The local government reforms passed in the Victorian Parliament this week, bringing the most significant changes to council community service in more than 30 years.

The Local Government Act 2020 introduces strict measures to improve democracy, accountability and service delivery across Victoria’s 79 councils.

“The new laws will make councils more accountable, democratic and help them deliver the services their communities need,” said Victorian Minister for Local Government Adem Somyurek.

The first phase of the reforms is aimed to improve community confidence in their councils by introducing mandatory training for candidates intending to stand at the October local government elections. Other reforms that will be introduced in the first phase include changes aimed to improve community engagement, public transparency, strategic planning, financial management and service performance.

Victorian councils will be obligated to establish and manage four strategic plans:

• A 4-year Council Plan
• A 4-year Revenue and Rating Plan
• A 10-year Financial Plan
• A 10-year Asset Plan

Of most interest to IPWEA members will be the scope of the Asset Plan requirements and their integration with the Financial Plan.

These must include information about lifecycle activities in relation to each class of infrastructure asset under the control of the Council, and must be developed, adopted and kept in force in consultation with the community.

Provisions in the Act may prove testing for councils that are not already addressing in their operations the broad sweep of the new requirements. IPWEA Victoria will support asset management capacity-building with a rolling state-wide program of Strategic Asset Management Intensives (SAMIs).

Preparing for Asset Plan compliance

“IPWEA stands ready to support capacity-building across the Local Government sector in relation to the Act’s requirement for Councils to develop and implement a 10-year Asset Plan,” said David Hallett, CEO IPWEA Victoria.

“We have internationally-recognised Asset Management expertise with resources such as NAMS+ which is cited in Local Government Victoria’s Local Government Asset Management Better Practice Guide. 

“We also have a role with the Project Reference Group for the Disaster Recover Funding Arrangements (DFRA) Asset Management Project, which is looking to increase capability for Councils and Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) to demonstrate the pre-and post-disaster condition of essential public assets through a variety of means, including photographic evidence, maintenance records and asset condition surveys and defect logs.”

According to the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, 79 councils across the state control more than $91 billion in fixed assets, including more than $25 billion in roads and bridges and $7 billion in drains.

“To successfully lodge an eligible disaster recovery claim, councils and CMAs need to collect and maintain asset data and information for the essential public assets (roads, bridges, drains and other asset groups) covered by the DRFA,” said Hallett. 

“This should be documented in a credible and reliable Asset Management Strategy and a supporting Asset Plan for key asset groups.”

IPWEA’s NAMS+, the updated NAMS.PLUS, has assisted more than 600 organisations worldwide to model and communicate their asset management data in an Asset Management Plan aligned to IIMM and ISO55000. Local government accounts for the vast majority of NAMS+ subscribers.

The online IPWEA training course, Professional Certificate in Asset Management Planning can also assist local government professionals and teams to prepare for best practice asset management.