Absorb All 537 Shire Councils into State and Territory Governments.

Every week we hear or read about instances where Shire Councils are less concerned with Rates, Roads & Rubbish and more about concerning themselves with Foreign Policy Matters, Saving the world from Climate Disasters and upsetting the people of their local areas.

With Australia struggling at the moment with constantly rising living costs and increasing demands on public services, we find ourselves at a crossroads of governance efficiency and fiscal responsibility.

Our nation's three-tier system of government, while steeped in history and tradition, faces mounting challenges in delivering cost-effective services to a diverse and growing population.

It's now time we explore restructuring Australia's three-tier governance system through the absorption of all shire councils into state and territory governments.

One significant area of concern is the rising council rates over the past 16 years. Tap water is now so expensive in the Shire of Moreton Bay that pensioners can barely afford to turn a dam tap on.

Some councils have pushed massive increases in recent years.

For example, Tenterfield Shire Council convinced IPART to approve a special rates variation of 43% for the 2023/2024 period.

It's hard to think of any person or business in Australia that has consistently achieved such increases.We probably wouldn’t need groups like IPART if there were no longer Shire Councils either (yet another saving)

These rate increases have apparently been driven by factors such as cost-of-living pressures, not the fact that some council members receive salaries north of $700,000.  For instance, the General Manager of Walgett Shire The General Manager of Walgett Shire Council earned $745,467 for the 2022-2023 period, while the NSW Premier earned only around $409,000.

You can draw your own conclusion on that one!

There is a need for some aspect of government to maintain services and the financial viability of local areas, but I'm no longer thinking that Shire Councils are the best option for this.

Rationalization, standardization, and optimisation are key strategies that could help achieve significant cost savings and improve the efficiency of service delivery.

Instead of each State and Territory council wasting ratepayers' money with bureaucracy and so many ways to make the most simple things in life extremely difficult, let's just scrap this current three-tier system of governance.

Sure, there is some historic significance with the way things have always been for so long. But... if something is broken, we need to fix it.

Australia faces far too many challenges going forward, and the last thing we need is the lowest tier of government squandering any opportunities we have for growth and prosperity.

Surely in every reader's local area, they'll have stories of service delivery inefficiencies and many questions regarding effective community representation.

The question we should all ask is, "What Would Good Look Like?"

Roughly speaking, Australian State and Territory governments have the mission statement to improve the lives of their residents by delivering essential services, fostering economic growth, and ensuring community safety.

They are tasked with being focused on enhancing infrastructure, healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability.

They collaborate with federal and currently existing local governments.

They prioritise social equity, supporting vulnerable Australians, and promote regional development.

So I really don't think that it would be that hard for all Shire Councils to simply become an extension of each State/Territory's functions.

For instance, with NSW, the Northern Beaches Shire Council office would be renamed as 'NSW Local Services – Northern Beaches'.

All State/Territory Government Local Services branches would be standardized; all salaries per role would be roughly the same, and every single aspect of local area services could be streamlined and made to be as efficient as possible.

This would clearly indicate the integration and ensure continuity of services under the new structure.

Key potential benefits of this reshaping include substantial cost savings through the elimination of administrative redundancies, improved service delivery via standardized practices, and enhanced emergency management capabilities.

The implementation of a centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system such as SAP or, if we want to promote Australian software, "Pronto" could facilitate better resource allocation and data-driven decision-making.

Ok, this restructuring poses challenges, and a lot of very comfortable people who benefit from the current situation are going to hate the very thought of this, but we need to start thinking beyond our postcodes.

I think local representation would actually be improved. There would be no need to avoid certain shire council areas due to their strange and mysterious ways; every bit of policy at each State/Territory Local Services area would be exactly the same. I really do think that the transition costs and struggles would be worth it.

Balancing efficiency with community engagement is crucial, and I'm guessing that working this out is not beyond the intelligence of those involved in State/Territory Governments.

Local governments emerged in the 1840s, with Sydney and Adelaide leading the way. By 1901, local government was well-established across Australia, though notably absent from the Constitution.

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that the way Australia was in the 1840s is a little different from what Australia is like today.

Many local councils grapple with budgetary pressures due to limited revenue sources, increasing service demands, and vertical fiscal imbalance affecting infrastructure and service funding.

So let's make things easier for them by handing over these functions to the State/Territory Governments.

Let's accept that there are currently heaps of overlapping responsibilities between government levels, which is leading to service duplications.

The smaller councils often struggle to provide comprehensive services due to limited capacity. So let's just fix all of that up by making sure every local area gets the help they need.

Some might think that the idea of removing the third tier of governance (local government) is an overly bold and complex idea that warrants a ton of careful consideration.

But I think it's an idea that Australia needs and deserves. We need things to be better, so let's fix up the things that are weighing us down.

Feasibility Challenges

Each state/territory would need to pass laws absorbing local government functions.

Local councils often have strong community ties and political influence, making their dissolution potentially unpopular and politically challenging. And that's ok; they'll get over it.

Transferring responsibilities and assets from hundreds of local councils to state/territory governments would be something that some quality ERP software could handle quite easily.

Benefits

Eliminating duplicate administrative structures could lead to significant cost reductions in governance.

Service delivery and policy implementation could become more consistent across regions.

Removing a layer of government could potentially speed up policy implementation and reduce bureaucratic hurdles.

Alternative?

I wrote an article on one of my websites a while back about doing this same sort of thing but doing it at a higher level, absorb all shire councils into a single Federal Government department.  The reason I went down this path was that the savings from standardisation, rationalisation and optimisation looked even more appetising at that higher level.

If interested, here's a link to that one: Absorb 537 Shire Councils Into A Single Federal Department - Heal This Rock