The key word in the title “Moreton Bay Regional Council” is the word “regional”. There is not much that is local about our local government anymore.
Despite amalgamation, the original challenge of any local government is more acute than ever: how do we provide local services, at a local scale by local officers who know the area?
Here is my answer. I will restructure council to deliver a better service to residents and rate payers. This new council structure will be based around the three districts, with a full range of “customer services” being provided at each district.
Local work teams and local staff will return to local council offices at Caboolture, Redcliffe and Pine Rivers. “Grass roots” council services will be delivered by local council officers and crews who know their local community.
If we cannot have de-amalgamation, this is the next best thing. It aims to return the level of council services to where they were before amalgamation. The aim is to have council officers based in local communities, officers who maintain local roads, parks, drains and sports clubs.
There is another aspect to a restructure that can help deliver better local services. We need to return to a flatter structure with less hierarchy so local teams can make quick, common-sense decisions on servicing residents’ requests.
The third aspect for a restructure is to do it once, and do it properly. The worst way to do it, is to do it over and over again. Unfortunately, that has what happened at Moreton Bay with a total of 34 restructures in this term. For staff to do their job and deliver council services, they need a settled structure that allows them to do their job.
Doing it once leads me to the next point. Residents are asking how much will this cost? The answer is very little – it is the internal movement of staff that is the point, not a refitting of everyone’s office. My plan is certainly cheaper than the current practice of moving people around, time and time again.
It may be we are stuck with a regional government. But that is no reason why we can’t return to delivering local services
