Call to reshape Launceston municipality

Councillor Woinarski’s proposal for Launceston has a great deal of merit and it should to be taken much more seriously than it has been.

Intriguingly, Cr Woinarski is thinking outside the box just as LGAT’s ex-CEO, Allan Garcia, has in his call for “an overhaul of [the Local Government] sector.”

A reimagining of Launceston as a regional cum urban centre is much needed given that current planning and administration is unquestionably driven by an unsustainable management model and antiquated thinking.

Cr Woinarski’s proposal actually needs to be pushed much further but he does offer a foundation upon which to build a sustaining 21st Century regional and urban entity unfettered from archaic operational modelling.

Tasmania’s Local Government Act is unsophisticated, outdated and dysfunctional, designed as it is for a different economy, another time and a rapidly disappearing past.

Under the ‘Woinarski model’ adjoining administrations might well come together in a new form of cooperative and productive governance – 21st Century governance.

The current ‘Launceston model’ mitigates against any such a thing.

With the LGAT ‘think in’ about to happen, local government functionaries could do well to look up from their navels and look ahead for a more sustaining future.

Ray Norman
Trevallyn

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Call to reshape Launceston municipality
By ROSITA GALLASCH  July 7, 2015, 11:03 p.m.

West Tamar Councillor Tim Woinarski proposes reducing Launceston Council to a central district with the surrounding areas transferring to other Northern councils.

The Launceston municipality could be reduced in size to a core central district, similar to the City of London, if people agree with a proposal put forward by West Tamar Councillor Tim Woinarski.

As part of ongoing amalgamation talks, Cr Woinarski's proposal would see the Launceston municipality reduced to an area bordered by the North Esk to the north, Boland, Dowling and High streets to the east, Howick Street in the south and Bathurst Street in the west.

The rest of the Launceston municipality would be divided in four and taken on by George Town, Northern Midlands, Meander Valley and West Tamar councils.

The existing Launceston council could be abolished and the new one made up of two councillors from each of the four surrounding councils, with possibly the inclusion of a representative from the University of Tasmania, Cityprom and the Launceston Chamber of Commerce.

Cr Woinarski said he based his idea on the City of London model, which he believed was doing very well.

"All we hear about the amalgamation debate is that we need to be bigger and redraw the lines," he said. "I'm sick and tired of hearing this - I have not heard a legitimate, well-thought-out, financially costed, beneficial argument for amalgamation in the North.

"I'm not saying 29 councils is a perfect number - and if bigger is better, then Launceston should be the best-performing council, but according to the Auditor-General's report, this is not the case."

He said the benefits would be that the four surrounding councils would pick up more ratepayers and they would also take on an equal quarter share of the funding and decision-making of facilities such as Aurora Stadium, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and Launceston Aquatic Centre.

Launceston council's debt would be divided between the five councils.

Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten said it sounded a "tad fanciful" and questioned if it was just someone trying to protect their own position, as the proposal also lacked research rigour to substantiate it.

"We would consider that the first step would be to follow the request from the [Local Government] Minister and enter discussions on how we as councils can provide more cost-effective services to the community without jumping immediately to models that seek to protect vested interests," he said.

A spokesman for Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein said Mr Gutwein had written to councils seeking confirmation of all the proposals put to them, and any "final decision will be up to local

councils and their ratepayers".

West Tamar mayor Christina Holmdahl said the views were purely those of Cr Woinarski.

Both Meander Valley mayor Craig Perkins and Northern Midlands mayor David Downie raised concerns about the idea.

END

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” — Thomas Paine


CLICK HERE: http://www.launceston.tas.gov.au/lcc/index.php?c=69