Last night's Darebin Council meeting - the last before a new Council is elected - started with Darebin CEO, Michael Ulbrick, rightly noting the historic occasion of today's inaugural Australian Council of Local Governments meeting in Canberra.
With 80% of Australia's Mayors today meeting with Prime Minister Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, Councils are asking for $1 billion additional infrastructure funding. According to ABC Radio National this morning, they are likely to get a much more modest $300 million to share.
Darebin Mayor, Peter Stephenson, will be there today and last night I asked during public question time what specific proposals he would be making to our nation's leaders regarding the transfer of Darebin's at-risk ABC Learning centres to community or Council control.
Despite an informative account of the complexities of the situation by Council staff, not only could our Councillors not give a specific picture of the representations Mayor Stephenson would be making, they could give no picture of the in principle position our Mayor would be taking to advocate for Darebin's children, more than 1000 of whom are currently on waiting lists for child-care. Those lists is set to grow if an effective solution to the ABC Learning issue is not quickly found.
Yes, today certainly is an historic occasion for our Councils, but it's a pity the Council could last night give no convincing picture of how it would benefit the residents of Darebin. Let us hope Mayor Stephenson does not waste this opportunity, and we will hear more sooner rather than later - hopefully before the election of the new Council is decided.
Showing posts with label Peter Stephenson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Stephenson. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Council resentment lingers over representation review
Monday's Darebin Council meeting was the last for Mayor Peter Stephenson, and a veritable hit parade of Council's claimed achievements that was nicely timed to bolster the electoral chances of the handful of Councillors choosing to contest November's election.
On this night of self-congratulation there was, however, a clear and continuing resentment of last year's Darebin representation review, in which the Victorian Electoral Commission recommended the move from nine single-councillor wards to the three three-councillor wards to be elected in Darebin in November.
Rucker Ward Councillor, Steven Tsitas, spoke of the potential for 'duckshoving responsibility', proposing that the three new, larger wards be divided into 'clear internal boundaries' of responsibility (strangely that would mean nine de facto wards). Councillor Mendo Kundevski spoke of a loss of 'accountability' compared with the old system.
Those who participated in the review saw Council fight tooth and nail to prevent change. However, that wasn't because of accountability. It was due to the fact that the new structure threatens to break the 100% Labor Unity strangle-hold on Council.
The old structure entrenched the nine Labor Unity councillors because preferences under that system (majority preferential voting) worked very much in their favour. In contrast, the new system (proportional representation), limits the effectiveness of a host of ALP running mates contesting the election only to direct preferences to a key ALP candidate.
The new system therefore gives other candidates, including independents, a fairer chance of being elected - despite the challenges of campaigning in larger wards.
In its representation review, the Victorian Electoral Commission considered the issue of accountability in multi-member wards, and on balance decided that the benefits of the new structure outweighed any disadvantages. Many community submissions argued for the change, and the VEC found these persuasive. I made two submissions and presented at the public hearing.
The final report, preliminary submissions and response submissions to the review are still available at the VEC website. Local Government Minister Wynne announced his approval of the new structure back in July last year in this media release. He thought it was a good idea. The City of Darebin didn't think so (and here).
Coverage from the time is available in previous posts.
Back to my campaign website
On this night of self-congratulation there was, however, a clear and continuing resentment of last year's Darebin representation review, in which the Victorian Electoral Commission recommended the move from nine single-councillor wards to the three three-councillor wards to be elected in Darebin in November.
Rucker Ward Councillor, Steven Tsitas, spoke of the potential for 'duckshoving responsibility', proposing that the three new, larger wards be divided into 'clear internal boundaries' of responsibility (strangely that would mean nine de facto wards). Councillor Mendo Kundevski spoke of a loss of 'accountability' compared with the old system.
Those who participated in the review saw Council fight tooth and nail to prevent change. However, that wasn't because of accountability. It was due to the fact that the new structure threatens to break the 100% Labor Unity strangle-hold on Council.
The old structure entrenched the nine Labor Unity councillors because preferences under that system (majority preferential voting) worked very much in their favour. In contrast, the new system (proportional representation), limits the effectiveness of a host of ALP running mates contesting the election only to direct preferences to a key ALP candidate.
The new system therefore gives other candidates, including independents, a fairer chance of being elected - despite the challenges of campaigning in larger wards.
In its representation review, the Victorian Electoral Commission considered the issue of accountability in multi-member wards, and on balance decided that the benefits of the new structure outweighed any disadvantages. Many community submissions argued for the change, and the VEC found these persuasive. I made two submissions and presented at the public hearing.
The final report, preliminary submissions and response submissions to the review are still available at the VEC website. Local Government Minister Wynne announced his approval of the new structure back in July last year in this media release. He thought it was a good idea. The City of Darebin didn't think so (and here).
Coverage from the time is available in previous posts.
Back to my campaign website
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