TASwater Ownership Inquiry PLEASE CIRCULATE

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The Bus Stop, Fiscal Accountability And Community Consultation

AUG 27 http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4881095/wheels-keep-turning-on-city-bus-stop-move/?cs=100

Bus Stop [EXAMINER Sept 4]

THE letter (The Sunday Examiner, August 27) from City of Launceston Alderman Simon Wood, I had to read the letter twice to ensure that I understood what Mr Wood was trying to articulate. Mr Wood refers to the cost to relocate the bus stop 30 metres or so will not cost about $2 million. We should be planning for the long term and if this takes time so be it, we need to get it right. Whether it is federal, state or local government monies the City of Launceston should be prudent with our money. I intend to put my name forward at the Local Government elections in 2018.

Bob Salt, Launceston.

From the council [EXAMINER Aug 27 Examiner]

AS AN alderman of our great city I am more than aware of the importance and significance of the City Heart Project and the enormous benefits the project is bringing to Launceston.

While it's great that the Launceston Chamber of Commerce has put forward an opinion on the location of bus stops, I would point out that the City of Launceston has been working on this for the best part of two years. The council has explored many options and consulted widely with the community.

I was like many alderman, have received feedback from businesses, the broader community and the actual users of the bus service, with mixed responses regarding the preferred outcome - it's an emotive issue with no easy solution.

I am always open to new information and would welcome exploring any option that would achieve the best outcome for our city. I would also point out that the flippant remarks about spending millions to move the bus stops 30 meters are simply inaccurate and misleading to the community. The proposal is far more than that, it's a complete rejuvenation of a significant street section in our CBD.

It can only be hoped that if the decision is made to move the bus stops outside the soon to be revamped Civic Square, of which such a move is not budgeted for, that funding can be found so that those businesses and community members of whom have been promised and are expecting a rejuvenated section of St John Street won't be let down.

Simon Wood, Alderman at City of Launceston.

EDITER NOTE: This is just the tip of the dysfunctional iceberg that is Launceston City Council. Ald. Wood's letter is so much claptrap written on the assumption that someone will read it and then believe it – because he said. He must have caught this potentially fatal disease from the now departed GM who often claimed that he was operating under the guidance of "[his] good fiend the Local Government Act".

Community consultation, or put another way by Mayor van Zetten, "community engagement", is something that the aldermen are strangers to. Apparently, it's an idea to be hand balled to the 'operational wing' and having done so, there representative role is all over – perhaps until they are looking to be elected again – this time next year!

As for the overall funding of this City Heart Project, the method in play seems to be:

1. Borrow a hell of a lot of money from the government;
2. Do it quickly and quietly well away from the gaze of 'the ratepayers';
3. Spend it very quickly – and that's very quickly;
4. Stand back and hope that some of the money, rubs off, brushes off or sticks to somewhere it's intended to.

Apparently, this is understood to be good civic planning and credible fiscal management. However, one is left wondering what the ratepayers, those people stumping up the extra cash in their rates, are going pay off the loan with and about which any comment that might have given seems to have been serially put to one side.

Anyway, alternative candidates are starting to put their hands up for when the next Local Govt. election and that has to be a good sign!

BASIL FITCH: Call for running mates

https://www.facebook.com/basil.fitch.5249

READ BASIL'S LETTER HERE https://basilfitchopenletter.blogspot.com.au/

eMAIL Basil Fitch fitchbasil@gmail.com

The Launceston Lock Out!

Robert Dobrzynski’s parting words

The reform of local governments and amalgamations should be the next focus of the state government, outgoing City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski declared....... Hours before boarding a plane for retirement on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Dobrzynski spoke publicly for the final time as general manager....... Tasmania has 29 councils for a population of about 520,000....... Mr Dobrzynski acknowledged amalgamations were not likely to happen voluntarily and called on state politicians to secure a mandate for change....... “The state government at the moment is addressing a very important issue and that’s the future of TasWater,” he said. ...... “I think the next cab off the rank should be local government reform.”...... Mr Dobrzynski questioned the sustainability of several Tasmanian councils “that rely upon TasWater dividends and grants-commission funding to remain viable”....... He made the comments during an extensive Q&A at the end of his seven-year reign as general manager....... Since 2010 Mr Dobrzynski oversaw the council’s budget and he believes the region would be better served with fewer local government boundaries. ...... “It is enormously difficult to run a sustainable regional centre of national significance with the fragmented local government framework we have,” he said.  ...... “There’s going to be all sorts of parochial politics at play at this – but we’ve got people either side of the road that are in different municipalities....... We have a city council that provides – proudly provides – a range of high-cost regional facilities which this community deserves, but are largely being paid for by two-thirds of the population....... “That’s not equitable – it never will be equitable.”...... Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein has promised no forced amalgamations of councils....... Mr Dobrzynski said any change would need to be mandated. ...... “Show me an example in Australia where local government reform has been done voluntarily – there’s very few of them,” he said. ...... “It’s enormously difficult – people don’t like change, it really does need to be mandated after a period of consultation.”...... Mr Dobrzynski said people could be convinced of the benefits of amalgamation....... “You can mandate ward structures to ensure political representation is there – you can come up with service level agreements to ensure that services aren’t dropped below acceptable levels,” he said. ...... “There’s ways of doing things that ensure people aren’t lost in this.”  ...... http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4889844/mandate-amalgamations/

Thanks to The Examiner for the quotes and let's hope that the long suffering people of northern Tasmania get to see some real change now that the fly has flicked itself out of the ointment even if it should have never found its way there.

The new GM http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4800581/city-of-launceston-announces-gm/

The UK is rethinking university degrees and Australia [7 TASMANIA] should too

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SOURCE

There are growing calls for a debate about the role of post-school in society, both in Australia and overseas. ............. After 30 years of constant expansion, some complain that universities have become too vocational in nature – too focused on jobs, not enough on the art of inquiry. ............. At the same time, the vocational education sector is reeling from 15 years of funding cuts and the aftershocks of failed free-market experiments. Numbers in trade apprenticeships and traineeships are plummeting. Less than 30% of vocational students in Australia work in the areas in which they studied. ............. The same is true of higher education. An annual survey of university graduates from 2014 shows that 54% of all bachelor’s degree holders said their qualification was a formal requirement for their job. But the proportion ranged from one in four humanities graduates to 96% of medical graduates. The more regulated the profession, the more degree and career path are likely to be correlated. ............. The British higher education system is rolling out an alternative education route. Degree apprenticeships were launched in the UK in 2015. These are designed to bridge the gap between technical skills, employment and higher education. ............. They’re part of a larger scheme intended to reinvigorate apprenticeships more broadly. A 0.5% levy on corporations with an income of more than £3 million (A$4.8 million) funds the system. ............. Supporters say the initiative is good for employers and good for students, especially for disadvantaged students. They not only struggle to get into higher education (despite an uncapped system) but are also much more likely to drop out of it. ............. Degree apprenticeships work a lot like traditional trade apprenticeships: students work in a related job with their education strapped on around their employment. ............. Traditional degrees are steeped in theory and deliver practical experience through internships, practicums or other work-based experiences. In contrast, degree apprenticeships deliver a skill and a qualification simultaneously. Students work four days a week and study for one. ............. Crucially, the apprenticeship levy covers tuition fees, so students don’t graduate with a debt. If adopted here, this could enable Australia to avoid the distress over rising debts seen in the UK, where it is expected 80% of students will never fully repay their loans. ............. In the last UK election, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn rode a rising tide of anger among younger voters over student debt with his promise of a return to free higher education. ............. Even Andrew Adonis, Tony Blair’s former adviser and architect of the current loans scheme, has switched camps. He described the income-contingent loans scheme that resulted in a tripling of fees in 2012 as a Frankenstein’s monster and “a Ponzi scheme”. ............. While Australia doesn’t have the same immediate crisis, several factors suggest higher education could be heading slowly towards a tipping point. Government plans to increase university fees and introduce more rigorous parameters for the Higher Education Loans Program (formerly HECS) have sparked furious debate. ............. Meanwhile, graduates face a declining employment market. Just 69% of graduates in 2014 held a full-time job four months after graduation, compared to 81% a decade earlier.............. Part-time work, casualisation and under-employment are widespread. Graduate salaries have been more or less static for years. Increasingly, students, particularly the most advantaged, turn to postgraduate education to boost their chances in an overcrowded jobs market, raising questions over credentialism.............. Having larger numbers of people with a higher degree produces public benefits, including better health, better parenting, higher rates of volunteering and lower rates of incarceration. But all of this comes at a cost to the taxpayer and does little to correct an imbalance in skills entering the jobs market. Too many lawyers does not balance out a shortage in IT experts or agricultural scientists. ............. The question is whether new pathways need to be created to help young people straddle the gap between education and work. ............. Work is under way on this issue in Australia. The University of Tasmania, for example, is adding associate degrees, which are shorter, cheaper and more vocationally focused on local industries than full bachelor degrees. ............. Perhaps other institutions, particularly those in regional and outer-metropolitan areas, should consider the possibilities offered by the UK-style degree apprenticeship model. These are the universities, after all, that educate by far the greatest proportion of disadvantaged students. ............. Ironically, degree apprenticeships are a modern, more work-intensive version of the associate degrees that colleges of advanced education offered before the higher education system was unified under the Hawke government in 1989. ............. Perhaps part of the emerging discussion should include a return to a tripartite public education and training system, which includes TAFE, teaching-only polytechnics and research-intensive universities. ............. The post-secondary education sector may have a limited appetite for more structural reform. However, as a society, we do need to tackle the question of whether a higher education system devised 30 years ago, onto which uncapped student places have been glued, is still fit for purpose. Times have changed and education systems must surely move with them. ............. This article was prepared with the help of Julie Hare, Associate Director, KPMG Australia.

CLICK HERE TO GO OPEN LETTER TO PM

QUESTIONS ON NOTICE: Launceston City Council ­ QVMAG Governance, Accountability & Cultural Tourism

Following correspondence from Launceston’s General Manager demonstrating his disinclination to field questions from me, a Launceston constituent, cultural researcher and cultural producer, I have submitted the questions below to Launceston City Council. I think the questions are self explanatory and I look forward to the Aldermen’s response and any information that may come to light as a consequence of these questions.

Message
From: Ray Norman 7250 <raynorman7250@bigpond.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:10:15 +1000

Dear Mayor and Aldermen,

Despite the General Manager’s disinclination to address the issues I raised in my earlier correspondence to Council there remain a series of questions I wish to put on the record and specifically to you as aldermen, the elected representative, in your capacity as the ‘default trustees‘ for the QVMAG.

The General Manager has made a number of assertions and presumably relying upon the provisions of SECTION 62 of the Local Govt. Act, namely that he has the authority “to manage all assets and human resources of the Council and to do anything necessary or convenient to affect such purpose.”  I believe that he now makes assertions that are contestable and that should be tested.

Question 1.
Context: The General Manager has advised me that, “Trustees to manage the QVMAG could only occur if the Council transferred all its QVMAG assets to such trustees. Failing this occurring, all QVMAG assets fall under the authority of the General Manager.” He does not say who has provided this advice nor, apparently, does he accept that it is what it is “advice and only advice”. I have received alternative advice that suggests that there is a range of options open to Council to establish a purposeful standalone entity to govern and manage the QVMAG. That is, something Council determined that it wished to do August 2015.

Questions:

• Have you as aldermen in your roles as community representatives and the ‘default trustees’ tested the advice that has apparently been provided to you by the General Manager under the provisions of SECTION 65 of the Local Govt Act?
• Have you as aldermen in your ‘trusteeship’ roles sought independent advice in regard to these roles given all that is at risk and at stake?
• Have you as aldermen in your ‘trusteeship’ roles been given direct access to the advice the General Manager apparently relies upon under SECTIONS 65 & 62 of the Local Govt. Act?
  

Question 2.
Context: There is no longer any real doubt in Tasmania in regard to ‘cultural tourism’ and the value it represents in regard to employment and income opportunities for communities across the State. The TMAG, MONA and the many ‘musingplaces’ across Tasmania have demonstrated that there is almost no part of local economies that cultural tourism doesn’t impact upon – and it importance.

Questions:

• Have you as aldermen considered cultural tourism’s impact upon and the importance to the Tamar region, and Launceston specifically, and in an ongoing way, to the economic, social and cultural wellbeing of your constituencies?
• If you have either individually or collectively  done so, what form has it taken and how has it manifested itself in the ‘policy settings’ you as aldermen have put in place and/or championed?
• Indeed, how often, when and in what context have you as aldermen and default trustees made determinations that have been acted upon, and are there to be acted upon, in accord with Council’s purpose – namely, to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the community; to represent the interests of the community; to provide for the peace, order and good government of the municipal area?
  

Question 3.
Context: There is some evidence, albeit scant, that the General Manager is developing “Cultural Strategy” and that this is taking place in virtual isolation from the ‘constituency’. There is little doubt that such an exercise is significant, relevant and timely. Moreover Launceston and the Tamar region arguably exists within a ‘cultural reality’ that is distinct in both a Tasmanian and national context.

Questions:

• Have you as aldermen been involved in developing the brief for the consultant/s(?) and if so to what extent and at what point?
• Has there been a ‘unit’ of some kind established and if so what is its specific purpose and objectives and what personnel have been employed from within what budget? Moreover, what are the duty statements for personnel thus far engaged?
• Have you as aldermen either provided or endorsed a project budget for this initiative?
• When and how is it intended that there will be community consultation given that it is Launceston’s ‘communities cultures’ that are the subject of any research involved and them who will be funding the process?
• When did the process commence and when is it due to be completed?
• If any of the information relative to the questions above are confidential, why would that be?
  

Question 4.
Context: There is increasing evidence that corporations, organisations, institutions, etc. are coming under closer scrutiny and especially so in regard to their governance and management. Nationally and intrastate most recently Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and the Australian Olympic Committee stand out. Likewise the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s governance and management won the critical attention of Tasmania’s Auditor General and this has brought about major changes in that institution’s personnel, operation and performance.  It is clear that past ‘bureaucratic elasticities’ abided in these quasi ‘public’ organisations isn’t being tolerated in the ways it has been in the past.
 
Questions:

• Have you as aldermen initiated any kind reporting protocols to enable you to effectively review the QVMAG as a component of Council’s operation given the value/s of, and the nature of, its collections and the significance of the QVMAG’s recurrent expenditures?
• Are you as aldermen completely satisfied that QVMAG operation is fulfilling its strategic purpose and has been adequately resourced to succeed as vital cultural institution with ‘social license’ to deliver the social, cultural and ‘trickle down’ fiscal dividends it has the potential to do?
• Are you as aldermen completely satisfied that the QVMAG’s metrics reflect the appropriate outcomes for such an institution in a 21st C context given the levels of public investment in it over an extended period?
  

            

Reference links

1.  Auditor Generals report March 2015 … http://www.audit.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/TMAG.pdf <http://www.audit.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/TMAG.pdf>
2.  MERCURY: Auditor-General calls on Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery to lift its game … http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/auditorgeneral-calls-on-tasmanian-museum-and-art-gallery-to-lift-its-game/news-story/6316b08ef7d56988d1cf4d5a2ce1a7c <http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/auditorgeneral-calls-on-tasmanian-museum-and-art-gallery-to-lift-its-game/news-story/6316b08ef7d56988d1cf4d5a2ce1a7c> 1
3.  QVMAG Community of Ownership & Interest … http://qv7250ownership.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/qvmags-community-of-ownership-and_14.html <http://qv7250ownership.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/qvmags-community-of-ownership-and_14.html>
4.  Local Govt. purpose … https://www.lgat.tas.gov.au/page.aspx?u=226
5.     Australian Olympic Committee told to overhaul culture following review … http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-24/aoc-told-to-overhaul-culture-following-review/8838546
 

Ray Norman
<zingHOUSEunlimited>
The lifestyle design enterprise and research network

CLICK HERE: http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au/lcc/index.php?c=69
CLICK HERE: http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/271170/Good_Governance_Guide_May_2016.pdf
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” Thomas Paine
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept ”  David Morrison

City of Launceston GM announces retirement date

CLICK HERE:  http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4874592/city-of-launceston-gm-announces-retirement-date/

More than four months after announcing he will retire, City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski has confirmed he will leave the role next week. .............. Mr Dobrzynski was encouraged by Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten to stay on as the city’s general manager until his replacement, Michael Stretton, took over in October. .............. "We urged Robert to delay his retirement for several months, but we have probably come to the point where we've imposed enough on his good nature," Mayor van Zetten said. .............. "I'm pleased we've been able to convince him to stay on for these extra months as we recruited a replacement general manager,” he said. .............. “However, I'm also well aware that Robert announced his retirement in order to spend more time with his family on the mainland, and so far he hasn't been able to do much of that.” .............. The general manager is responsible for implementing policy decisions made by aldermen, as well as enforcing the strategic direction and overseeing the daily operations of the council. .............. "It is a high-pressure, high responsibility, 24/7 job,” Mayor van Zetten said. .............. Mayor van Zetten said the outgoing general manager has played a vital role in securing a number of major projects for the city, with $800 million worth of projects now on the books for Launceston over the next few years. .............. “I can think of no greater compliment than that Robert worked tirelessly for the City of Launceston. He consistently acted with the best interests of Launceston and its residents at heart,” Mayor van Zetten said. .............. The council’s director of corporate services, Michael Tidey, will step into the role of acting general manager until Mr Stretton starts in October.

MEDIA RELEASE: Basil Fitch

Basil Fitch will be holding a PRESS CONFERENCE Monday August 21 

on Launceston’s Town Hall steps at 12 noon.

Mr. Fitch has announced his candidacy for alderman at next years Council Elections and he has done so early in order that he can build a team of eleven independent candidates to stand with him.

By way of background, Mr. Fitch has written to the Premier calling upon him to initiate a thorough and meaningful inquiry into the operation of Launceston City Council. SEE: ttps://basilfitchopenletter.blogspot.com.au

The purpose of Monday’s event is to answer questions in regard to Mr. Fitch’s candidacy and question related to issues concerning him in regard to Local Govt. in Tasmania.

Mr. Fitch said today that it was “important that people stand up to the kind of dysfunction and unaccountability going on in Tasmanian Council that is costing ratepayers way too much.”

A prime example of this lack of accountability can be found on the agenda of Monday August 21st Launceston City Council’s meeting.

There is an agenda item that will be discussed in closed council. It is proposed that $250,000 of ratepayer funds be spent without going to tender. Mr. Fitch says that ‘this is outrageous and unacceptable behaviour.”

Mr. Fitch will be on the Town Hall steps at 12 noon next to the city’s Coat of Arms that bears the motto “Progress With Prudence”.

For more information:  Phone: 03 – 6344 2688

RELATED INFORMATION:

1. https://tasratepayers.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/media-release-basil-fitch.html
2. https://tasratepayers.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/council-asked-to-approvemajor-turf.html
3. https://tasratepayers.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/local-government-division-releases.html
4. https://basilfitchopenletter.blogspot.com.au Letter to the Premier

LAUNCESTON PR
EMAIL LauncestonPR@bigpond.com
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Paine

ABC News: Mayor defends himself on Facebook after probe into council business

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-19/martyn-evans-derwent-valley-mayor-face
book-defence-after-report/8823178

The mayor of a Tasmanian municipality at the centre of an investigation
into management of council funds has defended himself against the findings
and announced he will not be standing for re-election again.

Local Government Division releases results of investigation into Derwent Valley Council Mercury article

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania

Local Government Division releases results of investigation into Derwent Valley Council SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON, Urban Affairs Reporter, Mercury August 19, 2017 12:00am

DERWENT Valley Mayor Martyn Evans says he won’t stand for council again in the wake of an investigation in which he and general manager Greg Winton were reprimanded for a loan from the council for Cr Evans’ car.

The loan of nearly $7000 to Cr Evans was authorised by Mr Winton without the wider approval of elected members — one of a number of findings in an investigation by Local Government Director Alex Tay.

It followed a number of complaints about the governance and operational performance of the council in October to December last year and was made public yesterday. Mr Winton and the council also received a reprimand from the Local Government Division for a $100,000 loan to the Derwent Valley PCYC — also without consulting elected members.

The investigation, revealed by the Mercury in March, looked at issues such as the management of council funds, the implementation of and adherence to council policies and a failure to adopt the Local Government Division’s model for code of conduct and the management of relationships.
Mr Tay found:

THAT a loan of $6852.73 of ratepayers’ money to a councillor in January last year was made to Cr Evans and authorised by Mr Winton without wider approval from the council’s elected members.

MR WINTON also made a $100,000 loan to the PCYC without the appropriate approval by council, notwithstanding that the mayor and Deputy Mayor Ben Shaw were aware of it.

THERE was a lack of transparency in council decisions.
The report made 15 recommendations and Cr Evans said he was happy with them but described the reprimands as a farce.

“I’m happy the report was done, we’ve already started on some of the recommendations,” he said. “But there are definitely things in the report that I refute, I’m not happy with all the reprimands.

“I think the loan to the mayor was a farce. It’s my car, it’s my personal vehicle and the engine blew on the way to a TasWater meeting when I was going there on council business. I must have driven around 150,000km in that car for council business. I didn’t have a council car.”

Cr Evans said he would not stand in next year’s local government elections. “I definitely won’t be involved,” he said.

“As much as I love the community and representing it, some people make it so hard to do so and want to drag the council through the mud.”

In a statement Mr Winton said he and councillors welcomed the report recommendations and would make council operations more effective and transparent.

END

TASMANIAN TIMES REPORT: “Already underway is an organisational study of the Council’s administrative processes and  the relationship between senior managers and elected Councillors. ...The study and subsequent report will be conducted by UTAS and will be framed on the
department of Premier and Cabinet’s Good Governance Guide for Local Government in  Tasmania (2016)............” CLICK HERE – http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/pr-article/derwent-valley-council-takes-action-/        

END

EDITORIAL NOTE: Whatever the rights and wrongs here its clear that there’s been some shonkiness in play given the 15 undisclosed recommendations. An old bureaucrat in another field has said off the record that all this is more dumb than shonky which actually says a lot about fiscal accountability. Anyway Cr. Evans has had enough and he’s heading for the hills next time round.

The possibility here is that good old SECTION 62 of the Local Government Act has come into play and its turned out that it is in fact out of order. Also its on the cards that there is more of this sort of stuff going on around the state. If it’s only say $10,000 per annum per council on average ( 29 councils) that’s a swag of Tasmanians’ money being applied inappropriately or less than ideally.

These stories tend to be too hard to report on, or they fail the interest test, but this one this time comes at a time when Local Government accountability is somewhat in the spotlight not to mention the impending State Government election and next year being a Local Government election year.

Increasingly ratepayers are wondering about the ability of Local Government to meet community needs and the standards of accountably. When councils hide behind closed doors to make decisions this inevitably raises questions. When it is totally mystifying as to why this sort of thing might happen people worry.

Likewise when arguments arise against the rationalisation of Local Government in favour of the status quo this too is worrying .Its been said that in the area of Local Government there is about $2Billion over 29 council that could spent more effectively. Why are councils so resistant to change that is real and meaningful change.