Analysis of Victorian Councils Post Amalgamation September 2019 spence-consulting.com Spence Consulting 2 Analysis of Victorian Councils Post Amalgamation Analysis by Gavin Mahoney, September 2019 It’s been over 20 years since the historic Victorian Council amalgamations that saw the sacking of 1600 elected Councillors, the elimination of 210 Councils and the creation of 78 new Councils through an amalgamation process with each new entity being governed by State appointed Commissioners. The Borough of Queenscliffe went through the process unchanged and the Rural City of Benalla and the Shire of Mansfield after initially being amalgamated into the Shire of Delatite came into existence in 2002. A new City of Sunbury was proposed to be created from part of the City of Hume after the 2016 Council elections, but this was abandoned by the Victorian Government in October 2015. The amalgamation process and in particular the sacking of a democratically elected Council was referred to by some as revolutionary whilst regarded as a massacre by others. On the sacking of the Melbourne City Council, Cr Tim Costello, Mayor of St Kilda in 1993 said “ I personally think it’s a drastic and savage thing to sack a democratically elected Council. Before any such move is undertaken, there should be questions asked of what the real point of sacking them is”. Whilst Cr Liana Thompson Mayor of Port Melbourne at the time logically observed that “As an immutable principle, local government should be democratic like other forms of government and, therefore the State Government should not be able to dismiss any local Council without a ratepayers’ referendum. We agree local government should be responsive to community demands. It needs to be effective, efficient and accountable. Economies of scale are achievable through resource -sharing, service contracting and workplace reform”. As part of the reform process the Government instructed a sector wide rate cut of 20% and a rates cap! Compulsory Competitive Tendering was implemented requiring at least 50% of Councils services go out for tender. The Governments messaging saw residents and rate payers as “shareholders” and “customers” and when Councillors were eventually elected back onto the newly created bodies, they were to view themselves as “Directors of the Board”, do the steering and not the rowing, with the government vetoing the sacking of any commissioner – appointed CEO by the new Councils. Have the changes improved Local Government for the better? Former Local Government Minister at the time Robert Maclellan from retirement has said “I know that we breathed 100 years of life into local government. It was going to implode. No one could take it seriously in its old form”. Former Premier Jeff Kennett has been quoted as saying “ If we didn’t reduce the number of Councils that existed many of them would have gone broke”. Certainly, larger Councils enjoy economies of scale and enhanced political and financial clout with greater resources for planning, research and policy work. Others argue that the process was never about municipal boundaries, but about the elimination of local democracy, local impacts and the methodology of competitive tendering, sacking Council staff, challenging unions, forcing rate cuts and capping rates. By the late 1990’s the Australian Services Union estimated that 11,000 jobs had been lost. The impact of Council amalgamations on State Governments electoral success or failure is unclear, but one thing is certain and that is that successive State Governments appear to be reluctant in tampering with Council boundaries. Spence Consulting Group has created a resource that highlights the composition of today’s Municipalities in relation to previous Councils and who the appointed Commissioners were. Spence Consulting 3 Post Amalgamations Former Municipalities Government Appointed Commissioners Alpine Shire Shires of Bright and Myrtleford, Mr Kevin Howard Created by Order of the parts of United Shire of Mr Angelo Rigoni Governor in Council on Friday, Beechworth, Shires of Oxley and Mr Leslie Hocking 18 November 1994 Yackandandah Ararat Rural City City and Shire of Ararat and parts Mr Peter Carthew Created by Order of the of Shires of Moyne, Northern Mr John Greene Governor in Council on Friday Grampians and Southern Mr John Dunn 23rd September 1994 Grampians Ballarat City City of Ballarat and Shire of * Mr Vern Robson Created by Order of the Ballarat, the Borough of Mr Bruce Clark Governor in Council on Friday Sebastopol, parts of the Shire of Mr Malcolm Lee 6 May 1994 Bungaree, Buninyong, Grenville and Ripon Banyule City City of Heidelberg and parts of Mr Julian Stock Created by Order of the the Shires of Diamond Valley and Mr Lawrence Jonas Governor in Council on Thursday Eltham Mr John Pizzey 15 December 1994 Bass Coast Shire Shires of Bass and Phillip Island, Mr Maxwell Hopper Created by Order of the the Borough of Wonthaggi, and Mr John Fleming Governor in Council on Friday part of the Shires of Woorayl, Mr William Power 2 December 1994 Korumburra and Cranbourne Baw Baw Shire Shire of Buln Buln, Rural City of Mr John Hardie Created by Order of the Warragul, the Shire of Narracan Mr Thomas Wallace Governor in Council on Friday 2 and part of the Shire of Upper Mr Peter Western December 1994 Yarra Bayside City Cities of Brighton and Mr Douglas Clark Created by Order of the Sandringham, parts of the Cities Mrs Heather Norling Governor in Council on Thursday of Mordialloc and Moorabbin * Mr Morton Browne 15th December 1994 * Mr John Kent Benalla Rural City See Delatite Shire Created by Order of the Governor in Council on Monday 28 October 2002 Boroondara City Cities of Kew, Hawthorn and Mr David Glanville Created by Order of the Camberwell Mr David Thomas Governor in Council on Ms Marion Macleod Wednesday 22 June 1994 Brimbank City City of Sunshine and part City of Mr John MacKenzie Created by Order of the Keilor Mrs Jane Nathan Governor in Council on Thursday Mr John Hall 15 December 1994. Buloke Shire Shires of Wycheproof, Birchip, Mrs Joanne Bourke Created by Order of the Charlton and Donald, part of the Mr Russell Malone Governor in Council on Friday Shire of Kara Kara. Mr Brian Hutchesson January 20, 1995. Campaspe Shire City of Echuca, Shires of Deakin, Mr Douglas Crow Created by Order of the Rochester, Waranga and the Mr Victor Hamit Governor in Council on Friday 18 Town of Kyabram and part of the * Mrs Jeanette Powell November 1994 Shire of Rodney * Hon David Evans Cardinia Shire Shire of Pakenham, and parts of Mr Bernard Coburn Created by Order of the the Shire of Sherbrooke and the Ms Pamela Jones Governor in Council on Thursday City of Cranbourne * Mr John Raymond 15 December 1994 * Mr Des Clark Casey City Most of the City of Berwick and Mr William Boyle Created by Order of the parts of the Cities of Cranbourne Mr Michael Blyth Governor in Council on Thursday and Knox Mrs Pauline Burren 15 December 1994 Spence Consulting 4 Central Goldfields Shire City of Maryborough, shires of Mr John Gault Created by Order of the Tullaroop, Bet Bet and Talbot and Mr David Karmouche Governor in Council on Thursday Clunes Mr Geoffrey Horton 19 January 1995 Colac Otway Shire City and shire of Colac, shire of Mr Hugh Mason Created by Order of the Otway and part of the Shire of Mrs Marie Thornton Governor in Council on Friday, Heytesbury Mr Neil Stewart 23 September 1994 Corangamite Shire Town of Camperdown, the Shires Mr Bernard Milroy Created by Order of the of Hampden and Heytesbury and Mr Neville Smith Governor in Council on Friday parts of the Shires of Otway, Mr Allan Waterson 23 September 1994 Mortlake and Warrnambool Darebin City Cities of Preston and Northcote, Mr John Lester Created by Order of the part of the City of Coburg Mr Brian Baquie Governor in Council on Mr Kenneth Dowling Wednesday 22 June 1994 Delatite Shire Shire of Mansfield, City and Shire Mrs Patricia Gibson Created by Order of the of Benalla, part of the Shire of Mr John Tanner Governor in Council on Friday 18 Violet Town Mr Harry Nix November 1994 East Gippsland Shire City of Bairnsdale, Shire of Mr Bruce Evans Created by Order of the Bairnsdale, Omeo, Orbost, Mr Duncan Malcolm Governor in Council Friday 2 Tambo and part of shire of Mr Peter Woods December 1994 Rosedale. * Mr George Bates * Hon Peter Nixon Frankston City City of Frankston, parts of City of Mr Thomas Sweeney Created by Order of the Springvale and City of Mr George Batchelor Governor in Council Thursday 15 Cranbourne Mr James McCoy December 1994 Gannawarra Shire Borough of Kerang, most of the Mr Ronald Vine Created by Order of the shires of Kerang and Cohuna Mr Drew English Governor in Council, Friday 20 Mr Kenneth Mawson January 1995 Glen Eira City City of Caulfield, part of the City Mr Cliff Caldwell Created by Order of the of Moorabbin Mr Charles Williams Governor in Council on Thursday Ms Virginia Rogers 15 December 1994. Glenelg Shire City of Portland, Shires of The Hon Digby Crozier Created by Order of the Glenelg and Heywood Mr Holford “Tiger” Wettenhall Governor in Council Friday 23 Mr Jeffrey Baulch September 1994 Golden Plains Shire Shires of Bannockburn, Leigh, Mrs Claire Barber Created by Order of the Grenville and part of Buninyong Governor in Council Friday 6 May 1994 Greater Bendigo City City of Bendigo, Shires of Hon Mr Peter Ross Edwards Created by Order of the Huntley, Strathfieldsaye, and the * Mr Maurice Sharkey Governor in Council on Thursday Borough of Eaglehawk, parts of * Ms Maxine Crouch 7 April 1994 the Rural City of Marong, the * Mr Les Crofts Shires of McIvor and Metcalf.