LEADERS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
RESOURCE SHARING
ROGER STEPHAN, CEO
Who we are
Eleven councils representing a community approaching
700,000 in number.
Member councils:
Dungog, Cessnock, Gloucester, Great Lakes, Lake
Macquarie, Maitland, Muswellbrook, Newcastle, Port
Stephens, Singleton, Upper Hunter and Mid-Western
Regional.
Our region is diverse. Some LGAs are amongst the
fastest growing in New South Wales with Maitland’s
population, for example, growing 23.3% in the 10 years to
2011.
Others are predominantly rural with small
populations and constrained resourcing.
Who we are
Our Origins
Hunter Councils was originally established in 1955 as a means by
which local government in the Hunter could strategically respond to the
devastation of the 1955 Flood.
In the 1990s the members of what was then called the Hunter Regional
Organisation of Councils reviewed their approach and adopted the
ILAC (Integrated Local Area Council) model as their approach to
regional cooperation.
Context
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•
•
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The change environment of the 1990s
Significant structural change in Victoria and other states
Voluntary structural reform in NSW
Imperative to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness
ILAC essentially relates to there being a natural catchment for almost
all activities that a Council undertakes.
Examples…..
One of the attractions:
Economies of scale in production become irrelevant if it is possible for a
Local Government to purchase a public good from a specialised
provider that is producing on a scale large enough to reap all the
economies of scale and scope.
In other words, if the act of production is separated from the act of
provision of the public good, the economies of scale argument ceases
to be central to determining the optimal size (in either population or
geographic scale terms) of a Local Government unit.
Our Approach
Our initial core focus areas:
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Environmental programs
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Training
•
Procurement
•
Records Management
Our Approach
Two entities formed the basis of the “new” organisation:
•
Hunter Councils Inc – a long established association
primarily focused in its early years on inter-council
communication and soft advocacy
•
Hunter Councils Ltd – a company limited by guarantee to
manage the commercial operations of the wider entity
Our Approach
Why a commercial entity?
•
The initial focus was on records management – specifically the
operation of a Records Repository. It was not considered that a
Records Repository was a traditional “local government” role and
that it would benefit by being run on “business lines”
•
It was considered that the commercial operation(s) would
ultimately fund Hunter Councils and, in the longer term, subsidise
the operations of member councils through payment of a dividend
•
The optional nature of member council take up of services
required a wider spectrum of customers than existed within the
region and in the local government sector itself.
How our Approach Evolved
•
Rapid growth of training and procurement “business”
activities within the structure of the Association – in part
facilitated by office space rented out by the new company
•
Development of new activities
subsidisation by profitable units
•
Elimination in 2009 of any member council subsidisation of
the organisation.
enabled
by
cross
We are a “beyond region” business
Eleven LGA “asset owners”
Twelve core program LGA members
Fourteen LGA members in relation to environmental programs
Eleven LGA members in relation to film and television
Forty eight members in regard to Procurement
Over 100 LGA customers in regard to training programs (in three
States)
Twenty LGA clients in regard to records management (many more
private sector clients)
Consultancy advice provided in four states and six overseas countries.
The Environment Division
The Environment Division
Focus areas for the Environment Division include climate change,
sustainability, coastal and marine issues, biodiversity conservation, urban water
cycle, catchment management and weeds management.
The Division delivers tailored services to meet the individual and collective
needs of councils - examples include staff training, specialist mapping
products, council systems audits, community education materials and
campaigns.
In-house design of innovative environmental assessment, planning and
management tools to promote best practice by councils e.g. Electronic REF
template & and Roadside Marker Scheme – award winning projects with the
potential to be rolled out Australia wide. The Division has also resourced the
completion of regional and local climate change risk assessment and
adaptation strategies for all Hunter LGAs. Councils of the region are now
recognised as Australian leaders in this area
The LGTI
The LGTI
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The Local Government Training Institute is a Registered Training Organisation.
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Located in purpose built facilities completed in 2008 the Institute is one of Australia’s
most prominent, if not the most prominent, providers of training to local government
and is rapidly growing its training base in the private sector. It has also recently
expanded into international training.
•
In 2013/2014 over 15,000 individuals participated in training conducted by the
Institute.
Focus areas include:
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•
•
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Statutory compliance training (WorkCover, RTA, OH&S, etc)
Nationally accredited traineeships and professional qualifications in local government,
the public sector, management, health and business
Specialty town planning, rating, regulatory services, records administration and other
training
Professional development activities (short courses) on leadership, code of conduct,
report writing, meeting management, performance management and much more.
LADA
Regional Procurement
Regional Procurement was formed to assist local government achieve
economies of scale benefits and reduced administration costs for its members.
Regional Procurement currently has 38 members from seven regional
organisations of councils based throughout metropolitan and country New
South Wales. Tenders managed through the initiative are diverse, and have
included electricity, signage, bulk chemicals, small plant, tyres, bulk fuel,
bitumen emulsion and much more.
2013/2014 saw approximately $98,000,000 in goods and services purchased
through contracts directly managed by Regional Procurement.
Regional Procurement has achieved quality assurance accreditation and
provides its services – including staff time, research, advertising and training –
at no cost to member Councils of Hunter Councils.
Hunter Records Storage
Hunter Records Storage
Hunter Records Storage operates a state of the art records repository that provides its with
24 hour, 7 days per week access to their records details via the internet, customised billing,
invoicing, reporting and direct delivery.
Hunter Records Storage currently manages over 170,000 file boxes containing
approximately 4,000,000 client files. Its services include:
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Records boxing, storage and retrieval
Cataloguing, indexing and scanning
Photocopying
Secure disposal
Acting as a Council’s “Post Office”.
Such
is
the
growth
of
the
business
that
additional
sites
(Central
Coast of New South Wales and the north west of the State) are being investigated for the
construction of new facilities. Additional services will also be rolled out including dedicated
archival storage.
Non-local government clients represent 70% of the revenue of the business with major
growth occurring in the private sector and in health facilities (principally hospitals).
Hunter Records Storage
•
Stage 2 of the Thornton storage facility has now been completed and will see our local
storage needs met until the beginning of 2017
Screen Hunter
Screen Hunter markets our regions as filming destinations and is a one-stopshop for filming approvals, location scouting assistance, sourcing of local crew,
services and support. The Screen Office provides these services at no cost to
member councils – saving those councils tens of thousands of dollars in
administration costs.
In the last 12 months Screen Hunter Central Coast has approved more stills,
television and movie productions than most of the other regional screen offices
in New South Wales combined. The local spend involved in screen related
activity in the same 12 months is estimated at over $15 million.
Hunter Councils – through Screen Hunter Central Coast – is now guiding the
development of a number of film festivals and creative industries training
programs in the Lower Hunter including the Real Film Festival in Newcastle.
The Real Film Festival
An initiative of Screen Hunter, the Real Film
Festival (RFF) is a three-day festival created
to foster and develop the art of story telling
real events through film and comprising
industry development workshops, short films
competitions and a collection of short,
independent and documentary films.
The festival was designed to educate and
inspire film production across all levels of
proficiency, create stronger industry networks,
link like-minded people and provide a film
festival where film lovers and artists can view
independent films and share messages and
stories of the world. We aim to raise
awareness of International cinema and the
importance of independent films.
Consultancy Services
This is one of the newest business activity of Hunter Councils, and comprises the
provision of strategic consultancy services such as business planning, community
engagement strategy, media strategy and training, general meeting facilitation and
economic and tourism development initiatives.
Services are provided free to Hunter Councils members, at a discount to other local
government entities and at cost to the private sector..
Past work has included:
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Strategic Planning and Organisational Review
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Economic Development Strategy Review
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Tourism strategy and structure review
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Performance Management
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Development of business plans / organisational reviews for private sector entities.
A significant number of overseas consultancies have also been provided
Local Government Legal
Local Government Legal is the trading name for Hunter Councils Legal
Services Limited, the legal services entity developed by Hunter Councils to
provide cost effective legal services to local councils in New South Wales.
Local Government Legal is an incorporated legal practice which provides a
range of legal services to local councils in the areas of local government,
planning, environmental, administrative and property law.
Local Government Legal has been created by local government for local
government. We only act for local government and specialise in law as it
applies to local government.
Beginning operation in February 2012 Local Government Legal has quickly
built a client base within and beyond the Hunter and it is one of the fastest
growing public sector focused legal firms in New South Wales.
Visitor Economy Hunter
From 1 July 2013 Hunter Councils took over as the regional
tourism organisation for the Hunter Region.
Tourism in the Hunter is enormously important. It directly employs
over 12,000 people and injects $1.2 billion into our regional
economy annually.
The role of Visitor Economy Hunter is to draw together all the
stakeholders who directly provide tourism services, provide
infrastructure that enables it and provide mechanisms to promote
and market tourism opportunities.
Port Stephens
Upper Hunter
Newcastle
Major Events Strategy
Cruise Ships
Business Tourism and MICE
Muswellbrook
Access – aviation, roads, rail
Industry development – research, products
Lake
Macquarie
International Marketing
Information Provision
Digital distribution and marketing
Singleton
Infrastructure – conference and exhibition,
cycle ways, place making, marine facilities
Sports Tourism
Arts and Cultural Tourism
Benchmarking
Education and training
Cessnock
Dungog
Gloucester
Maitland
New business services:
Key areas capacity building
Town Planning / Statutory Planning Services
Local Government Engineering
Design and Asset Management Services
Local Council integrated planning (10 year
plan) and reporting advisory services
Professional Teams
The professional teams bring together specialists from Councils throughout our
region to share professional insights, support and resources and to encourage
region wide high professional standards.
Teams include, but are not limited to:
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LEP Group GIS Group and Asset Managers Group
Customer Service Team
Internal Audit Group
Risk Management Team
Community Development Network
Human Resources Managers
WH&S
Training and Development Team
Hunter Records Team
Hunter Councils provided a wide range of resources and training at no cost to the
professional teams or their councils.
Last, but not least......
Our Board and Regional Advocacy
The Board of Hunter Councils comprises the Mayors of each of
the Local Government Areas of the Hunter.
Supported by their General Managers, the Board meet seven
times a year to oversee development and implementation of
Hunter Councils strategic directions and priorities agenda as well
as to form and articulate policy responses to issues impacting on
our local communities, economy and environment.
Each of the Board members has one vote and is treated with
complete equality no matter the size of their organisation or
council area. The Board acts by consensus with a vote having
been required only three times in the last five years of our
operation.
Hunter Councils in Summary
• From small beginnings its growth has been exponential and
there is no indication that this will stop
• The organisation is self-funding with no risk attaching to the
member councils
• There is an expectation that services to member councils will
be at cost / at cost with a small margin / entirely free
• Member councils represent approximately 30% of the
business
• The private sector is providing the greatest business growth
• The Board of the entity contains the principal income
generating activities comprises the Mayors of the Region
• The General Managers of the Region are the Board of the
trading company
Refining our structure: 2014
Hunter Councils Ltd
Opt in Opt out basis
Council of Mayors
Membership set
Ten year Plan based on
Council CSPs and
referenced to State Plan
and Regional Plan
Whole of region
advocacy and
intergovernmental
relations
Strategic regional and
sub regional land use
planning
Regional and sub
regional infrastructure
and transport planning
Regional economic
development strategy
Regional environmental
and waste strategy
Regional Social and
Cultural Strategy, etc.
Regional approach to
high end corporate
services provision
Annual Business Plan
formally endorsed by
Council of Mayors


Accountability of
operational entity and
feedback to Council of
Mayors generated through
Annual Business Plan
endorsed by Council of
Mayors.
Business Plan developed
in the context of agreed
regional priorities
Local Government
Training Institute
Environmental
Consultancy
Local Government Legal
Engineering, Asset
Management and Land
Use Planning Services
Regional Procurement
Strategic Consultancy
Services
Visitor Economy Hunter
(incorporating Screen
Hunter)
Hunter Records Storage
Council capacity building
and support services
including IP&R services
Fit for the Future:
Wholesale reform of local government
“The Fit for the Future reform package responds to the final
recommendations of the Independent Local Government Review Panel
and the Local Government Acts Taskforce and reflects the priorities
identified by the sector during the past three years of consultation.
The package includes:
•
$258 million to assist councils who decide to merge and make the
changes needed to provide better services to our communities ($153m
for Sydney councils and $105m for regional councils)
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$13 million to support Councillors that lead the transition to a new
council
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$5.3 million to get newly formed regional Joint Organisations up and
running in regional areas
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$4 million innovation fund to help small rural councils develop
innovative ways of working
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Access to a State borrowing facility to help fund local infrastructure,
with potential savings to NSW councils of up to $600 million in interest
payments.”