Legislative Council, Thursday 30 March 2023
Ms FORREST asked the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, Ms PALMER
With regard to the Future of Local Government Review that is being undertaken by the Local Government Board and commenced in January 2022, I note concerns have been raised with me that, although the review has been under way for more than one year and there has been a number of opportunities for input by councils, community and others, that the actual response to the review has been quite limited.
My questions to the Leader are:
Question 1. Outline the timeframe for the Future of Local Government Review from now until its completion including what further opportunities there will be for input by councils, the community and/or others?
Answer:
1 – timeline to completion and further engagement opportunities
• The Future of Local Government Review (the Review) formally commenced in January 2022. The independent Board, which is chaired by the Hon Sue Smith AM, is established, and operates under the relevant provisions of the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act).
• The Board is due to provide its second interim report to the Minister for Local Government at the end of Stage 2, on 31 March 2023. The Board published its first interim report in July 2022 and has recently concluded an extensive round of state-wide community engagement and consultation on a range of reform proposals published in its December 2022 Options Paper.
• While the Minister is yet to receive this Report, he expects that it will outline the Board’s engagement process for Stage 3. Just like in every other stage of this Review, the Government is confident that there will be dedicated engagement pathways for councils, staff and the broader community and stakeholders.
• Under the Terms of Reference, Stage 3 of the Review, which is the final stage, is scheduled to conclude on 30 June 2023. The Minister has recently received requests for extension to Stage 3 of the Review from both the Local Government Association Tasmania’s General Management Committee and the Local Government Board itself. The requests have broadly been made on the basis of ensuring extensive engagement opportunities are provided to stakeholders during Stage 3. The Minister will give consideration to this request once he has had an opportunity to review the interim report for Stage 2.
• Consistent with his approach for the previous interim report, the Minister for Local Government is committed to publicly releasing the report and he intends to do so in April 2023.
Question 2. With regard to the number of written submissions received:
a. How many written submissions were received from councils, community and others in each of the three rounds of consultation held so far on the Future of Local Government Review, noting not all submissions have been made public;
b. please confirm how many submissions were received and how many were made public for each round of consultation; and
c. please confirm which submissions were not made public?
Answer:
2 – submissions received and broader engagement:
• There have been a significant number of engagement opportunities provided to councils, the community and other stakeholders during the first two phases of the Review. The Government understands that this has resulted in the Board meeting with or hearing from over 4,000 community members, experts, organisations and peak bodies representing stakeholders, and members of the local government sector during the first two stages of the Review.
• Additionally, each engagement delivered by the Review, has been comprehensively advertised in news media, radio and social media. Social media advertising in particular has been seen by Tasmanians over 2 million times.
• It is expected, and makes sense that, as the Review has progressed and the potential scale of reform has become more ‘tangible’, public interest has grown. For this reason the Government expects the Board will again be proposing a comprehensive program of engagement in Stage 3 for a growing number of interested parties.
• At each major output (Stage 1, the release of the Stage 2 Interim Report, and the release of the December options paper), the Board has invited written submissions and opened surveys as part of broader engagement processes which have also included regional public meetings, local ‘pop up’ sessions, stakeholder and peak body workshops and focus groups. This has ensured the Board has heard from a broad cross-section of Tasmanians with different views, aspirations and lived experiences at each stage of the Review.
Receipt and publication of submissions:
• While written submissions are just one component of this multi-faceted engagement, all written submissions have been published on the Review’s website, with the exception of:
o Written submissions where the submitter has requested confidentiality, or where some content is deemed defamatory – in line with the Tasmanian Government Public Submissions Policy (seventeen not published for this reason).
o Survey submissions that have been received in large quantities in raw data format – instead these have been thematically analysed, with a number of reports transparently released on the Review’s website.
• The Government expects that written submissions on the December Options Paper received from December 2022 to the end of February 2023 will again be published with the Stage 2 Interim Report in April 2023, except in the above circumstances where the Submissions Policy applies.
• The Government understands for the main three engagement programs the Board has received:
o 184 detailed written submissions by email or post. This included 39 during Stage 1, 33 in response to the Stage 1 Interim Report, and 112 on the Options Paper. As stated all of these have been published where not confidential or defamatory. It is expected that the 112 Options Paper submissions will be published after April 2023.
o 725 online surveys. This included 475 surveys during Stage 1, 82 in response to the Stage 1 Interim Report, and 140 responses to the Options Paper. These have been thematically analysed, with a number of reports released on the Review’s website.
Council submissions:
• Council engagement has been a cornerstone of this Review, and the Government has been extremely pleased with how the sector has broadly acknowledged the need for change, and engaged openly and honestly with the Board.
• The Board has met with elected representatives and council General Managers and staff from all councils a number of times during the Review. Additionally, 28 of 29 councils have also provided a written submission to the Review during one or more of its stages:
o 12 councils made a submission on Stage 1 of the Review;
o 18 councils made a submission on the Stage 1 Interim Report; and
o 26 councils made a submission on the December Options Paper.
Other targeted submissions and engagement:
• The Minister has advised that in response to concerns around the degree to which a diverse and significant cohort of Tasmanian voices had been heard, the Board delivered a number of other targeted engagement programs:
o The Board conducted a survey of 475 Tasmanians aged 16 to 44 to understand how those who have the largest stake in the future of local government in Tasmania feel represented and heard by their council, and what they think the role of local government should be to address the issues they will face over the coming decades. This survey also had a statistically representative response rate over all LGAs.
o The Board has held four regional workshops with 61 participants and representatives from Tasmanian Aboriginal communities, to hear their views on how local government represents them, and their aspirations for the future of their communities.
o The Board further commissioned a statistically representative survey of 1000 Tasmanians across all Local Government Areas (LGAs) – to understand, with high confidence, the sentiments of the ‘everyday Tasmanian’, in relation to their councils and the issues facing their local area.
• The Minister expects that the Board, consistent with its approach to the Review in all other respects to date, will publish information in relation to these important engagements when the Interim Report is released for Stage 2.
• The Board has also worked constructively with key local government sector stakeholders to provide opportunity, and hear the perspectives of our elected members and local government staff:
o In Stage 1, the Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) facilitated a series of statewide workshops with 70 elected members and 150 council employees attending.
o Also in Stage 1, Local Government Professionals Tasmania (LG Pro) did a survey of 232 members on their sentiments on local government reform, providing the results to the Board in full by way of submission.
o In Stage 2, the Australian Services Union (ASU) did a survey of 157 members working in Tasmanian councils, providing a report on the results to the Board by way of submission.
• Importantly, the Board has also heard from numerous representative groups during its engagement processes, through submissions, workshops and broader peak-body forums. Some of these groups represent the interests of a large number of Tasmanians who rely on these groups to advocate for them – the significance of their numerous voices, should not be lost.
• The Board also engaged directly with 33 individuals with diverse views to test the full spectrum of potential reforms.
Question 3.
During February 2023, the Local Government Board held eight public meetings before public comment closed on its latest round of public consultation on the 19 February 2023.
a. How many people from the community attended each of the eight public meetings?
Answer:
3 – participation in regional meetings in support of the Options Paper:
• Following the release of the Board’s Options Paper on 14 December 2022, the Board launched an extensive 9-week public submissions process to allow stakeholders and community members alike to explore the proposed reform options being presented in detail.
• To enable broad engagement with the options, the Board also delivered a series of regional engagement sessions in February and March 2023 – hosting a total of 34 sessions – 28 in person sessions in 10 locations and 6 online sessions. This included 11 for elected representatives, 11 for council staff, and 12 for members of the public.
• The Minister for Local Government understands these sessions were deliberately held outside major cities to provide genuine opportunity for those in rural and regional areas, who have traditionally faced barries to participating in online engagements. Notwithstanding this, a number of sessions were also held within very close commuting distance (10-15 minutes) to our major cities, including in Longford, Ulverstone, Sorell and Kingston. Furthermore, multiple online sessions were administered by Board members.
• In total, 473 people attended these meetings. The Minister is advised that, consistent with the Board’s approach to date, it intends to publish a detailed report on these meetings with the Interim Report in April 2023.
Question 4.
As no update briefing for Legislative Council Members has been provided to date, will the Government:
a. undertake to arrange a full briefing to members on the final report that is to be presented to the Minister; and
b. Ensure that the briefing is completed with ample time for members to consider its content prior to the Minister making any decisions in response to it?
Answer:
4 - Briefing Legislative Council
• This Government considers it extremely important that all Members of Parliament engage with the Review, considering their roles as leaders in their community, and especially as many have direct experience and knowledge in local government in Tasmania and the Minister will ensure that all Members of Parliament are kept fully informed.
• To support this, members in this place have been encouraged on multiple occasions to take an interest in the Review, and to raise awareness and understanding of the Review in their communities.
• At each major stage of the Review, the Chair of the Local Government Board, or the Local Government Minister of the day, has enclosed correspondence to MPs, including Members of Legislative Council, or the entire Legislative Council, to provide updates, enclose critical documents or offer a briefing with the Board. Specifically, I note the following correspondence:
o a letter to all non-Government members was sent from the then Minister for Local Government, the Hon Michael Ferguson MP in March 2022, inviting a briefing from the Board on the Review.
o a letter to all non-Government members was sent from the Minister for Local Government in July 2022 enclosing the Stage 1 Interim Report and noting the critical role of members in raising the awareness of the Report and encouraging your constituents to have their say.
o a letter to the Hon Craig Farrell MLC was sent from the Chair of the Board on 28 November 2022 advising of the imminent December Options Paper release and inviting a briefing with the Legislative Council.
• Only one member in this place has to date taken up the offer to be briefed.
• However, given the spirit in which the Board has undertaken this Review, the Minister can confirm that further briefings will be offered to all members in this place, when the Interim Report for Stage 2 is released.
• In the meantime, I would encourage all members to maintain an open mind, and promote and participate in a genuine, constructive community conversation, as this Board has endeavoured to do since its establishment.
Question 5
Will the final report from the Local Government Board be tabled in Parliament before final recommendations are agreed by Government and decisions made?
Answer:
5 – process at the conclusion of the Review
• At the conclusion of the formal Review the Board will hand its Final Report to the Minister for Local Government, outlining its findings, recommendations and if applicable, relevant transition arrangements.
• Under the Local Government Act 1993, the Minister is required to consult with all councils impacted by any Board recommendations, and he will do so accordingly.
• After considering any submissions, it is open to the Minister to accept or reject any or all of the Board's recommendations. He may also request the Board reconsider any or all of its recommendations or refer to the Board any alterations to its report requested by a council.
• Matters beyond those defined in the Act may require specific legislative support or amendment to implement.
• The Government has been resolute in giving the independent Board the appropriate space and latitude to undertake its important work without engaging in a running commentary on how the Government may or may not accept or implement recommendations that the Board may or may not make.
• Whatever the Board recommends, the Minister for Local Government has committed to publishing the final report and will of course ensure that copies are provided to members in this place at that time.
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