‘HOW INNOVATION CAN BLOSSOM
IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT’
DR JOHN MARTIN, EMERITUS PROF LA TROBE,
ADJUNCT PROF, ACELG, UTS, FLGMA
And how it can die away……..
• What happens to innovation award winners in
local government?
• What can we learn from those golden periods
of innovation in local governments?
Innovation Strategies in Australian
Local Government
• Research based on Commonwealth Government
innovation award winners in the late 90s
• ‘interested in the way in which innovation
processes become embedded in the culture of
local government organisations’
• After hearing each recipient in the selection
process I visited the award winners to meet with
the staff and learn more about their innovation
• What did I observe?
• How did my findings relate to the literature on
innovation?
The case studies
• See: Martin, J. (2000) Innovation Strategies in
Australian Local Government: Occasional
Paper 4, Melbourne, Australian Housing and
Urban Research Institute (email me for a copy)
• Richmond River Shire (now Richmond Valley)
• Whittlesea City Council
• Wollongong City Council
• Baraba Shire Council (now Tamworth RC)
What did we find?
• Identified eight characteristics of innovative
local government:
– The key role of creative individuals
– Responding to external pressure for change
– Encouraging experimentation and the search for
new ideas
– Networking with other organisations
– Building on absorptive capacity
– Building Innovative Capacity
– Managing flexible organisation structures
– Having a long-term community focus
Wollongong City Council, NSW
• In 1997 Wollongong City Council received a national
Australian Quality Award
• Key principles:
–
–
–
–
Customer focus
Continuous improvement
Teamwork
Data and measurement
• a ‘free standing’ enterprise bargaining agreement, one that it
is not supported by employment awards (a common practice
in other local government organisations), and one which
guarantees employment security (something the Council has
been able to deliver on).
Legacy: Quality Improvement
• ‘The NSW corruption watchdog has recommended
charges be laid against former Wollongong town
planner … … and her erstwhile lover, developer … …,
over a sex-for-development scandal at Wollongong
City Council.’
• ‘Oct 9, 2008 - The ICAC yesterday labelled the saga
as the most entrenched corruption it had witnessed
with all involved facing possible jail sentences of
up ...’
• ‘But to establish actual corrupt conduct within five
levels of a NSW public sector organisation, as has
occurred with Wollongong City Council, is without
precedent,’ (ICAC Commissioner Cripps)
Richmond River Shire Council, NSW
• Their business enterprise making concrete
products for bridges and drainage won a
Bluett Award in the mid 90s.
• In 2000 amalgamated with Casino Municipal
Council to form Richmond Valley Shire
Council.
Legacy: Entrepreneurial income
• Enterprise wound up in recent years with
debts of $4mill, a large workers comp case to
fund and lawyers fees for the RVC.
• To cover costs they ‘grew the business’ and
took on work well beyond their community.
• Competed with private sector on large jobs,
claims they were undercut on bids.
City of Whittlesea, Victoria
• Has won numerous innovation awards over an
extended period.
• Senior management team remains in place
over this period.
• Relatively stable council not impacted by
amalgamations.
• Focus on planning, technology and community
engagement.
Legacy: Continuing progress
• Whittlesea is one of the fastest growing urban
councils in the northern suburbs of
Melbourne.
• It continues to be recognised as an innovative
organisation across many council functions.
Bararba Shire Council
• The ‘Bird Routes of
Baraba’
• The GM and a local
stock & station
agent
• Now the Tamworth
Regional Council
Legacy: Bird Routes of
the Tamworth Regional
Council Area
• Now some 23 ‘bird
routes’ of central NSW
based on the Bird Routes
of Barraba model.
TRC State of the Env Report
• ‘All vegetated Travelling Stock Routes (TSRs) and
road reserves should be managed as
environmentally sensitive areas because of their
value as habitat corridors, unique landscape and
vegetation features and significance for
vegetation cover, as well as a refuge for
threatened plants and animals. The TSRs of the
former Barraba shire were the basis of the award
winning ― Bird Routes of Barraba‖that
encourages birdwatchers to visit the region.’
(p.156)
Do the characteristics of innovative
local government still apply?
• Yes, but we would add.
• An innovative culture is ephemeral, transitory
• Leadership changes (CEO/senior managers
and/or Mayor/councillors) will make a
difference – they need to ‘make their mark’
• Innovation is coincidental and good luck, but
• It can be facilitated, organised and managed
• The characteristics provide a framework
Diagnosing your council’s
readiness for innovation
In Summary
• We can all reflect on the good times, they pass
• We can think through what made these times
good
• We can all show leadership – it is not the privy
of those in authority
• We all have a choice: take initiative or …..
Good luck – you’ll need it
John.martin@latrobe.edu.au
0421584313