The Andrews Labor Government is making councils more transparent and accountable, with more information available to residents and more decisions made in open council meetings – enabling proper public scrutiny.
Minister for Local Government Marlene Kairouz today launched the latest data for the Know Your Council website, which provides information on a broad range of performance data – including planning permits, financial performance, roads, governance and waste collection – for Victoria’s 79 Local Government Authorities.
Council results are added annually, and are accompanied by “council says” commentary for each council to explain their results. These results can be compared to results from previous years and other similar councils.
The website gives ratepayers better insight into the way their council operates, and allows residents and businesses to compare their council’s performance to previous years, and other similar councils.
Some key highlights from 2016-17 include:
- the number of decisions made in closed meetings was down by 18 per cent, on top of a 5.2 per cent drop the previous financial year
- The number of safety incidents at aquatic facilities also fell across the state last financial year, down 26.8 per cent
- The amount of waste diverted from landfill to organics and recycling facilities increased 3.7 per cent.
Launched in 2015, the website has helped establish clear trends for areas of strength and services in need of improvement.
It was acclaimed in a recent Federal Government Productivity Commission report, which urged other states to follow Victoria’s lead in providing performance reporting measures.
Council performance data for 2016-17 is available at .
Quotes attributable to Minister for Local Government Marlene Kairouz
“We’re making councils more accountable and transparent to the ratepayers they represent.”
“Know Your Council is a great resource for all things local government, and includes important information on the function of councils, election information, key contacts and news from across the sector.”
“This latest round of data will allow ratepayers to better monitor how their council is performing now – compared to previous years and other councils.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020