Dear Minister Shelton, Attorney General and Auditor General,
i write to draw your attention to the growing disquiet in the Launceston Municipality generally in regard to the potentially dire financial circumstances the city, and the municipality in general. faces as a consequence the current and pending economic downturn.
Looking ahead, the people contacting me are particularly concerned about the impact that this current crisis is likely to have upon the long term wellbeing of ratepayers and residents – the business community, service providers, et al – relative to planning processes, service provision and the changed and changing circumstances in the city, the region and in fact, Tasmania generally. .
Of immediate concern is the way the City of Launceston Council is currently managing the financial collateral damage flowing from the COVID-19 Crisis and the ways that is increasingly becoming evident.
The fiscal measures in train, and in prospect, have all the characteristics of ad hoc decision making with ratepayers and residents looking forward to ominous outcomes across the board in an environment of discretionary transparency and non-mandatory accountability.
I and people contacting me, understand that the City of Launceston is proposing to appoint an auditor to investigate and report on Council’s current grants program after the process in train is completed.
I also understand that the CEO is proposing that he, rather than Council’s elected representatives, appoint the auditor who apparently will be briefed by him and consequently report to him in isolation from the Councillors. By extension, ratepayers and residents, the people who are required to carry the financial and social burdens, will essentially excluded from the process if this were to be the case.
I enthusiastically endorse the concept that there should be an audit of the City of Launceston’s operational outcomes.
Furthermore, I believe that such an audit needs to be undertaken independently, with the terms of reference determined at arm’s length from the Council’s operation imperatives and be undertaken in two phases:
• Phase one, focused of Council’s response to the brought on by the COVID-19 Crisis;
• Phase two, focused on the fiscal realities of the municipality’s economies and the long term economic sustainability of Council operations within the municipality.
Phase one, needs to be reported on early in the audit process and Phase two needs to be a more thorough investigation albeit conducted within an appropriate timeframe.
Against this background, I request that the auditor be:
• Recruited commissioned and appointed by Council in collaboration with the Department of Premier and Cabinet;
• Briefed by Council in collaboration with the State Government in an open and transparent process at an ordinary meeting of Council;
• Briefed to undertake a forensic audit and specifically in regard to Council’s capital works projects such as Riverbend Park, Quadrant Mall, Civic Square and the Brisbane Street Mall;
• Briefed to undertake a forensic audit and specifically in regard to Council’s governance and management of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery;
• Briefed to investigate the application of and implementation of Section 62 Tasmania’s Local Government Act 1993 by the General Manager/Chief Executive Officer;
• Briefed to investigate Council’s strategic purpose in regard to the acquisition of the property known as the ‘Birchalls building’ – 118 -122 Brisbane Street Launceston.
• Briefed to report to Council in an open and transparent process at ordinary meetings of Council.
I respectfully request that you use your authority to do whatever is necessary to ensure that that an appropriate audit is implemented in a timely way in order to facilitate better planning in the context of the city’s current circumstances and economic outlook looking forward.
Furthermore, I ask this given that I have become increasingly aware that in regard to ‘fiscal matters’ there is a growing number of people who no longer “trust the authorities” and this is a matter that requires urgent attention given all that is at stake.
Yours sincerely,
Ray Norman
