Mary Rogers, the first woman councillor in Victoria, was elected on the 5th of November 1920 to Richmond City Council at a by-election (the first woman elected to a local council nationally was Susan Benny).
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She was quickly appointed to a board of enquiry into neglected children, and worked to improve the sanitary and living conditions of the poor at Richmond, have baby clinics established, and to get municipal control of the milk supply. After her time on the council, Mary Rogers was also one of the first women appointed as a justice of the peace in Victoria 

Australia – especially Melbourne and Sydney – continue to struggle with housing supply shortages and prices beyond reach of those trying to get into the market, Interestingly for us, the UK is facing similar issues. And this week, Theresa May will publish her housing white paper, which is expected to mean local councils will need to both push and pull owners, investors and developers to increase the number of homes, and the number of homes available.

For instance, the white paper is expected to tell local authorities to place sharp council tax increases on owners of empty homes, as uninhabited homes are big news right now. Recent figures show there were 142,000 vacant properties registered with 70 UK councils last year alone. If replicated across the country, this could mean 750,000 properties are currently empty. In 2015-16, South Lanarkshire had almost 20,000 empty homes, followed by Doncaster (15,714), Lancaster (14,527) and Durham (11,362). The white paper is also expected to free up greenbelt land for new developments, but Campaign to Protect Rural England chief executive Shaun Spiers says the data on empty homes will make it more difficult to persuade the public that the protected land should be compromised. ​

​What’s the best way forward for councils when they are expected to do more with less? With pressure to drive efficiencies and economies, often with constrained income levels, councils need to be creative about how to simultaneously achieve savings and improved service levels. State government policies across Australia have been focusing on council amalgamations, however two sets of councils in North West Tasmania have been able to demonstrate efficiencies and increased strategic capacity through resource sharing.

The pilot program, to be constructed next to Gosford Hospital, will be made up of 4 very small homes, a common lounge, laundry and workshop and community vegetable gardens. Each 14 square metre home costs less than $30,000 to assemble and includes a bathroom and kitchen, and has a solar efficient design.

Transparency… For some reason this is not something local government has been very good at in the past. But transparency in local government is critical for building trust in our communities, for facilitating well-informed decision-making, and for providing accountability amongst both our elected members and employed operational staff. Coconino County in Arizona, USA, have been actively working towards improved communications and more open practices that allow their community to actively participate and engage with local government.

In October a developer demolished the Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton without the appropriate planning permits. Suddenly Melbourne sat up and took notice. Within hours the story was front page news in the media – both traditional and social – with reactions from the Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, the Minister for Planning, the Opposition planning spokesperson, a heritage experts, the president of Melbourne Heritage Action, two local government candidates, and Melbourne University students who frequented the pub, while an online petition was created on Change.org.

When waste materials containing asbestos from the site were found dumped in Cairnlea, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. A large fine was issued, and calls were made to have the developer restore the building, and for the planning laws to be changed to allow penalties that act as a clear deterrence. That's the thing! Several town planners have told me that the property boom has embedded such huge profits into many developments that the fines for acting outside the planning regulations are simply factored into the cost of doing business. As an example of this, an expert quoted in The Age said that the site's value doubled by removing the existing structure. In that case, a fine alone is not much deterrent for an unethical developer. With the focus the Corkman has brought to planning, it will be fascinating to see what policy changes will be implemented.

A community initiative in Garema Place in Canberra is currently showing how changing public spaces can bring out the best in the city and its people.

For the second year running, LG Professionals Australia provided a scholarship to send an Indigenous team from the remote Mornington Shire Council to compete in the Rural Management Challenge staged by LGMA Queensland.
 
The 2016 Rural Management Challenge was hosted by the Tablelands Regional Council on the 6th of October. As well as covering the costs of participation and travel, the scholarship enabled an additional buddy-up day with staff from the Tablelands Regional Council – to pack in as much LG experience and learning as possible. 

It has just been festival time both Nepal – Dashain and Tihar – and Cambodia – Pchchum Ben, which meant many of our mentees returned to their families' village for the celebrations. Mentors enjoyed learning a little about these festivals from their mentees. 

Now that everyone is back, we can share a few photos on what our teams have been up to. 

With leadership as our 2017 Congress theme, this is an excellent opportunity to introduce you to our board members. The Meeting Our Leaders series will run until May 2017. 

Maxine Dowley is a Director on the Board of Local Government Professionals Australia NT.
An event coordinator with the City of Palmerston, Maxine started her LG career in 2001. Interestingly, Maxine competed in the Australasian Management Challenge in Alice Springs in 2013.

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​'I competed in the Australasian Management Challenge in Alice Springs in 2013. I initially felt out of my comfort zone working on the pre-challenge subject – which I knew very little about. But it made me think strategically and work on building trust with my team members.’ 

As in LG Professionals Australia’s white paper released earlier this year, Australia in a Century of Transformative Governance: A Federation for Communities and Places, the future of effective governance rests on our ability to collaborate across a wide network of government, business, non-profit and community organisations. Here is an excellent example of regional councils combining resources to tackle the important issues of energy and jobs, with funding from the Victorian State Government.
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Six central Victorian councils – Ballarat, Hepburn, Central Goldfields, Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander and Pyrenees Shire Councils have received funding for their proof-of-concept plan for a waste-to-energy network to power community buildings. 

Join us for the Women's Breakfast at Congress 2017.

Senior women in the LG sector will lead the discussion on how gender imbalances can be addressed, and how you can work with other women – and supportive men – to ensure you can contribute to your council to the best of your ability.

If you're in a minority in any meeting, it's often difficult to get yourself heard. Typically the minority in senior meetings within local councils, many women have noticed that when they voice an idea during a meeting, there is no real response or acknowledgement. But more frustrating, often someone else will say the same thing a few minutes later, and have it welcomed as a valuable contribution. 
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In this eye-opening article about a group of women working in the White House, the women use a simple 3-step process to support each other to have their ideas heard, acknowledged and credited to the person who came up with them. It works like this: if you hear a good idea in a meeting that is not acknowledged, repeat the idea yourself, prefaced by an attribution to the first speaker. 'As Janet suggested, we could be more effective by  . . .

This works because repetition is one of the simplest ways of reinforcing any point, and secondly, hearing another person repeat the idea gives the rest of the audience time to let the idea sink in. The decency of attributing the idea appropriately is something that can become part of your team's culture. That works for everyone.

Earlier this year, LG Professionals Australia released Australia in a Century of Transformative Governance: A Federation for Communities and Places and one of its strongest themes centred around the idea that local government was important and effective because it was placed-based and staff are engaged with their communities – 'because we live here' local government professionals are often great contributors to, as well as leaders of, their own communities.

​Here is an opportunity for local government professionals in Melbourne to support their local environment. Melbourne Water has recently launched its annual Frog Census, which is a community-led citizen science research project that tracks the location of local frog populations.

In September last year, Pope Francis visited Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. For the organisers, as thrilled as they were to have the Pope at the event, his tendency to allow members of the public to approach him, and his unwillingness to wear a flak-jacket or have protective sides installed on his vehicle presented a security challenge of the highest order.
 
What might be particularly surprising to local government professionals, is that an Australian-owned company based in Adelaide, Aerometrix, which provides photo-realistic and geographically accurate 3D models used in planning, survey mapping and visualisations for councils around Australia, was called in to help deliver a solution. Using the incredibly realistic model of Philadelphia's urban environment the Aerometrix team was able to create, the event organisers were able to meticulously plan the Pope's route, security and contingency plans.

Watch the video to see Newcastle in 3D – from the city streets to the beach-side cliffs.