$25 million Local Government Reform Fund

Re: $25 million Local Government Reform Fund

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:05:17 +0000

I have also been thinking about how we can take advantage of this LG Reform Fund.
Is there any indication of who will administer it and who will approve projects and how projects should be presented?
In the debate surrounding the National Asset Management Framework and its subset in NSW - Integrated Planning and Reporting which includes Asset Management Planning & Reporting (as a key component), I have already recommended (at State level) that a few good, representative Councils should be chosen and they should attract significant funding to pioneer Good Asset Management Practice ('GAMP') in Local Governement - this would include (as you suggest) building appropriate templates and systems and checking out their applicability and functionality - completely documenting the procedures, practies and policies involved. A few leading lights with the where-for-all and the initiative to move forward at an appropriate pace (fast-track) and bring the rest along with them.
I saw the need for several participants across various Council sizes (e.g. large, medium, small) as requirements and capabilities differ significantly based on size and revenue base.
I saw Wingecarribee being an example of a medium sized Council (350 staff, 40,000 residents) and certainly with the entrepreneurial spirit to take a project like this forward with gusto. However I also saw the need for this to be a competitive process where the best team/Councils get the guernseys, once they have agreed to basic T&C including sharing/publishing the findings.

I am happy to start this initiative again. I am happy to work with others (of similar size). I am happy to be involved but would need a good reason (financial and technical) to take this initiative to the executive team here at WSC.
I am open to suggestions.

Re: $25 million Local Government Reform Fund

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:14:17 +0000

I've had a bit of a think about the above over the weekend, and I am going to try and write a submission advocating that the money be spent in a way that optimises the benefits to Councils, and doesn't just end up in the pockets of consultants and industry groups. Here is what I've got so far.

The National Asset Management Framework should incorporate;

Open standards for asset registers, that clearly specify naming conventions, table structures, etc. The standards should take into account all State & Federal Government reporting requirements, and ensure that data can be easily imported and exported between compliant Asset Management Software Systems.
Free, open & universally accessible Asset Management Plan templates for all asset classes.
Free, open & universally accessible Asset Management Manuals. These should not be PDF copies of word documents, they should be constantly updated web based versions, suitably indexed & hyper-linked to make it easy for Council Staff to find information quickly.
Support for the development of an open source asset management system capable of delivering a minimum level of asset management functionality.

Data collection and analysis.

All raw data collected should be published in an open format and made freely accessible to all interested parties.

The support for collaboration between Councils should include;

a Federal Government hosted or supported suite of web 2.0 collaboration tools, including wikis, social networks & wave servers.
education about the advantages of using Creative Commons licensing in Local Government.

$25 million Local Government Reform Fund

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:06:12 +0000

At the June 2009 Plenary Meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government a $25 million Local Government Reform Fund was announced.

The media release states that:

Over two years, the $25 million Local Government Reform Fund will:

* Assist councils implement new asset management and planning consistent with a national framework;
* Fund the collection and analysis of robust data about councils’ infrastructure assets; and
* Support collaboration between councils on a regional basis for service delivery and planning.