President's Report - February 2024

Welcome to the first edition of LGAT News for 2024. I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year.

It was a very busy end to 2023 for our sector and LGAT. We had submissions due in the closing weeks of December and in early January on a number of important areas. This included feedback to the Office of Local Government (OLG) on the best practice guide for the recruitment and performance management of general managers and the managing conflicts of interest framework.

The other key submission was on the Development Assessment Panels (DAP) framework.

The contrast between the engagement process for each of these policies couldn’t have been starker. For the guide for general manager recruitment and the managing interests framework, the OLG undertook some good early engagement, variously involving workshops with Mayors and a reference group of senior council officers to inform the development of the draft documents.

Unfortunately, LGAT and the entire local government sector were very disappointed at the absence of consultation that led to the announcement of the DAP framework. Local government is not just another player in the development space, but the primary regulator and mediator of growth and change in the state and is central to planning policy.

We made the point in our submission of the importance of appropriate and early engagement, and it will also be a key part of our feedback on the proposed Charter in the Final Report of the Future of Local Government Review (Recommendation 2). The Local Government Charter offers an opportunity to define local and State Government’s shared responsibilities for public service outcomes, principles for engagement, and the obligations of each when delivering community services and legislative responsibilities.

You can read our full submissions on LGATs reports and submissions webpage.

As this edition goes to print LGAT's CEO, Dion Lester, will have just completed the regional workshops with General Managers and Mayors on the Future of Local Government Review. The sessions offered an opportunity for leaders in our sector to discuss the final recommendations from the Local Government Board with the Review team and also to provide feedback to inform LGAT's submission.

I look forward to seeing many of you at LGAT's first statewide event for the year, the joint Mayors and Deputy Mayors workshop on 13 March in Hobart.