Shift council rates from capital-improved value to land value.
Realign revenue from state government initiatives such as the Development Facilitation Program (DFP) to reduce adversarial relationships between state and local government bodies.
Better economic tools for local government
Provide best-practice policy assessment frameworks that outline common considerations and how to measure them consistently across councils.
Amend the Local Government Act 2020 to require cost-benefit analyses for significant proposed policy and rule changes.
Create a “public consultancy” within the State Government to assist local councils with strategic work.
Implement internal tender-first provisions and prohibit the acceptance by councils of “free lunches” from private consultancy firms.
Toward metropolitan governance
Amalgamate all Greater Melbourne councils into a metropolitan-wide government in the style of that seen in Auckland, Brisbane and London.
Implement a local board structure to allow local-level decision-making to remain intact.
Roll back the 2018 shift towards single-member wards and reinstate multi-member wards.
