Lots to think about
There is action aplenty ahead following initiatives by the NSW Government:
• To review Local Government after the Destination 2036 Dubbo talkfest
• To review The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act
• To consult on draft regulations for the Public Health Act
• The BPB wants feedback on accreditation and other stuff
• and there's the usual industrial news to update as well.
Start with a policy of no forced amalgamations and entice 152 general managers and mayors, some representatives of the Local Government and Shires Associations (more councillors from the councillors lobby group) and the Local Government Managers Association (more bean counters from the managers lobby group) to Dubbo for a couple of days and what do you get?
Well, it's a bit hard get the full picture to the yet but one thing you'll get is a review of that policy which may result in forced amalgamations, a broader and more dramatic commitment to resource sharing and potentially significant changes across the State. And, you might get some changes to the Local Government Act as well.
The Division of Local Government didn't invite the three local government unions to participate in the Dubbo talkfest. Historically they aren't very good at involving the unions in things that are clearly industrial in nature - such as the development of the Model Code of Conduct, or the Standard Contract for Senior Officers etc - so no one was surprised that all we got was notice that the talkfest was on and the DLG assuring us that if anything resulted of an industrial nature, they would let us know.
The USU complained vigorously, we raised this directly in discussions with the Minister's office and the three unions were then invited. The USU attended but we decided, as much as we appreciated the invitation, there would really be a limited opportunity for the unions to put a view and didn't attend. The USU confirms this was the case.
depa has always been sceptical about voluntary amalgamations. Small councils don't provide (and realistically can't financially provide) proper training of staff, competitive salaries for those professions where there is a shortage (like the professions from where we draw our members), good conditions of employment with proper flexibility for family and other personal reasons etc etc. Many small councils, if they were companies operating under the Corporations Act, would be effectively trading insolvent and the company directors could be fined, jailed or banned for acting as company directors in the future. The 30 or so councils on what the old Department of Local Government used to call "finance watch" do just that.
So it should come as no surprise that when you shake up the Dubbo participants, out drop things that can have a dramatic effect. Not quite people lining up for the Kool-Aid at Jonestown, but getting close.
We are yet to be advised formally by the DLG or the Government of what is proposed beyond their commitment to establish a Local Government Implementation Steering Committee which would manage reform in the industry of the next four years. There will be a document available shortly summarising the Dubbo experience. We will be keeping an eye out for it.
It is important that you know that life as we know it may well change dramatically in this process.
The Government announced that it had established a Review into the Act and appointed former Liberal member for Gordon Tim Moore and former ALP member of the Legislative Council Ron Dyer to conduct it. We met with them on 12 August at their invitation as part of speaking to organisations in the industry with an interest. They wanted a broad brush discussion.
The Committee of Management had met earlier in the day and we had that discussion. It was also timely for the Committee to appoint our Gosford delegate Jo Doheny to a vacant position on the Committee because Jo is a strategic planner. The Committee resolved some broad approaches, these are incorporated into a some broad observations (click here to read them) and Paul O'Brien, Jo Doheny and I had an hour and a half with the Review that afternoon.
The Review is starting with a blank page. Apparently with no direction from Government but with a claimed open mind about how planning and development should be managed in the State.
The Review is also committed to a serious process of consultation across the State. While the dates and specific locations in the Metropolitan area are not finalised, we do know where they will be each week.
Starting Sunday 11 September - Broken Hill, Dubbo, Narrabri, Glenn Innes, Armidale
Starting Monday 19 September - Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange, Parkes
Starting Monday 26 September – Taree, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Ballina/Byron, Lismore/Tweed
Starting Monday 17 October - Campbelltown, Hurstville, Willoughby, Parramatta
Starting Monday 24 October – Nowra, Batemans Bay, Bega, Cooma, Queanbeyan
Starting Monday 31 October - Moss Vale, Goulburn, Yass, Wagga Wagga, Albury
Starting Tuesday for October - Wollongong, Deniliquin, Griffith, Gosford
Starting Monday 10 October - Tamworth/Liverpool Plains/Gunnedah, Muswellbrook, Newcastle and EPLA Conference in Sydney
Starting Monday 7 November - Penrith, Sutherland, Warringah, Randwick, Ashfield
Starting Monday 14 November - City of Sydney
The Review is planning to produce an Issues document in the first week of December and public comment will be open until 17 February. Recommendations to government are planned for the end of April.
The Review plans to maximise access to information and is not necessarily committed to the current legislation remaining one Act.
The review is interested in:
• What should be the underlying philosophy and objectives
• how to set out plans to do that
• how to assess individual plans
• review of the current appeal rights process
• how to define a “region”
• at what level should plans be made and how should they be made and changed at that level
• what should section 5 do?
And in a refreshing realistic approach, the Review plans to have two meetings in each location with the expectation that one meeting would be attended by the community and elected representatives, and the other meeting would be attended by professionals who work in planning and development.
We urge you to attend these meetings and make your views known. We think its time to return the old BA/DA process so assessment can be proportionate to the complexity of the building.
Later we will be inviting individual and specific suggestions from members to be incorporated in our submission to the Review.
You can keep in touch with what's happening with the Review on www.planningreview.nsw.gov.au
depa has two representatives on the Strategic Liaison Group with NSW Health - President Andrew Spooner and Committee of Management Member Les Green - and at the most recent meeting the Group endorsed the rollout of nine consultation workshops across the State:
29 August Wagga Wagga City Council 10am to 1.30pm
30 August Queanbeyan City Council 11am to 2.30pm
31 August Penrith City Council 9.30am to 1.30pm
1 September Dubbo City Council 11am to 2.30pm
2 September City of Sydney Council 9.30am to 1.30pm
5 September Kiama Council 9.30am to 1pm
6 September Armidale-Dumaresq Council 11am to 3pm
7 September Clarence Valley Council 10am to 1pm
8 September Newcastle City Council 11.30am to 3.30pm TO BE CONFIRMED
There's an 11 November deadline for submissions to conclude this process (click here to see the complete information sheet).
It would have been unrealistic to assume that the relatively benign process established by the BPB to accredit council employees would continue forever. It would also be unrealistic to expect that the zealots on the BPB might contemplate how the accreditation of council employees process has gone, whether it has added value to the quality of development control and the construction of buildings, or whether it has been largely irrelevant, before they went any further.
But no. The BPB remains committed to rolling new council employees, or employees trying to upgrade their category of accreditation, over to exactly the same qualification and experience requirements as private certifiers.
This, despite the industry having told them for years that while private certifiers do certifying full-time, council employees do many, many other things. While requirements for someone doing something full-time may need to be rigorous because if they don't do anything else they don't need training or qualifications in those other areas, forcing that degree of rigour onto someone who does it only for part of the job, makes no sense.
As part of our regular meetings with the BPB, CEO Neil Cocks warned us prior to our last meeting on 25 July that the Board was interested in feedback on the Board's proposals for new accredited certifiers in councils and those upgrading their category of accreditation.
Please note, existing employees not wanting to upgrade their the level of accreditation will not be affected.
They also wanted some feedback on increasing CPD requirements after 2013 to bring them into line with the 30 hour requirements per annum for private certifiers. We think that’s fine because the Award ensures you get paid for it and it will make it easier to get progression in the salary system because of this more intense skills training.
Clearly Neil is a big tease because when we went met with them on 25 July and provided feedback that this would just be another nail in the coffin of building control by council employees, BPB Chair Sue Holliday said the Board was committed to it and going to do it anyway. So there.
Maybe only Neil and the silent members of the Board wanted the feedback.
Nice of them to ask.
This issue falls within the ambit of the EP&A Act Review and we have already made our views known there. So should you.
Some minor and housekeeping amendments have been made to the Award and the text has been updated on our website (click here to view the relevant Clause).
The most important consideration is that the Award now allows for long service leave to be taken at half pay, single pay or double pay solely at the discretion of the employee. That is, the employer can't make you take it as either half pay or double pay, if you don't want to.
Gosford Council has accepted the recommendations made by IRC President Justice Boland after their dawdling, hopeless and sub-professional investigation of one of our members (read the letter from Gosford here).
A well-attended meeting of depa members at Gosford (we have 35 members there) on 3 August resolved unanimously not to have any role in any investigation conducted by the Council until the investigation policy and practices are reviewed with the unions consistent with the recommendation of Justice Boland.
But Gosford being Gosford can't seem to do anything quickly and it led to an interesting communication as we tried to hurry things along with their Director of Organisational Development Terry Thirlwell. It certainly put a smile on the faces of our members at Gosford and after all of this thoughtful stuff it might put a smile on your face too.
We will meet with Gosford at the Local Government Association’s office as part of the review on 30 August.
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