Hickey Rates The Councils

Newcastle Herald

Thursday January 4, 2007

Leaders

THE latest NSW Department of Local Government report into the operation of the state's 152 local councils opens with a forward from Local Government Minister Kerry Hickey, who reminds readers that the statistics within the report "do not, on their own, give the full picture of a council's performance".

They can show differences between councils but they cannot, as the Cessnock MP acknowledges, "explain why these differences have arisen". Mr Hickey then urges anyone wanting "further details or explanations" to contact their local council. He is probably hoping that no-one takes his advice, because NSW councils are almost uniformly convinced that the State Government is the architect of most of their problems, thanks to rate pegging and cost shifting.

A council funded inquiry into local government finances by former NSW treasury secretary Percy Allen found last year that councils had been forced to take on about $400 million a year in unfunded obligations as Canberra shifted costs onto the states, which offloaded what they could to local government. NSW is the only jurisdiction to peg rates, and the Allen report says the legacy after 30 years is a massive problem with ageing infrastructure. Newcastle has more than its share, which is why Lord Mayor John Tate turned to the public with the council's short-lived "gold coin a week" campaign.

Announcing his department's 253-page report yesterday, Mr Hickey had another view, saying rate pegging "protects ratepayers from massive, unchecked rate increases" and "creeping" council costs. He paid special attention to Newcastle council, saying there was "room for improvement" in processing development applications (DAs). Interestingly, Newcastle took just 45 days to process DAs, against the NSW median of 53 days, making it twice as quick as Lake Macquarie (98 days) and Port Stephens (92 days).

Across the board, Hunter councils return generally credible results in the dozens of performance areas tabled in the report. Upper Hunter Mayor Barry Rose has a point when he questions the relevance of a report based on the 2004-05 financial year, which finished 18 months ago. Cr Rose says the department already has his council's 2005-06 DA figures. In his information age, the Government could heed its own call for efficiency and publish such reports more quickly.

Wine in the sun

An unexpected influx of interstate and international tourists in Hunter Valley wine country is good news for an industry that has traditionally done its best business in winter.

Tourist operators say the new arrivals have been lured by advertising campaigns and the growing international reputations of Hunter wines.

Cessnock summers are often baking hot affairs, and even Noel Coward's "mad dogs and Englishmen" would keep to the coast.

The first month of summer was mild enough, but the mercury could rise substantially in the coming weeks. If it does, our vineyards visitors will find the cool dark of a wine cellar the best place to hide.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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