WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

The New Regionalism an alternate way forward in engaging regional

communities

by Tony BrunChairman

South West Catchments Council

3rd March 2005

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

The New RegionalismNatural Resource Management (NRM) & the Regions

The Context of Local GovernmentDuplication of StatesThe Partnership between the Commonwealth & the RegionsOptions for Local Government to drive the change

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

Background: South West NRM RegionDiverse landscapes and environmental issuesSWCC – conduit for Natural Heritage Trust (NHT); National Action Plan (NAP) & National Landcare Programme (in all resulting in annual investment managed through SWCC of over $20M).Incorporated body with membership from community groups and government agencies

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

The Context of Local Government

Recognition that local government has failed in its objectives to sustain

regional communities;

Varied involvement of local government in NRM

Some employ NRM or Environmental staff

Need for inclusion of NRM and Sustainability Principles in the respective

Town Planning Schemes & Local Laws

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

Duplication Role of States Clear definition of roles Local, State & Commonwealth required to ensure the 2 big boys upstairs don’t dump work without funding down the line….NRM is all about engaging the community – a skill the State Government has no ability at doing.State Governments are generally to big to reflect communities of interest and too small be economically and bureaucratically efficientCommonwealth is the primary source of revenue – with even less skill at engaging the grassroots!

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

The Commonwealth’s new Partners Local Government, Regions & the Community will be the key partners for the Commonwealth – there will be less engagement with State Government. Key examples – Roads to Recovery; NRM Funding (e.g. NHT, NAP & NLP); Regional Partnerships Programme; the proposed new direct to Schools funding & new Technical Colleges. Substantial change can occur WITHOUT constitutional change – it all comes down to where does the money come from (and at the end of the day – the Commonwealth has all the real revenue capacity).

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

Regional Local Government NRM Regions have the chance to evolve from Incorporated bodies to Regional Councils;This would ensure local government engagement and role driving the process;Opportunity for these Regional Councils (owned by their local governments) to be the interface between Local Government and the Commonwealth;This would enable individual local government the ability to remain as their local community’s body.

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

What would they do?Natural Resource Management – as they do now;Regional Partnership Programme (NHT & NAP funding has a strong focus on sustainable regional economic development);Economic Development – generally is difficult at the small local government scale and difficult to differentiate at the State Level (as an alternative to Development Commissions) ;Regional Planning- why have a Perth-Centric (what isn’t in State terms) approach to Planning when local government in regional cooperation can set their own community’s outcomes – through their own Region Schemes (as an alternative to Perth-centric DPI & the WAPC)

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

YOUR ROLERegional Communities through their Local Government have to drive the agenda to suit their needs;Change, however uncomfortable, must happen as our systems are not delivering good outcomes, especially for regional communities;New Regionalism can happen under our current legislation (Local Government Act) and the preference of the Commonwealth to avoid dealing with the bureaucratic and cumbersome States.

WALGA – Northern Country Zone 2005 Annual ConferenceAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATEAMALGAMATE, COOPERATE OR DISINTEGRATE

Tony Brun

Chairman - SWCC

About the PresenterTony has a Bachelor of (Civil) Engineering from University of Southern Queensland and Masters in Business Administration obtained through Deakin University.

He commenced his working life working as a civil engineering western Queensland for local governments and Main Roads. He then moved to Maroochy Shire on the Sunshine Coast looking after urban infrastructure.

In 1996, Tony moved to the west to take up a position at the Town of Narrogin as the Director of Engineering Services. This role involved extensive planning and delivery of projects in conjunction with the surrounding regional community.

Since 2000, Tony has been the Executive Manager City Development at the City of Bunbury. The portfolio covers the areas of engineering, planning, health & regulations. The role is critical in the context of Bunbury which is Australia’s 4th fastest growing city.

In 2004, Tony also took on the additional role as the Chairman of the South West Catchments Council. SWCC is the peak body dealing with Natural Resource Management (NRM) for the south west region of Western Australia. The group manages on behalf of government programmes in excess of $20M per annum .