July Leading Edge Forum Thursday July 2nd: New Councillors Surf The Learning Curve
Don’t miss our next LEF in our offices in Carlton which will share tips and support to newly elected Councillors. Please join us for dinner and drinks at 6.30pm and the LEF from 7.00pm.
Consistent with the VLGA’s aim to build the capacity of Councillors, this LEF will be more of a learning and sharing opportunity for new Councillors. Of course longer serving Councillors are welcome to share your knowledge and tips with your newly elected colleagues!
Questions explored will include:
* Now that you’ve passed the half way mark of your first year on Council, has everything gone the way you thought it would?
* What surprises came your way?
* What tools or knowledge do you need from past and present Councillors to ‘surf the learning curve’ for the remainder of your Council term?
Planning
The VLGA continues to impress upon the Minister for Planning that partnership with local governments in planning requires real commitment and that surprise call-ins (most recently affecting South Gippsland and Mildura) and DACs in their current form (in which Council bears the costs and responsibility, but is not the decision maker), do not represent a genuine partnership.
While local governments are often chastised for lengthy decision making, we also call for speedier passage of Planning Scheme Amendments through the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and more resources at VCAT to make the existing processes more effective. We recently met with the Minister repeating our request that these issues are addressed.
Many in the community are also expressing their frustration at recent planning decisions, as evidenced by a letter we recently forwarded to member Councillors and CEOs. This was followed up yesterday by several articles and the publication of an open letter from concerned Councillors in the Age.
Community Win On Pokies Bill
As a post-script to our recent note on Pokies and our forum on June 4th, the Gambling Regulation Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2009 was passed unanimously by the Upper House having been amended to include some of the features we recommended and as discussed in this enews on May 29th. We will publish more thorough details in the near future.
In the meantime, our thanks go to the many MPs, Councillors and community members who joined us in advocating for amendments to the Bill.
This is yet another example of how the VLGA’s advocacy, and the concerted work of our Local Government Working Group On Gambling (LGWGOG) leading to positive results. Our bottom-up policy development processes really can make a difference.
Filming Council Meetings
Also, following on from the last enews, your feedback regarding filming Council meetings suggests that you support the principle of transparent and accessible meetings via webcasts or other filming.
However, many have concerns about the rights of residents not to be filmed, costs of defamation should defamatory statements be made and re-published, as well as filming not getting in the way of the orderly conduct of meetings. We will seek further advice on how these problems could be addressed.
Green Purchasing Awards Announced
VLGA members ECO-Buy held their 2009 ECO-Buy Awards for Excellence in Green Purchasing at the National Gallery of Victoria on Thursday, May 20.
According to Mike Hill the winners “…are excellent examples of green purchasing in action. They are demonstrating strong leadership by reducing the environmental impact of their activities and setting the standard for the broader community.”
VLGA Member Councils fared well, with Council winners including:
* Metropolitan Council Award – Casey City Council
* Regional Council Award – Mildura Rural City Council
* Small Rural Council Award – Hepburn Shire Council
* Recycled Product Purchasing Award – Mildura Rural City Council
* Water Saving Champion Council Award – Greater Bendigo City Council
* Greenhouse Friendly Purchasing Award – Buloke Shire Council, and
* Green Powered Champion Council Award – Hepburn Shire Council.
State Government and Business Winners included:
* Victorian State Government Award – Department Of Treasury And Finance, and
* Business Award – Toyota Australia.
Congratulations to all nominees and winners from the VLGA. Further details of the Awards can be found at http://www.ecobuy.org.au/
Members may also be interested in the State of Victorian Local Government Green Purchasing 2007/08 Report, which profiles the green purchasing activity of ECO-Buy’s 47 reporting Councils last financial year.
A one page summary of findings and the full report can also be downloaded from http://www.ecobuy.org.au/ – just follow the ECO-Buy launches 8th Victorian Local Goverment green purchasing report link on the left hand side of the webpage.
This is fascinating reading with some great results that demonstrate how local governments are leading the way!
Health, Wellbeing and Community Enterprise: the Role of Local Government Report Launched
The above Research Report from a University of Melbourne/VLGA Community Enterprise Project was launched yesterday. The project was funded by the Department of Human Services Public Health Research Grants to look at the impact of community enterprise on health and to develop an information and resource guide for local governments.
The Research Report includes case studies developed to provide a basis for local governments to understand what they can do to support community and social enterprises.
Contact our office on 03 9349 7999 or vlga@vlga.org.au for a copy of the Research Report and Resource Guide.
Preventing violence against women
The four year Research Project Gender, Local Government and Violence prevention (aka GLOVE) will complete its work at end of June 2009 after working with four local governments to increase the effectiveness of violence prevention measures and reduce the gap between how “public” violence and “private” violence is tackled.
Following Kevin Rudd’s 2008 White Ribbon Day speech, an 11 member National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children was set up. The National Council released its Time for Action: The National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, 2009-2021. The Plan offers yet another plank in the Australia wide support for preventing violence against women initiatives
Many of our member local governments are now independently taking action to prevent violence against women. VLGA will host the GLOVE resources on our website following the GLOVE project completion and will continue to take a pro-active role in working with Councillors, officers, Local Governments, MAV, other Governments and VicHealth to ensure that together we make the future free of violence against women.
No comments:
Post a Comment