I hear too many reports of residents, families, small business owners, and developers coming to council for help and leaving frustrated, intimidated, or worse. A pattern of complaints across multiple departments points to a deeper operational and cultural issue that needs to be addressed honestly.
As Mayor, I will work with the CEO to commission a structured review of how our key operational departments function, how they interact with each other and the community, and whether they are delivering value to ratepayers. This will be a single coordinated priority covering compliance, environmental services, and planning operations.
Compliance functions
Council receives a high and growing number of complaints from residents about the perceived aggressiveness and heavy handedness of compliance activity. The community sentiment is consistent. People see our compliance posture as punitive rather than redemptive, and as focused on chasing revenue rather than supporting people to do the right thing. That perception may or may not be fair in every case, but it is widespread and it is damaging the trust relationship between council and residents. A review is warranted.
Environmental services
Environmental regulation in Kingborough is too often experienced by landowners as obstruction rather than partnership. The same review should examine whether our environmental services function is fit for purpose, properly scoped, and delivering outcomes that justify the cost, delay, and frustration it currently imposes.
One of the most consistent sources of complaint from landowners relates to requests to remove trees that pose a genuine risk to life, property, or livelihood. These requests are infamously difficult to get across the line in Kingborough and have generated some of the highest levels of landowner frustration in the municipality. The perception, fair or foul, is that council values trees more highly than people and their safety. There is a fair and reasonable middle ground, and that is what I will work for.
Planning operations
The planning department has been central to the LPS failures and is the subject of widespread dissatisfaction. Its operational practices must be part of any serious review of how council serves its community. This complements the substantive planning reforms in Priority 2.
A structured review of the planning function has already commenced, as of March 2026. While the findings are not yet known, the impact of the review is expected to be far reaching. Done well, this review will become the bedrock of dramatic improvement. It is the opportunity to move Kingborough from being a council that is castigated for its planning performance to one that is celebrated for it.
Scope of the review
- Are the objectives of each function clearly defined and understood by staff and the community?
- Is there strategic and functional alignment between related departments, and are the interconnections efficient and effective?
- Are the tools used, including infringements, notices, conditions, and penalties, proportionate, consistent, and appropriate to the circumstances?
- Is the interaction with residents being conducted in a way that builds trust rather than erodes it?
- Are staff being supported with the training, leadership, and cultural framework to do their jobs well?
- Are the outcomes being achieved the outcomes the community actually wants?
- Publish the findings of the planning function review that commenced in March 2026
One distinction matters, and I want it on the record. Residents who deal with our front counter praise the staff there, repeatedly and by name, and so do I. The criticism I hear is of departments, processes and culture, not of the people who serve residents across the counter. This review is aimed at the system those staff work inside, not at the staff themselves.
This is not a witch hunt. It is a necessary check up that any well run organisation should be willing to undergo, and it is long overdue in Kingborough.
