Michael Llewellyn-Smith is part of the team working on this project which commenced in March.

He said Local Government in Sri Lanka felt it had lost its direct line with the National Government in the late 80s when Provincial Governments had been established. "We will be offering advice for capacity building to improve organisational structures and cooperation between the different spheres of Government," he said.

For further information contact Project Manager Local Government Consulting, Geoff Sheridan, telephone (08) 8232 2400

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