❓ Mr. Michael asks about the review of the Local Government Act and how the first stage of reforms will modernize it. The Minister outlines key reforms focusing on transparency, training, conduct, CEO recruitment, and information access.
AnsweredQoN 536Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT —
REVIEW
536. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Local Government:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's review of the Local Government Act and its commitment to
strengthening the sector. Can the minister update the house on this review and
how the first stage of reforms will deliver a modern Local Government Act that
meets community expectations?
REVIEW
536. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Local Government:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's review of the Local Government Act and its commitment to
strengthening the sector. Can the minister update the house on this review and
how the first stage of reforms will deliver a modern Local Government Act that
meets community expectations?
AnswerView source ↗
I want to thank the member for
Balcatta for his question and I also want to thank him for chairing the working
party that is progressing the review of the Local Government Act. It was a major
election commitment by the McGowan government and focuses on ensuring that we
have a modern enabling legislation for a very important sector of government in
this state, which, of course, is local government. I thank the member for
Balcatta for his question and for his leadership of that stakeholder group.
I was very pleased to announce at
the Western Australian Local Government Association convention earlier this
month a range of important measures, which I will bring to the Parliament
through legislation in the coming months, focused on the first phase of key
reform. The first phase focuses on addressing the issue of gifts and
transparency around gifts with regard to elected local councillors, making sure
that there is a clear and simple process in place for that to be transparent
and accountable. We have a proposal for universal training. It is an issue that
was played with by those opposite but we are going to deliver. It is a universal
training regime that focuses on three key elements, the first being that
candidates—people who wish to put themselves forward to be elected to a
local council—will have their eyes wide open in terms of a process that
enables them to understand what role they are seeking to become involved in.
The second part of that will be a universal training regime for newly elected
councillors so that they have a universal understanding of the modern demands
of being an elected councillor in a municipality throughout the state. It will
include aspects of financial management, understanding the issues of
governance, understanding the importance of the decision-making process, and
what their key role is in that process. In the legislation that I will bring
forward we also will be focusing on a mandatory code of conduct for all council
members and candidates. Again, it will be a focus on the behaviour and the
responsibility that they have as an elected council member. We will address
issues around CEO recruitment, selection, performance review, termination, and
minimum standards for local government CEO recruitment. We want the best CEOs
in place in the 130-plus councils across the state, and so we will focus on
that. We will ensure that people in their communities have ready access to the
information that they want. We will have requirements about having information
online so that people can get that immediately. I am very keen to introduce
this first phase of amendments to Parliament in the coming months and I hope
that those opposite will support these measures, because I think they are
important if we are to have a modern and effective local government system in Western
Australia. Of course, a second phase is underway, under the guidance of the
member for Balcatta, that focuses on a range of other important measures so
that we end up with a modern piece of local government legislation that will
improve and deliver quality local government to the people of Western Australia
no matter where they live.
Balcatta for his question and I also want to thank him for chairing the working
party that is progressing the review of the Local Government Act. It was a major
election commitment by the McGowan government and focuses on ensuring that we
have a modern enabling legislation for a very important sector of government in
this state, which, of course, is local government. I thank the member for
Balcatta for his question and for his leadership of that stakeholder group.
I was very pleased to announce at
the Western Australian Local Government Association convention earlier this
month a range of important measures, which I will bring to the Parliament
through legislation in the coming months, focused on the first phase of key
reform. The first phase focuses on addressing the issue of gifts and
transparency around gifts with regard to elected local councillors, making sure
that there is a clear and simple process in place for that to be transparent
and accountable. We have a proposal for universal training. It is an issue that
was played with by those opposite but we are going to deliver. It is a universal
training regime that focuses on three key elements, the first being that
candidates—people who wish to put themselves forward to be elected to a
local council—will have their eyes wide open in terms of a process that
enables them to understand what role they are seeking to become involved in.
The second part of that will be a universal training regime for newly elected
councillors so that they have a universal understanding of the modern demands
of being an elected councillor in a municipality throughout the state. It will
include aspects of financial management, understanding the issues of
governance, understanding the importance of the decision-making process, and
what their key role is in that process. In the legislation that I will bring
forward we also will be focusing on a mandatory code of conduct for all council
members and candidates. Again, it will be a focus on the behaviour and the
responsibility that they have as an elected council member. We will address
issues around CEO recruitment, selection, performance review, termination, and
minimum standards for local government CEO recruitment. We want the best CEOs
in place in the 130-plus councils across the state, and so we will focus on
that. We will ensure that people in their communities have ready access to the
information that they want. We will have requirements about having information
online so that people can get that immediately. I am very keen to introduce
this first phase of amendments to Parliament in the coming months and I hope
that those opposite will support these measures, because I think they are
important if we are to have a modern and effective local government system in Western
Australia. Of course, a second phase is underway, under the guidance of the
member for Balcatta, that focuses on a range of other important measures so
that we end up with a modern piece of local government legislation that will
improve and deliver quality local government to the people of Western Australia
no matter where they live.
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