Governance of ICT Re: [LINK] Surveillance in extremis

[Darryl (Dassa) Lynch]

link-bounces at anumail0.anu.edu.au <> wrote:
|| A bit of NSW history.
|| 
|| In 1993 there was a major change to the Local Government Act
|| - in fact a whole new act.  This is the one where all
|| elected heads of council became mayors instead of Lord
|| Mayors, Mayors, or Shire Presidents.  They also replaced
|| Town Clerks with General Managers, and allowed for mayors to
|| be elected either by the council or by the voters.
|| 
|| One of the main changes was to delegate vast powers to the
|| general manager, almost to the extent of him/her being
|| capable of ignoring the wishes or policies of the council.
|| 
|| I think a lot of this lack of PR stems from these powers, in
|| as much as the staff in general feel that they have the
|| power to do and implement what they like with little
|| reference to, consultation of, or information of, the elected
|| members. 

This is very much a generalisation in my opinion.  I'd be interested in seeing
examples where this takes place on a wide scale basis.  The majority of
councils will only fulfil the policies and instructions as handed down by the
elected councillors and will often conduct public response exercises to gauge
public opinion and adjust accordingly.

There may have been an increase in the powers available but the flip side is
there are also a lot of restrictions and auditing for the exercise of those
powers.

As one who works in local government I can attest to the care a lot of
councils take in ensuring all actions are transparent and above board.

As in any industry, there will always be cowboys and transgressions but within
local government at least, there are remedies and action that can be taken to
both find out about them and correct the behaviour.

Darryl (Dassa) Lynch