Introduction
Our community experience of Melbourne 2030 style development has highlighted one thing – the lack of governance in complying with legislative requirements is a key culprit in resulting unsustainable land uses and built development, which consequently continue to undermine our community liveability.
The capability of governance in local and even state government practices is low. The evidence is now surfacing. For example:
- The Municipal Association of Victoria/MAV just views governance as codes of conduct and a (skills) competency framework
- The Victorian Local Governance Association/VLGA’s notion of governance is about campaigning for the rights of local governments to be the legitimate first level of government.
- Mr Brumby sensitivity to VCAT not supporting state policies.
The lacking of practice governance constituted the deficit performance & behaviour elements in the first Brandon Park structural planning exercise that resulted in:
- Planning recommendations that are not holistically integrated and coordinated at all levels of governments, no clear definitions and agreements of economic, social/community and environment decision criteria, and lacking in practical viability to resolve today’s infrastructure and community service deficiencies, let alone support community & environment sustainability.
- Creating terse relationships between residents and Council planners, which undermine positive collaboration with the community to define and agree their community needs for integration into the activity centre plan.
What is Governance?
Luckily, the Australian Government has a good understanding of governance in the public sector, of which the key definition elements are:
- Governance is ‘the set of responsibilities and practices, policies and procedures, exercised by an agency’s executive, to provide strategic direction, ensure objectives are achieved, manage risks and use resources responsibly and with accountability.’
- It has defined principles of
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Integrity
- Stewardship
- Efficiency
- Leadership.
- Governance is critical in bring in not just performance efficacy but also ethical work behaviours and practices.
The key challenge is the “need to balance compliance with performance, while driving efficiency, ethical behaviour and a whole-of-government approach” [1].
The Australian Public Service Commission has a good definition of the Foundations of Governance in the Australian Public Service.
Planning Governance
Planning governance is about both local and state governments exercising due diligence to check they have comply with State and local codes of conduct, policies, incorporated guiding procedures and standards and other control mechanisms to ensure:
- Strategic directions and their objectives are achieved,
- Deployment risks are managed
- efficacious resource management
and commit to accountability for actual performance and outcomes.
Simply put, it is a model of program management for deploying urban change strategies.
Planning governance is about all levels of governments involved in Melbourne 2030 style and social housing planning and development are accountable for achieving the strategic directions and principles of Melbourne 2030 and national social housing agenda, including responsibility for risks management and exercising efficacious resource procurement and management.
Understanding Our Civil Rights
As residents become more educated in matters of urban planning and technology allowing more participation, they have an empowering role to play in checking governance in planning practices, including decision-making.
Exercising the Rule of Law enables one to question and sight transparency of decision-making by governments because the decisions and their consequent actions impact our rights or interests. Therefore, a Monash citizen can potentially request for transparency and materiality audit of decision-making that affect our liveability.
As the Rule of Law is our primary civil rights, understanding what it means is most important:
“The rule of law is basic to Australia’s system of Government. The rule of law requires that individuals are not subject to any arbitrary or capricious exercise of power by Government officials. Government officials cannot act contrary to Acts and Regulations, nor can a Government official exercise coercive powers against an individual without statutory authority.
An individual whose rights or interests are affected by a decision made by a Government official may seek to have the decision reviewed.
An Australian Government official may be subject to both common law rules and legislative rules when undertaking any given action.”
The channels for exercising the Rule of Law can be simple Q&A methods, evaluation reviews through community consultant / engagements, freedom of information disclosures, exercise of legislations, etc.
