City of Melbourne gets lean and keen

By Kate Jackson The City of Melbourne was in the spotlight following the Australasian Lean Thinking and Practice Summit, held in Melbourne in May 2013. More than 200 people came to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to hear Dr Jim Womack, the founder of the Lean movement, and numerous other speakers, to learn how […]

What Australians want from urban planning and design

By Mark Bruzzone* The concept of ‘liveable cities’ has become an increasingly used term when talking about planning and designing urban areas. The desire to tackle challenges such as population growth, climate change, urban sprawl and natural disasters whilst delivering a high quality of sustainable living for Australians has become a key objective of both […]

Training councillors to become better leaders

The Centre for Local Government at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has lessons to offer on how elected representatives can stay well on course. The role of a councillor has always been a challenging one – balancing council rules, policies and procedures with the expectations of constituents who expect high quality service at a […]

Public amenities not flushed with cash

By John Willoughby* The issue of public toilets may not be the most glamorous procurement and policy topic around, but those working in government and industry ignore it at their peril. Some things just cut straight across society’s boundaries – and access to clean, functional and user friendly toilet infrastructure would have to be close […]

NSW councils lock onto graffiti vandals using smartphone app

By Paul Hemsley Walk down most urban streets, parks or laneways and it’s easy to get the impression of a gang infested, criminal hotspot thanks to the constant array of unwanted tags, squiggles and territorial markers left behind by vandalism posing as counter culture. Whether you call it art or criminal damage, the markings that […]

Dentists drill councils over water fluoridation decay

By Dr Karin Alexander* In the 1930s, American scientists and public health researchers made a simple, but profoundly important discovery. People living in towns with around one part per million of fluoride found naturally in their drinking water had much less tooth decay that people whose drinking water contained lower levels of fluoride. All water […]

Australian councils share disaster smarts with United States

By Professor Edward Blakely* The United States has dealt with more disasters in the last four years than any period in nearly a century. This path of destruction has been underlined by the numerous floods, tornadoes, cyclones and other man-made disasters like the horrible fertiliser plant explosion in Texas. While these disasters make the headlines, […]

Utility computing cutting across sectors

By Rob Forsyth* The change of government at the Commonwealth level will have no impact on the general move by the public sector toward greater acceptance of Cloud platforms to deliver citizen services. In fact, the new Coalition government will almost certainly accelerate this process. After several years of high-level policy development, the rubber is […]

Ditching ‘mega-stadia’ in favour of local sport venues

[Editor’s note: this piece was written prior to Australia’s Ashes victory] By Simon Sharwood* Australia’s men’s cricket team is a joke [they’re not really a joke as they won the Ashes]. The Wallabies aren’t much better and our Olympians flopped. But this can all be fixed if Australia’s three tiers of government change the way […]

Calls to cut working holiday makers sell regions short

By Ken Morrison* Australia is undergoing a period of transition and our economy must move with the times. While the mining investment boom is waning, the people boom from Asia is just beginning and Australia is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity, offering a range of services including tourism. Tourism directly employs more […]

Tasmanian councils harden push for container deposit scheme

By Paul Hemsley Councils in Tasmania are backing the idea of a state-based Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) after a new independent report found the move could generate long term savings for local governments in kerbside waste collection and disposal. The fresh look at the potential value of a CDS on the Apple Isle comes after […]

Canberra seeks industry know-how for light rail procurement

By Paul Hemsley Canberra’s long awaited light rail project is gaining momentum as the Capital Metro Agency has commenced a search for technical advisers to guide the project towards its procurement phase in 2015. These technical advisers will be expected to have expertise in transport planning, engineering design, light rail operations, environmental assessment, urban design, […]

Cash-strapped Central Darling Shire Council facing suspension

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government has moved swiftly to use its new authority to bring badly struggling local governments in the state to book through issuing a notice of suspension under Early Intervention powers. The state’s Local Government Minister Don Page on Tuesday hit Central Darling Shire Council with […]

Sydney CBD boosts surveillance network with Moore CCTV

By Paul Hemsley City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is looking to boost the number of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras monitoring central streets as part of the council’s ongoing campaign to make the city safer after nightfall. After prominently backing the NSW Police crackdown on booze fuelled violence and disorder in some of Sydney’s […]

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