Local government is a victim of political gaslighting?!
Humour me: Councils work within a regime of contradictions.
They provide services within a legislative framework that requires elections, community engagement, and consultative decisions - and are asked why their operations aren’t more efficient.
They confront increasingly constrained funding environments and watch their share of the total tax take decrease over decades - only for those financial struggles to be used as evidence that they’re bad with money.
They absorb the ongoing transfer of costs, services and responsibilities from state and non-profit actors - before being accused of scope creep and told to ‘get back to basics.’
They are mandated to make intergenerational decisions on infrastructure and community facilities – and rebuked for using intergenerational funding mechanisms.
In short, local government is a victim of political gaslighting.
Just one of the yarns spun at a CEO Breakfast with LGA South Australia in Adelaide this morning! Yes, this was as much fun as it looked.
