By Paul Hemsley The latest quarterly State of the States economic report from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s securities arm, CommSec has found that Western Australia has the strongest state economy but still lags in residential development. The previous State of the States report from CommSec in October 2012 found that New South Wales and […]
22 January, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The City of Sydney’s shot at minimising health risks associated with syringes and other so-called medical “sharps” entering the mainstream rubbish collection system has taken out a Local Government Excellence Award. The Local Government and Shires Association of New South Wales (LGSA) gave the prize to the City for installing two community […]
17 January, 2013
By Chris Johnson* With council elections in NSW complete and submissions to a government review of the viability of local government submitted in September, now is the time to rethink the third tier of government. Many councils seem to want to remain as they are, but research shows that up to half of NSW councils […]
2 January, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Gosford on the New South Wales Central Coast could provide a vital economic shot in the arm and help revive subdued growth in the region a key development group has said. Chairman of the Central Coast branch of Regional Development […]
21 December, 2012
By Paul Hemsley The New South Wales government’s custodian of state records has become the first state archives agency in Australia to create a digital online portal containing accessible reports and statistics based on the ‘Open Government’ principle. Known as “OpenGov NSW”, the new NSW State Records website acts as a searchable online database of […]
13 December, 2012
By Paul Hemsley New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell’s campaign against so-called green-tape has resulted in the state government’s FleetWise program being junked on the basis it duplicates a similar federal program that is already operating. Funded by the state government through the Environment Trust, the FleetWise program had been a source of information, tools […]
11 December, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski Energy suppliers have accused state governments across Australia of failing to execute key electricity market reforms which they claim are essential to rein-in soaring prices for consumers and businesses. The peak industry group the Energy Supply Association of Australia has launched a stinging report card on the performance of individual states’ electricity […]
10 December, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley The head of the NSW Local Government Shires Association, Keith Rhoades, has downplayed a front page Daily Telegraph report that the O’Farrell government is preparing to backflip on a key election promise and ram through forced council amalgamations. A move to embark on forced mergers would have significant consequences […]
4 December, 2012
By Paul Hemsley New South Wales Minister for Finance and Services Greg Pearce has launched the state government’s latest procurement blueprint as Macquarie Street attempts to repair previously strained relationships with the supplier community and deliver better value to taxpayers. Known as the Strategic Directions Statement, the new guidelines aim to simplify and untangle the […]
4 December, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government has trotted out the latest iteration of its vexed transport ticketing smartcard for public testing more than 12 years after commuters were promised the now unremarkable device in time for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Known as the “Opal” Card (which has no connection to the identically named […]
27 November, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell’s new state infrastructure strategy has come under heavy fire from a prominent regional leader after the Mayor of Cowra, Bill West, slammed the new blueprint as deficient and Sydney-centric. “There’s no ‘State’ in this strategy – it’s all to do with alleviating Sydney’s traffic problems with […]
8 November, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski A group of 12 New South Wales councils have scored a second vital win in the ongoing legal battle over how toxic financial instruments were deceptively marketed to them as safe investments, causing the loss of millions of ratepayer’s dollars during the global financial crisis. A decision handed down on Monday by […]
6 November, 2012
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Leaders in Coalition held states have condemned the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s decision to give police, fire and ambulance services just half of the spectrum allocation they lobbied the federal regulator for. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria today all slammed the regulator’s decision, further inflaming the cross-jurisdictional […]
31 October, 2012
By Julian Bajkowski The local government sector in New South Wales has been rocked by the findings of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probe released today that has found 41 people participated in corrupt conduct, with many now council employees and officers now likely to face prosecution. The corruption watchdog has found that “22 […]
29 October, 2012End of content
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