Friday 29th of March 2024

the battle for our neighbourhoods...

ozarm, ceetoyins!

Mike Baird wants to lock in council mergers across the state by the end of the year, setting the scene for pitched battles with local governments that do not want to bend. 

But the Premier will not say how he will compel or cajole councils into amalgamating, despite the release of a report on Tuesday suggesting mergers could save Sydney councils $2 billion over 20 years.
"We are determined to get on with this," he said at the release of the report by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.The IPART report found about 60 per cent of the state's councils were not "fit for the future", according to IPART's criteria.



"Mergers will cost state taxpayers and local ratepayers money." Mosman mayor Peter Abelson. 
The list included Clover Moore's City of Sydney Council, which was considered fit on the criteria applied to other councils, but did not meet the tougher test of a "global city council".
In Sydney, only 12 of the city's councils submitted proposals to IPART deemed to be fit. Most of the 29 deemed unfit failed on the basis they did not meet the scale and capacity criteria.
The Premier will now give councils 30 days to respond to IPART ...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ipart-report-the-sydney-councils-facing-the-axe-20151020-gkdce0.html#ixzz3pAUQlvMz Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

Of course I would suggest the Baird's war on councils is to take away your rights, your views especially if they do not conform to his bulldozing desires of pushing a Westconnex through at the expense of public transport... Lucky Fred is in the way. Let's hope Labor does not weaken at the knees either... Fight this rubbish coming from a Liberal (CONservative) rubbish government ! 

 

building huge black holes...

The company contracted to assess environmental impacts of a controversial WestConnex tunnel proposed for the Inner West of Sydney has deep interests in the planning and construction of the $15 billion motorway project, raising questions about the independence and integrity of the planning assessment process.

The same firm is the subject of an ongoing legal action in Queensland – more than 650 investors are suing for $150 million, claiming the company’s traffic predictions for a privately-owned toll-road in Brisbane were substantially inflated.

Global engineering, energy and design company AECOM has been paid $1.6 million to provide the NSW Baird government an assessment of the environmental risks for the M4 East tunnel, from Homebush to Sydney’s Inner West (Stage 1 of WestConnex).

AECOM has previously partnered with Leighton Contractors, which is part of the successful joint venture winning bid with John Holland and Samsung C&T to construct the Westconnex M4 East, announced by the Baird government today. AECOM and Leightons been joint contruction partners in other road building contracts, and jointly bid for the East West Link in Melbourne but withdrew the bid on the grounds that it was too risky. 

This is one of six contracts the company has been awarded by the WestConnex Delivery Authority (WDA) over the last 18 months. The contracts have a combined value of over $9 million, and cover a range of services.

https://newmatilda.com/2015/06/04/westconnex-mike-bairds-tunnel-big-corporate-love/

no to councils mergers...

Time is running out for Premier Mike Baird to sell the benefits of local council amalgamations and make sensible compromises.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal found this week that only about 50 of the state's 152 councils were fit for the future – based on the government's criteria. The conclusion at worst overstates the problem and at best should be seen as a guide towards deciding which councils are most in need of reform.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/mike-baird-must-bolster-independence-in-council-merger-decisions-20151020-gked8j.html#ixzz3pEpd1lrZ
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook


... "based on the government's criteria" is the sneaky key part of the trick here. One can smell the old criteria trick devised to oust the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1999 from the League they had helped create in 1908... I know we live in 2015 and the Rabbits have won one premiership since — after major protests in 2000... Unfortunately they tanked this year. But the undercurrents of these criteria were nasty and destroyed too many people.
Here when criteria are devised one can set the bar at any height one wishes — even the Baird government does not pass mustard. His transport policy stinks. 
So do you think that by sharing already overworked services between councils this is going to improve services? NO.
Will council save money by having less councillors by being merged? NO, because councillors get peanuts anyway and the mayors salary is often not worth a marble table...
Do you think that by merging councils, you will keep developers out of the system? STOP ME ! I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING...
Do you think your rates will fall? DREAM ON... The government is promising "more grants" to ensure a smooth merger of councils... You will end up paying somewhere else and your rates will raise anyway... Remember when the public insurance office GIO ran the green slip for a modest sum? I know you're too young... Now it's gone through the roof! Without loyalty discounts, discounts to make you switch insurer and no claim bonus, your green slip would be approaching $900. Some people have to pay more...
But the main thing would be will you keep your parks? Will your suburb not become another tall termite warren for short people (the ceilings are now down to barely above 7 feet) under the spell of developers grinding at your LOVED conservation areas? Will your suburb not become an outlet for concentrated petrol/diesel fumes? Will you bins collection not be cut for "improvement of services"? 
There are many more objections to the merger of councils but these shall suffice for now. There is no sensible mergers. These mergers are designed to facilitate developers coming into your area, and increase the density of housing, reduce the amount of greenery and not provide any new services like schools, no transport, no local stores except giant supermarkets...
BIGGER IS NOT BETTER. As E. F. Schumacher famously said : "Small is beautiful"... Small is actually the way the future goes, including the providing/storing of your own electricity. THIS IS WHAT SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF TENTACULAR ENTERPRISES including the Baird government...
Tell Baird to play with himself.

the smiling assassin...

Mr Baird said it was likely that council elections would need to be moved from September 2016 to March 2017, although the government was still aiming for the earlier date.

A delegate of the Boundaries Commission will conduct the public inquiry into individual mergers and provide an initial report to the commission.

The commission will make a recommendation to government and Mr Toole will then make the final declaration. Public submissions can be made to the delegate.

Members of the commission will be announced in 2016.

Councils facing mergers will be offered up to $10 million toward the costs of transition and up to $15 million for community infrastructure.

One surprise under the plan is a four-way merger in the Illawarra, which would result in two new super councils, even though all four councils were found recently to be financially fit for the future.

Councils reacted angrily to the forced mergers.

A spokesman for Woollahra council said it would fight the proposal to merge it with Waverley and Randwick.

The council fears its ratepayers will see big jumps in rates.

There are also different philosophies between Woollahra and Waverley over high density development.

Hunters Hill mayor Richard Quinn also criticised the way the briefing process was handled.

He had sought to ask two questions of the Premier during the webcast, but was unable to so.

"Which makes me wonder how many other questions from other mayor and general managers that they chose to ignore," Cr Quinn said.

"Clearly this is still being stage-managed."


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/council-mergers-baird-government-reveals-which-sydney-councils-will-change-20151217-glqk5y.html#ixzz3ueMDeTEc
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

Killing your councils with a smile on his face.... Kick him in the budgies at the next state election...

is the pope catholic?...

 

"I'm just wondering is the NSW government, the Baird government, on a deliberate campaign to torpedo Malcolm Turnbull," Jones asked.

"This is just chucking a bomb."

Jones said the forced amalgamations were a hand grenade "about to blow up" and the plan was not maintaining local democracy or council services. He dismissed the possibility outgoing Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop could be appointed as a council administrator.

Jones agreed with Save Our Councils campaigners that plans to leave Shoalhaven and Kiama councils as stand-alone were "bizarre", while nearby Wollongong and Shellharbour councils would be merged.

"No prizes for [guessing] which councils are in the marginal federal Liberal seat and which are in a Labor electorate," Jones said.

He accused Mr Baird of "slaughtering local democracy and local communities" and said campaigners opposed to the mergers would not give up without continuing the fight through the federal election campaign. The plan could see NSW Nationals leader Troy Grant lose his leadership, Jones said.

"I find this unbelievable ... Malcolm Turnbull is trying to win an election.

"My understanding is there will be a move within the party to replace Troy Grant as leader, and the call down the Nationals is that Paul Toole, the local government minister, should resign today."

"I honestly cannot believe this. I cannot believe Michael Baird wouldn't say "well I've listened to the community, I've heard the community, I'll put this on hold...". That's what you do," Jones said.

"This is where Malcolm Turnbull has got to get tough and just say simply "are you trying to bury me?" Malcolm Turnbull has got enough on his plate without having to deal with forced amalgamations for god's sake.

"Every vote is critical to Malcolm Turnbull. Barnaby Joyce has said "call the dogs off", he's the deputy prime minister.

NSW cabinet is set to consider the merger plans on Thursday morning, before the plans are put to a meeting of the Coalition party room.

"I'm going to ring Malcolm Turnbull when I get off here and just say... you have to intervene here.... this is costing you votes," Jones said. 

"Malcolm Turnbull has got a fight on his hands and he can do without this," Mr Jones said. "This is very unfair to Malcolm Turnbull and is very unfair to the federal government."


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/alan-jones-accuses-mike-baird-of-trying-to-torpedo-malcolm-turnbull-over-council-mergers-20160511-got2z4.html#ixzz48PI2MOmV
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook


Mike Baird and Tony Abbott are both Catholics and strongly influenced by Opus Dei, a ghastly religious outfit. They both hate Malcolm. Do the sums... Opus Dei is "their community", so they have listened to the "community".... Not to you and me but to the exclusive club of rabid believers who could also be "developers"... 

 

administrators' bullshit...

 

Childcare centres? Roads? 

The freshly minted City of Canterbury Bankstown is seeking consultants to brainstorm a "brand strategy".

"We are looking for a total brand strategy – not simply a new logo," a notice seeking expressions of interest reads.

There will be a brand audit, customer segmentation and "competitor mapping".

Focus groups are envisaged to develop "key messaging" and brand position. Then a campaign rolled out to deliver "important strategic outcomes" for the community.

There was a time when local government's goals and direction were determined by local residents in a voting booth.

Councillors were elected from within the community they served, in an old-fashioned notion this would give them the necessary insight into local concerns. If their "key messaging" was out of touch, voters dumped them – the ultimate focus group.

That was before the administrators were brought in. Welcome to corporatised Sydney, where 19 new councils will be run by unelected chief bureaucrats until September 2017, when democracy is restored with elections.

Canterbury Bankstown's administrator Richard Colley is an old hand. He is a past general manager of Bankstown Council. But it is his track record of taking over the running of Wollongong Council, which was sacked in the wake of an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation into bribery, that provides a blueprint for this idea of an extended "administration" period for the new councils.

Colley was appointed in 2010, one of a string of Wollongong administrators, after elections were suspended for four years.

Before that, he had conducted an inquiry into Shellharbour Council in 2008, recommending it be dissolved for four years because of dysfunction. In 2014, he recommended administration for the sacked Central Darling Shire for unrestrained spending.

Whining, backbiting local politicians can't compete with the pure efficiency of an administrator writing policies, guidelines and getting things done.

Inside the Canterbury Bankstown "entity", the bureaucrats are finally off the leash. One insider questioned what a bunch of councillors and mayor should have to do with the brand strategy anyway, when the focus group process will give local businesses, potential investors and the community "buy in".

The $10 million in implementation funds given to each merged council by the Baird government was gleefully identified as a way to fund the brand strategy, which had previously been put on the backburner until after the next elections by since-sacked Bankstown councillors.

Canterbury Bankstown interim general manager Matthew Stewart says the brand is "very important".

"It is not necessary to wait until the next council election, which is 16 months away. This would also mean the new city is treading water for more than a year and missing out on potential economic growth and the creation of more jobs for its residents," he said.

A spokeswoman for Local Government Minister Paul Toole said the $10 million could be used by the new councils to cover the cost of  "expert implementation advice, integrating systems and other changes such as new signs and website". 

The mind boggles at what other projects will be unleashed while the councillors of metropolitan Sydney are missing.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/council-bureaucrats-are-off-the-leash-20160527-gp5q05.html#ixzz4A0WivdKU 
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook


"Brand audit, customer segmentation and "competitor mapping"? Who are they trying to kid? This is grand bullshit from the marketing bible for attracting "clients" to your ideas of selling THEIR assets... Here we can see that ordinary punters living in neighbourhoods would have no clue about the wording of the swindle, but savvy developers, used to flog horizontal strata in vertical towers knowing the snake oil vernacular, will rub their hands in glee and become the major influencers of development of the "clients" — while the community will see tinsel and dazzle go up their arse. 

Baird is a Catholic arsehole, mind you, for disbanding the councils so far from proper elections. The time till then will thus be used by developers in bed with administrators "in charge of "competitor mapping" (read high density developments) to push as hard as they can to destroy entire suburbs, with high rise towers and other unsightly developments...

 

 

See toon at top...

time to de-merge...

...

In August, Cr Byrne’s pay was suspended for three months after a tribunal found him guilty of having a conflict of interest in using a council vote to quash inflammatory comments about him and others on social media.

Cr Byrne, who is a former staffer to Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, has also faced criticism for the amount he spends on his personal staff team and accusations of strained relationships with general managers.

 

Cr Byrne said he had worked tirelessly for the past four years to make the council “progressive and effective”.

“The magnificent new Marrickville Library, the awesome Ashfield Aquatic Centre and the heritage restoration of Dawn Fraser Baths are [three] examples.”

In 2017, Cr Byrne secured a majority of eight votes after the five Labor councillors brokered a deal with the two Liberal councillors and Cr Macri, as some hecklers at the meeting accused him of “doing a deal with the devil”.

The Liberals - who have two seats on the Labor and Greens dominated council - were in turn rewarded with the deputy mayoral position, after Labor threw their numbers behind Liberal councillor Julie Passas’ bid for the role.

 

The Inner West is among councils that must elect a new mayor in Septemberbefore all councillors in NSW face re-election at the local government polls, which were twice delayed due to COVID-19 and are scheduled to take place on December 4.

 

 

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/inner-west-councillors-oust-controversial-labor-mayor-darcy-byrne-20210907-p58pjy.html

 

 

Read from top.

 

 

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