Welcome to Councillor News

Councillor News is a monthly newsletter service that has been initiated by Hallmark Editions, the publisher of the quarterly Councillor Magazine for Australia's elected members. In appreciation of your council's support in subscribing to Councillor Magazine, Hallmark Editions is pleased to provide councillors with this monthly news update to alert them to significant news and information.

There is no charge to receive this newsletter, and we hope that you will find it a useful source of information. If you have any difficulties with the newsletter's HTML format, please email Drew Buckley on drew.buckley@halledit.com.au.

Councillor News is edited by Ben Hutchison, email benh@halledit.com.au. Any feedback you may care to make about this newsletter would be greatly appreciated.

© Copyright 2007 Hallmark Editions.

Coalition pledges extra half a billion for councils’ roads program

The allocation would see the amount of money committed to the Strategic Regional Program jump from $300 million to $850 million over a six-year period starting from 2008-2009.

The Coalition has released costings for the first three years of the re-jigged program. Under the enhanced program, $118 million would be distributed to road projects in 2008-2009, $101 million in 2009-2010 and $100 million in 2010-2011.

A spokesperson for Federal Transport Minister, Mark Vaile, said the remainder of the $850 million funding commitment – about $530 million - would be allocated across the remaining three financial years of the Coalition’s six-year funding period, which would run from 2011-2012 to 2013-2014.

The road projects of regional councils have received the vast bulk of funding through the Strategic Regional program since it was launched in 2004. The program is designed to support transport infrastructure projects that boost regional economies through means such as enhancing freight routes.

Until the Coalition’s recent funding announcement, the Strategic Regional Program’s next funding distributions were due to be two $150 million funding rounds, to be held in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012.

The boost to the Strategic Regional Program is a key element of the Coalition’s newly-released local roads policy.

Under the policy, a re-elected Howard Government would also fund a new, national Development Roads program, which would invest $300 million in the upgrade of key roads and highways in rural and remote areas of Australia over the next six years.

The policy also re-iterated the Coalition’s pledges, announced earlier this year, to in 2009-2010 increase the amount of funds annually distributed through the Roads to Recovery program from $307.5 million to $350 million, and to lift the annual amount of funding distributed through the Black Spot program from $45 million to $60 million. The Labor Party has yet to release its local roads funding policy.

For a copy of the Coalition’s new local roads policy, visit here.

Councils able to apply for grants under Labor’s $1b fund for water projects

The ALP’s ‘$1 Billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan’ would see tax credits and grants provided to local governments, state and territory governments and the private sector to implement approved water recycling, desalination and major storm water capture projects.

Councils would be able to submit proposals for funding assistance to Labor’s proposed national infrastructure development agency, Infrastructure Australia, until the end of June 2009. Any projects submitted by local governments would be assessed with regard to supporting state and territory governments to implement national water reforms.

If elected, Labor would provide a 10% Commonwealth income tax credit, capped at $100 million per project, to cover the up-front capital costs of water infrastructure projects.

The plan would support water infrastructure proposals that can be shown to provide additional water capacity, or that significantly bring forward the construction of approved water infrastructure projects.

Projects supported under the scheme would need to be delivered in the most cost-effective manner, which could include projects implemented through public-private partnerships.

Fast-growth council alliance slams parties’ lack of funding

The National Growth Areas Alliance, which has a membership base of 30 councils, is lobbying the parties to commit to providing $3.1 billion of financial support over the next 15 years to rapid-growth local government areas.

The alliance’s national spokesperson, City of Armadale Mayor Linton Reynolds, says communities within fast-growth councils “have a right to feel insulted” over the lack of funding offered to them so far in the election campaign period.

He says party leaders are visiting fast-growth communities during the course of their campaigning, but have so far pledged little funding to address the communities’ growth-related needs.

Cr Reynolds says that, at the half-way point of the election campaign period, the campaign “has been a let-down for us”, and that that the alliance has so far received only “lip service” from the major parties instead of tangible funding commitments.

For more information about the alliance’s ‘Fund the Gap’ campaign visit http://www.fundthegap.org. For more information about the alliance itself, visit http://www.ngaa.org.au.

Labor confirms it would retain existing local roads funding programs

However, a spokesperson for the Shadow Minister for Transport and Roads Minister, Martin Ferguson, would not confirm when the party would release details of the amount of funding it would commit to Commonwealth local road programs if it wins power.

The Coalition recently unveiled its local roads policy, which included a commitment to increase the amount of money allocated to councils through the Strategic Regional Program from $300 million to $850 million over a six-year period starting from 2008-2009.

Mr Ferguson’s spokesperson would only confirm that Labor would continue to fund local roads through programs such as Roads to Recovery, the Black Spot Program and the Strategic Regional Program.

Financial modelling tool helps convey impact of financial decisions

Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s computer-based financial model allows financial staff to enter the cost of projects into an Excel spreadsheet and have the analysis displayed in graphs, which have immediate visual impact and are easily understood by councillors.

The program is being used by the council’s financial staff as part of their management planning workshops with councillors.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s Manager of Finance, Brendan Hollands, says the program provides great assistance for financial staff in demonstrating the long-term impact of financial decisions by turning complex fiscal processes into simple concepts easily understood by people who do not have a financial background.

Using the program, financial staff are able to enter various cost figures involved in council projects and the councillors can see the impact of the differing cost estimations on the council’s long-term financial position. This allows the councillors to make better informed decisions regarding council projects.

The computer program is able to generate graphs of the council’s overall financial position, as well as for individual business units.

The program was developed by KPMG’s Hobart office in consultation with Goulburn Mulwaree Council, which helped to adapt the financial modelling components to suit its organisation’s needs.

The council this year presented the program at the NSW Local Government Finance Professionals conference, where some interest was received from other NSW councils about implementing the program within their own organisations.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council recently won the NSW division of Local Government Managers Australia’s ‘Governance Excellence within Local Government’ merit award for its financial modelling program.

For more information contact Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s Director of Corporate Services, Dirk Holwerda, on (02) 4823 4426.

Local Government initiatives to be revealed at Ageing Community conference

Christine Young, from the City of Melville in Perth, for example, will outline to the conference how her council participated in the World Health Organisation Global Age Friendly Cities Guide. Christine will also discuss how the City of Melville used the findings of this research and guide to develop its own “positive ageing” strategy.

Local government managers and councillors, concerned about the social and economic impact of providing aged care services and infrastructure within communities, will have a unique opportunity to learn from the experiences and strategies being pursued by councils across Australia at the Local Responses to an Ageing Community Conference. It will focus heavily on case studies to enable delegates to draw important lessons to enhance the welfare of their own communities.

Expert speakers include: Dr Jo-Anne Everingham, Research Officer, Australasian Centre on Ageing at the University of Queensland; Sam Murphy, Director, Knight Frank National Health and Aged Care; Pat Sparrow, National Policy Officer, Aged & Community Services Australia; Ted Adams, Director, Smith + Tracey Architects; and Tina Beltramin, Program Manager, Manningham City Council and winner of a National Award for Local Government in 2006.

Delegates will also have the opportunity to hear about excellence in HACC service delivery, public transport accessibility options, health and wellbeing programs and built environment solutions. The conference will examine the mechanisms for local government to foster partnerships with aged care providers and it will also provide an opportunity to network with aged and community services managers in local government from all parts of the country. For more information visit www.halledit.com.au/conferences/ageing/2007.

New guide to managing the performance of a council's General Manager

The guidelines offer advice to councils on how to encourage and reward good performance by GMs and what to do in cases of under-performance.

The guidelines also outline how a council can work with a General Manager to devise a performance management agreement and how a GM’s performance can be accurately monitored and reviewed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Several model performance agreements are included within the guidelines.

The guidelines have been devised by the state’s Department of Local Government in consultation with the Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW and Local Government Managers Australia.

The need to develop the performance management guidelines was realised during the development by the department and local government peak bodies of a standard contract of employment for General Managers, which was released in mid 2006.

A copy of the new performance management guidelines is available here.

Tribunal established to oversee remuneration of Qld councillors

The new Local Government Remuneration Tribunal will finalise its first remuneration settings by December 1.

Adrian Bloomfield, the Deputy President of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, will chair the tribunal.

The other two members of the tribunal are:
- Helen Gluer, CEO of Tarong Energy, who has 25 years experience in the banking, finance and infrastructure sectors; and
- Di McCauley, a former member of the Queensland Parliament from 1986 to 1998 and a former Minister for Local Government and Planning.

On an annual basis, the tribunal will prepare a remuneration schedule recommending salary levels for elected officials. It will also decide on remuneration categories of local governments and then assign each local government to a category.

Councils and community groups are able to lodge submissions to the tribunal as part of its remuneration-setting process. Submissions must be lodged by November 14.

For more information about the tribunal, including how to lodge a submission, visit http://www.localgovernment.qld.gov.au/?id=6526.

Maroochy Council wins the top accolade for Economic Development

With one in five jobs within Maroochy dependent on the tourist sector, the council moved quickly to counter a fall in the number of people visiting the Sunshine Coast by launching the ‘Discover Maroochy’ marketing campaign across a range of media.

The impact of the campaign resulted in an increase of $225 million in tourist spending the following year, a result that the Chairman of the EDA, David Keenan, described as “a superb example of how local government can positively benefit the local business community”.

Mr Keenan congratulated the eight category winners of the 2007 Economic Development Excellence awards, commenting that the “range of creative activities being undertaken by councils really does underscore just how closely local government works with their local business community”.

The Mayor of Ipswich, Cr Paul Pisasale, was judged to have been the leading elected member in demonstrating leadership in economic development, while the City of Salisbury’s Economic Development Manager, David Penfold, won the accolade as the outstanding economic development official in local government.

The winners of the other categories were: the Local Government Association of Queensland; Gold Coast City Council; the South Eastern NSW Area Consultative Committee and the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley.

The Awards were presented at a Gala Dinner attended by more than 250 representatives of local government across Australia. The Awards were part of the annual National Economic Development Conference held in Sydney.

For more details about the Awards, please visit the Economic Development Australia website www.edaustralia.com.au

Council seeks to partner with the private sector to redevelop town centre

Earlier this year, the New South Wales council agreed to investigate entering into an innovative public-private partnership arrangement to develop and revitalise at least one of three council-owned sites in the Springwood town centre.

By redeveloping the town centre, the council aims to create an economically viable and diverse commercial and retail centre, as well as maintaining and enhancing the community facilities and services offered in the town centre.

The proposed revitalisation project involves the potential redevelopment of council-owned land that is presently used for car parking, an early childhood centre, public toilets, a neighbourhood centre and library.

Expressions of interest from private developers to the New South Wales council for the town centre redevelopment close on December 14.

Following the close of submissions, Blue Mountains City Council will evaluate the expressions of interest and a shortlist of potential candidates may then be invited to submit detailed proposals for the sites.

A report evaluating the expressions of interest is expected to be completed by the end of March 2008. For more information about the expressions of interest process visit the council’s website here.

Maroochy boosts tourism through integrated marketing campaign

Maroochy, located on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, developed the marketing campaign in partnership with local experts and regional tourism bodies following a decline in tourist numbers to the region at the beginning of 2006.

Tourism accounts for about 20% of the Maroochy region’s total employment and the decrease in tourism activity was viewed by the council as a concern for economic development in the region.

As part of an integrated marketing campaign, the council developed the website discovermaroochy.com.au, as well as creating two new targeted tourism brochures highlighting the diversity and natural attractions of the region. The advertising campaign also included extensive press, cinema and radio advertising, signage and public relations activities in local, national and international markets.

The discovermaroochy.com.au website provides potential visitors with information such as contact details of accommodation providers and details of regional events. There are also plans to add, by the end of this year, features such as interactive maps and a holiday planner that provides users with a suggested itinerary in line with criteria the user enters into the website.

According to the council, its integrated marketing approach helped realise the injection of $225 million into Maroochy’s regional economy by the end of 2006, and saw the Sunshine Coast gain an extra 7.1 per cent stake in the Queensland tourism market’s expenditure and visitation.

Maroochy Shire Council Mayor, Joe Natoli, says tourism contributes $564 million to the regional economy annually, and that the marketing campaign has generated “excellent” enquiries and business opportunities for the council’s industry partners in the campaign, and has helped raise Maroochy’s profile as a holiday destination.

The council’s discovermaroochy.com.au tourism marketing arm recently won the Best Overall Economic Development Excellence Award at Economic Development Australia’s 2007 National Economic Development Conference.

For more information, contact David Hopper, Tourism Marketing & Planning at Maroochy Shire Council at hopperd@maroochy.qld.gov.au, or visit http://www.discovermaroochy.com.au.

Council election campaign tactics and trends to be analysed in ‘Councillor’

With New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland to hold council elections next year and WA only recently convening municipal polls, the upcoming December edition of ‘Councillor’ will contain a timely investigation of the campaign methods being employed by candidates and other trends that are occurring in council election races.

The December edition will also feature full coverage of the 2007 National General Assembly of Local Government as well as analysis of the outcome of the November federal election and its ramifications for local government.

Other articles to be featured will include: Salisbury City Council’s successful efforts to attract new businesses to the municipality; Hindmarsh Shire Council’s innovative strategy to address the needs of its ageing residential population; and Banyule City Council’s ground-breaking project to revitalise the economic and social fabric of one of its key suburbs.

For more information about Councillor Magazine contact Denise at Hallmark Editions on (03) 8534 5000, email denise.mcqueen@halledit.com.au or visit http://www.halledit.com.au.

Gold Coast developing a 20-year growth management strategy

The council’s strategy will seek to address the needs of the municipality’s growing population while protecting the city’s open spaces and conservation areas by limiting urban development to just over 37% of the city’s present total area.

The strategy also aims to expand recreation and public transport opportunities, encourage housing variety, respond to climate change and support biodiversity

The strategy will feed into the council’s 30-year ‘Bold Future’ plan for the Gold Coast’s future environmental, economic and social sustainability, which is presently being developed using extensive community consultation.

Gold Coast’s newly-released draft version of its growth management strategy anticipates that, by 2026, the city will support an additional 248,595 residents. To accommodate this growth the strategy proposes to provide almost 150,000 additional residential dwellings in that timeframe.

Gold Coast City Councillor, Grant Pforr, says the strategy will help the council maximise the opportunities that arise from growth, such as economic development, better transport and quality infrastructure.

The development of the growth management strategy is legally required by the Queensland Government of all councils in state’s south-east. Local growth management strategies are presently being prepared by other south-east Queensland councils to underpin the State Government’s regional plan.

According to Cr Pforr, south-east Queensland is the fastest-growing region in Australia, with more than 1000 people moving to the area each week. It is anticipated that the Gold Coast, in its current boundaries, will accommodate more than 20% of the region’s growth by 2026.

To view the Gold Coast city Council’s draft ‘Local Growth Management Strategy’, visit here.

Ballarat looks to become more child and family-friendly

The regional Victorian council’s ‘Child and Family Friendly Consultation Project’ received responses from 1071 people, with the results providing overwhelming support for the idea that Ballarat become more child and family-friendly.

The respondents identified key principles of a child and family-friendly city as one that: has a community attitude that engages in fulfilling the rights of children and their family; ensures children and families have access to and receive affordable services such as health and education; that builds an environment that considers the needs of children and families; that provides flexible workplace environments that meet child and family needs; and that is safe.

A report on the findings of the consultation, containing a total of 56 recommendations, has been endorsed by the council.

Ballarat City Council is now working to implement the report’s recommendations, which include: establishing a parent advisory committee to inform the council’s decision making processes on issues relating to children and families; and ensuring the implications for family and children are considered in all planning and project proposals as a standard part of council planning and reporting.

The report also recommends that the council partner with local service providers and Victorian Government departments to undertake a number of initiatives in areas such as health, education, youth and public transport.

In June this year, the council was recognised for its extensive community consultation on becoming a child and family-friendly city when it was added to the UNICEF ‘Child Friendly Cities’ website.

UNICEF’s criteria for a child-friendly city include: providing safe drinking water and sanitation; the ability to participate in cultural and social events; and allowing children the opportunity to influence decisions about their city.

Ballarat City Council was highly commended for its child and family-friendly city initiative in the ‘Creating more family and child-friendly communities’ category at the Victorian Government-sponsored ‘Early Years’ awards.

For more information, contact Ballarat City Council’s Manager Family Youth & Children's Service, Anne Scott, on 03 5320 5751 or visit here.

Councils establish jobs website to tackle regional skills shortage

Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Nambucca Shire councils recently launched the ‘Coffs Coast Jobs’ website, an online database that matches skilled people with local businesses and employment agencies in order to fill skilled job vacancies.

The website was developed to try to overcome a slow-down in economic growth that has gripped the region as a result of the skills shortage being felt by communities across Australia.

Coffs Harbour City Council Economic Development Manager, Jenny Olman, says the councils involved in creating the website acknowledge that attracting new residents of working age to provide the region’s employers with appropriate skills is “a key driver of economic sustainability”.

The online service works by jobseekers registering their details and skill areas on the website. Local businesses looking to fill a specific skill vacancy must register their details with the website to gain access to browse the database of skilled employees.

Registered businesses also receive an email outlining the profile of any new jobseeker profiles that have been entered online in the skills area the business is seeking to fill.

If a business wishes to contact a registered jobseeker, they can send an email to the jobseeker and request that the registered person contact them. Any personal details of the jobseeker that are registered online are not made available to the businesses.

The website has so far received registrations from 10 businesses and 95 jobseekers. For more information, visit http://www.coffscoastjobs.com.au/.

Moreland embarks upon $1b urban renewal project

Described by the council as one of Melbourne’s most unique and ambitious urban renewal projects, it is expected to involve construction of about 1500 new residential dwellings and significant new commercial and retail developments in the centre of the suburb.

Dubbed ‘The Coburg Initiative’, the project will also aim to improve public transport access to the suburb and enhance community facilities.

Moreland City Council expects the redevelopment of central Coburg to create more than 500 new permanent jobs within the suburb.

The council has already developed a detailed structure plan that is intended to serve as a guide for future capital works and service delivery in Coburg.

The expression of interest process will not only be used by the council to identify potential project developers, but also to gather ideas from developers about how the renewal could proceed and the mix of development projects that could potentially be undertaken.

In order to give momentum to the project and help spark interest from prospective developers, the council is prepared to contribute a 10 hectare parcel of land that it currently owns within central Coburg to the redevelopment process.

Another key aim of the council’s is to ensure the renewal of central Coburg while retaining the suburb’s unique character traits, which include food and retail outlets that reflect the area’s multiculturalism.

Expressions of interest from prospective developers must be lodged with the council by February 14, 2008. For more information about The Coburg Initiative visit http://www.coburginitiative.com.au.

SA council successfully engages community

The City of Onkaparinga uses an approach to community engagement that involves: informing its residents of decisions being made by the council; consulting with the community and gaining residents’ input on the council’s decisions; involving the community in the planning and implementation of pending council decisions; and collaborating with residents to better understand their needs and concerns.

The council is one of several Australian local governments to base its community engagement framework on the International Association for Public Participation’s (IAP2) model for community engagement, which includes processes for identifying relevant issues, making decisions to address them, and sharing the results of joint council and community decision-making.

According to City of Onkaparinga Mayor, Lorraine Rosenberg, the council has integrated these community engagement principles into its everyday business since the establishment of a dedicated community engagement unit within the council in June 2006.

The council’s community engagement framework outlines a number of methods that can be used to help residents become involved in the council’s decision-making processes, including: information sessions, community forums, information mail-outs, surveys and questionnaires, telephone discussions, workshops and taskforces.

The council also collaborates with the community using “citizen juries”, where a group of residents are taught about an issue, follow debate about it and make recommendations for its resolution, and “design-in” sessions where interested residents can have an input into a project’s design.

The community engagement framework was successfully used by the council in developing the Willunga Town Square project, where community members were involved in planning the project, including design, community consultation and seeking funding partners. The project has been recognised as a model for best practice by the South Australian Local Government Association, who included it in its ‘Community Engagement Showcase’, released earlier this year.

The council has recently won the Best Policy Framework Award at the IAP2’s 2007 Core Values Awards, where it was recognised for its innovative techniques and solutions for community engagement. For more information, visit here.

Announcement of national local government award winners delayed

The winners of the annual awards were to be announced in October at a ceremony in Canberra, however the event has been cancelled.

The awards are coordinated by the Federal Department of Transport and Regional Services, which has decided it must delay the awards’ announcement due to the government being in caretaker mode as a result of the setting of the federal election on November 24.

The department fears that, by announcing the award winners, it may breach caretaker conventions that require Commonwealth departments to avoid promoting government policies or politicians.

While the award winners will be announced some time after the election is held, the date of the announcement has yet to be set. Details of the award winners are to be posted on the awards’ website http://www.dotars.gov.au/local/awards/index.aspx.

The winners of the awards could be announced by the department at the Australian Local Government Association’s annual National General Assembly of Local Government, which is to be held in Darwin just after the election.

The awards’ overall national winners will be selected from councils that were the winners of the competition’s category awards, which were announced earlier this year.

Developer levy cuts could leave some NSW councils at breaking point

Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Planning has issued more detailed information about the reforms within a departmental circular available here.

At the Local Government Association of New South Wales’ recent annual conference, council delegates called on the State Government to delay the implementation of the developer contribution reforms until further consultation with local government can occur.

The association’s President, Genia McCaffery, says councils across the state are concerned that the levy cuts will lead to community infrastructure such as libraries and community centres being unable to be built in new residential areas.

Delegates attending the conference also called on the State Government to enter into a “strong and binding” intergovernmental agreement with local government.

The Iemma Government’s recently-announced reforms will immediately impact upon councils in designated growth centres on Sydney’s metropolitan fringe, where developer contribution levies will be slashed by more than 30%. The reforms will be progressively introduced in councils across the state.

Regulations controlling developer contribution systems are being amended immediately, while legislation underpinning the changes will be introduced in NSW Parliament early next year.

A key element of the reforms is that future developer levies collected within growth centre local governments will not be held by the council, but instead will be held in trust by the State Government. The funds will be spent on infrastructure programs agreed upon by councils and the State Government.

NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, recently announced that the levies placed on developers by councils within growth centres will be reduced by between 30% to 40% - from an average charge on a new home of $45,000 to less than $30,000.

Interim report released on SA local government election process

The interim report contains discussion on potential ways to improve the local government election process, voter participation and representation on local government.

The review has so far identified a range of issues for consideration, including: whether to introduce compulsory voting in local government elections and, if so, whether it should be introduced for the 2010 election or postponed until after the 2010 election; whether to require councils to have a pre-election caretaker period; and the preferential voting system.

A number of other issues were also highlighted for consideration and further consultation, including: election promotion; how to reach voters who cannot read English; strategies to attract members of under-represented groups to nominate for election; and strengthening the powers of the Electoral Commissioner to deal with misleading or inaccurate election material.

The interim report also raises the issue of whether or not mayoral candidates should be required to have previous experience as a councillor.

The review was jointly commissioned by the South Australian Government and the SA Local Government Association and is being conducted by independent reviewer, Margaret Wagstaff.

Further public comment on the report must be submitted by November 23. Feedback will then be used to help compile a final report, which will contain specific recommendations.

The interim report is now available and can be accessed via the review’s website www.localgovt.sa.gov.au/electionsreview.

Elections see 13 WA local governments fail to fill council positions

President of the Local Government Association of Western Australia, Bill Mitchell, says he believes the 13 councils are all country councils where many potential candidates are fighting to get their businesses through the drought, preventing them from serving on a council.

The 13 councils will be required to hold extraordinary elections within the next three months to try to fill council positions that were not nominated for in the October 20 elections.

Across the state, about 50% of council positions at the elections were uncontested, while about 39% of all candidates were women.

Voting in local government elections is not compulsory in Western Australia, and an analysis of postal votes shows a drop in voter turnout from an average of about 38% to 32%.

For the first time, WA’s local government elections employed a preferential or proportional voting system for candidates, where voters were required to mark ballot papers to show a preference order for all candidates. Voters who failed to do so registered an informal vote.

Cr Mitchell says when the full analysis of election results is completed, the amount of informal votes could be as high as 10%.

Cr Mitchell says if this is the case, a low voter turnout combined with a higher than normal informal vote means that an even smaller percentage of the eligible voting population has determined who gets elected to council.

Cr Mitchell says the new voting system resulted in candidates running in factions and alliances, resulting in more personal campaign methods that may have deterred some people from voting in the elections.

WA Government to act over call for tightening of councillor conduct laws

WA’s Corruption and Crime Commission recommended an overhaul of the state’s councillor conduct regulations in its report into a controversial development project at Yallingup.

The report found that the company seeking to undertake the project paid more than $47,000 to candidates participating in local council elections in 2005 that were sympathetic to the project, and also attempted to delay a new town planning scheme so the development could be assessed under less strict conditions.

The commission said it had found evidence of misconduct against three local councillors, a former State Government minister and three senior public servants.

The report also contained a number of recommended reforms for the wider WA local government sector.

WA Local Government Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich says that, as a result of the commission’s recommendations, she has asked WA’s Department of Local Government to provide her with advice on how current guidelines and legislation controlling councillor conduct can be strengthened. This includes how current State Government-issued guidelines for councillor relationships with developers, released in April 2006, can be tightened and formalised.

Ms Ravlich says she has also sought advice on the potential introduction of regulations that would enable councillors subject to misconduct inquiries to step down from their positions until the outcome of such inquiries are known.

She says the department will also be investigating the potential introduction of mandatory induction programs for elected members.

The Western Australian Local Government Association has declared the corruption commission’s recommendations to be largely out of date, as a new state-wide tribunal system for councillors was already formalised in late October.

Under the new system, the State Administrative Tribunal will be handed the power to review serious breaches of councillor conduct, while a state-wide standards panel will be established to deal with complaints about minor breaches.

The tribunal will be able to set penalties, including the ability to suspend councillors from office for a period of up to six months and to disqualify an elected member from holding office in any local government for up to five years.

The Corruption and Crime Commission’s report is available here.