By Paul Hemsley Australia’s property development lobby has resumed hostilities with state and local governments over what they claim are “exorbitant charges” imposed on new building projects through collective schemes that are meant to help fund council services and projects they say would usually just be funded by rates. The charge against governments imposing “hidden […]
8 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Councils across Australia will soon be forced to explain to ratepayers how much of their money was spent pushing the ‘Yes’ case for the proposed referendum on financial recognition for local government in the Constitution after the poll officially bit the dust on Sunday. The announcement of a 7th September election date […]
6 August, 2013
By Paul Hemsley New South Wales Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce has simplified the means for state government agencies to procure telecommunications equipment, infrastructure and services in a new plan that reflects the O’Farrell government’s broader plan of creating a single and consistent way for agencies to operate procurement. The scheme has been […]
21 May, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Councils in New South Wales have repudiated claims by the state’s Minister for Local Government, Don Page, that an amendment to the Constitution to allow financial recognition of local governments will lead to pork barrelling as baseless scaremongering. As the September 14th referendum debate heats up, joint presidents of […]
21 May, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski A push by the Independent Local Government Review Panel to the New South Wales government to encourage “voluntary amalgamations” of councils has sparked widely divergent reactions from stakeholders as peak body Local Government NSW (LGNSW) continues to argue that forced mergers are not, and should not, be state government […]
29 April, 2013
By Paul Hemsley New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell has signed the state government up for a new deal under which councils will gain more say over plans and initiatives that affect both jurisdictions. The new deal comes in the form of the Intergovernmental Agreement to Guide NSW State-Local Government Relations on Strategic Partnerships which […]
12 April, 2013
By Paul Hemsley A push by New South Wales Local Government Minister, Don Page, to rewrite inconsistent and ad-hoc legislation governing the operation of councils into simple and cohesive laws has secured vital backing from the state’s municipal power brokers, clearing the way for a clean-out of defective regulations. The joint-president of Local Government New […]
9 April, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has upped pressure on the New South Wales state government to extend a planned pedestrian zone in the heart of the central business district and shopping strip as part of existing plans to roll out a new $1.6 billion light rail run connecting the city […]
5 April, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales Government has put the creative and digital services contracts of its $92 million-a-year advertising and public awareness scheme out to pitch, trimming around $24 million in traditional ad-spend in favour of ramping up digital communications to stakeholders. Macquarie Street now estimates that it will spend between $5 million […]
12 March, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The Australian Medical Association has taken the New South Wales government to task over the alarming number of children being seriously injured after falling out of windows and from balconies because of poor building safety design. In a move certain to have big repercussions for local government planning and development guidelines, the […]
26 February, 2013
Staff writers The New South Wales Department of Finance has announced that it will hold a special information session for suppliers outlining its new Information and Communications Technology Services Scheme to spell out the procurement overhaul. The scheme opened for supplier applications at the end of January 2012 and comes as Finance Minister […]
19 February, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley The government of New South Wales could soon be in the bizarre position of attempting to sue itself after the head of a parliamentary committee holding an inquiry into the state’s Land Valuation System suggested that Broken Hill City Council consider litigation against the state’s Valuer General. The unprecedented […]
11 February, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The Shires Association of New South Wales has renewed its attack on cost shifting by the states and Canberra after a survey found that councils were left out of pocket by $499 million in the 2012/11 financial year through cross-jurisdictional financial manoeuvres. The Local Government and Shires Associations of […]
1 February, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government is planning to outsource the state’s $900 million a year road maintenance operations in a move that will send around 500 public sector jobs to private contractors. The government has confirmed that the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) of NSW is now finalising the […]
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