Is the Bogan Shire Fit Enough for the Future?

Being given a ‘Fit for the Future-Rural Council’ rating by the Independent Pricing And Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) last week was a positive first step but not a guarantee.

Bogan Shire Mayor Ray Donald said although they had jumped one hurdle there were still decisions to be made. 

“This is one big hurdle. We asked to be left autonomous or look at the rural council model, but the (state) government still haven’t decided to adopt rural councils,” he said. 

Member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries agreed, saying the shire could be in a position to help shape what a rural council would become. 

“The whole definition of a rural council is yet to be defined. There’s a fair bit of room for the Bogan Shire to help redefine that,” he said. 

“There’s a fair bit to go in all of this (decision making).”

Mr Humphries hopes the shire will use the opportunity to submit its thoughts about the IPART ruling over the next three weeks.

“You can send your thoughts into the IPART panel and respond in the next three weeks,” he said. 

Mr Donald was pleased with the ruling hoping Nyngan would not be forced into an amalgamation. 

“The state government wants to reduce the number of councils in the state one way or another. A rural council could mean a cutback on the number of meetings and councillors and most issues dealt with by a joint organisation of councils (JOC),” he said. 

JOCs or ROCs (regional organisation of councils), such as OROC of which Nyngan is a part, is a group of councils from the Orana region working together to achieve greater efficiencies.

Mr Humphries believes there’s lots of importance in the ROCs. 

“We’re currently having discussions about what the ROCs could be doing. Where you have a ROC the state government can take a step back. People want to see more local and regional governments and less from state and federal governments,” he said.

“ROCS could be making regular strategic planning, planning with roads, water and even tourism. Technology allows shires to work together.” 

Mr Humphries is impressed with  Bogan’s outcome. 

“Some councils have their head in the sand by not Bogan,” he said. 

Mr Donald is also pleased with the initial decision making. 

“All the financial requirements are deemed satisfactory, we have very little deficit, we’re well managed and the auditors consider us to be sound,” he said. 

“We want to remain transparent, the way we’ve been operating and shore up the desire to stand alone.”