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SRAP5018 Assessment 2 explainer — Transcript

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0:20Hi everybody, Elizabeth here. I just
0:22want to give you a very quick overview
0:24for assessment two. Then we're going to
0:27go into a little Moodle show around and
0:29then finally at the end of this video uh
0:32there's going to be some background
0:34presented on local councils which will
0:37help you to understand the context of
0:40what you're seeing as you go to these
0:42meetings or as you watch them online.
0:50The purpose is to give you an
0:52opportunity to experience politics and
0:55power firsthand and uh local councils
0:58are probably the most uh accessible
1:01spaces, political spaces in New South
1:03Wales. So that's why we've created this
1:06particular assessment. Now, I recognize
1:08that we haven't spoken a lot about local
1:11councils in the course so far, but
1:14before we get to that, I do want to
1:15quickly go through the Moodle with you
1:18so you can see where all the information
1:20you need to complete this assessment
1:22lives.
1:31Okay. So, here we have the Moodle page
1:34and as we go down to the assessment tab,
1:37you'll see here too there is uh the tab
1:39for fieldwork. Now, if I open that,
1:42you'll see a range of different links
1:44available. Well, firstly, there's a bit
1:46of information up here, but also you can
1:48find out what your local council is by
1:50clicking on this link.
1:54Also, there is the full outline of the
1:56assessment here on the first link. This
1:59will help you figure out if you can
2:01actually attend a meeting in person.
2:04What I've done is I've listed all of the
2:06different meetings that are going to be
2:07happening in the next month in Sydney.
2:10Unfortunately, not all councils will be
2:12having meetings during that time. And if
2:14you can't attend a meeting in person,
2:16you can also usually attend online live
2:20or you can watch the recordings
2:22afterwards.
2:24What else do we have here? We also have
2:27a word document report template which
2:29has all of the questions that I'd like
2:31you to answer for this assessment in it.
2:34That's going to take me to a download,
2:35so I won't download it now, but it's got
2:37all of the questions that you can answer
2:39and things that you need to include in
2:40order to complete the assessment
2:42successfully.
2:44And then we have a couple of sample
2:46assessments here as well. So, you can
2:49look at some examples from last year. I
2:51do just want to stress that last year
2:52the word count was a little bit shorter
2:54than it is this year. So do make sure
2:56that you go through all of the
2:58requirements to make sure that you
3:00complete the assessment as you are
3:02supposed to.
3:12Hello. This is a short recorded lecture
3:15where I'm going to give you some advice
3:16and some uh background information that
3:19should be useful when you are planning
3:20your fieldwork for your second
3:22assessment task for this course.
3:25I'm going to start with some
3:27introductions to how local government
3:30works in Australia and what sorts of
3:32things local government is responsible
3:33for and we'll talk in particular about
3:36local government in New South Wales. I'm
3:38going to give you some advice on how to
3:39plan your fieldwork and think about what
3:41you'll be doing when you attend or watch
3:43a meeting and also give you a sense of
3:45what I'm looking for when you complete
3:47the report that you need to do for the
3:49assessment.
3:51Let's start by talking about the three
3:53levels of government in Australia and
3:55the way that the different levels of
3:57government need to work with each other
3:59when they've got concurrent
4:00responsibilities for particular areas of
4:03policym.
4:04The federal parliament is in Canra with
4:07the responsibility for for national
4:10level policym and then we have the six
4:12state parliaments and the two mainland
4:16territory parliaments. So the northern
4:18territory and the Australian capital
4:20territory which is the area of land
4:22around CRA the capital city. But we also
4:25then have local councils. Sometimes
4:28councils are al also known as
4:29municipalities or shia councils. And you
4:32can see from the map here that's
4:34provided by the Parliamentary Education
4:36Office that there are over 500 of them
4:39across Australia, but they tend to be
4:43grouped around particular sizes of
4:45populations. In the parts of Australia
4:47where there is a much denser population,
4:49there are many more local councils. So
4:52in a city like Sydney, there are very
4:54many local council area that uh look
4:57after particular areas of the population
4:59and particular sizes of population.
5:02According to the New South Wales
5:03government's office of local government,
5:05they're treated as independent locally
5:07elected corporate bodies.
5:10Now, the New South Wales government's
5:11Office of Local Government is the
5:13government agency in New South Wales
5:16that oversees local governments uh and
5:18local councils, manages them, regulates
5:21them, uh provides the rules for how
5:23they're going to work and so on. So, the
5:27Office of Local Government is a useful
5:28agency for you to perhaps spend a little
5:30bit of time looking at.
5:33Note that the state's 128 local councils
5:36employ 45,000 staff and spend more than
5:4011 billion annually on providing key
5:43infrastructure, facilities, and services
5:45to local communities. And they also
5:48manage community assets worth over $150
5:50billion.
5:52So they're not insignificant as a level
5:54of government. We tend to think of local
5:56councils as being quite small in their
5:58remit and not having very important
6:01responsibilities, but they do in fact
6:02have considerable assets, a large amount
6:05of staff that they employ, and
6:08significant budgets that have a real
6:10impact on the lives that we live at the
6:13local level. So local councils play an
6:16important role in improving the
6:17lifestyle and amenity of local
6:19communities across New South Wales.
6:21Whether they are in the middle of highly
6:23urbanized areas like the city of Sydney
6:25or whether they are in regional and very
6:28remote parts of New South Wales.
6:31The sorts of things that local
6:33governments are responsible for
6:35certainly are very focused on the local
6:38environment. So we start by thinking
6:40about things like local roads, foot
6:43paths, cycleways, street signage and
6:45lighting.
6:46Local councils are also responsible for
6:48waste management for the rubbish
6:50collection and recycling in a given
6:52local area. They regulate a lot of the
6:55parking that happens within local
6:57government areas. They're also
6:59responsible for providing sporting
7:01fields, parks, and swimming pools for
7:04people to use in the local area. On the
7:07cultural side of things, they're also
7:09responsible for providing public
7:10libraries, art galleries, and museums
7:14within the local government area. And
7:16they also provide a lot of social
7:17services that are really important such
7:19as child care, vacation care, aged care
7:23services, and so on. They're also
7:26responsible for a lot of the management
7:29of local infrastructure such as the
7:31treatment of sewage, town planning
7:33decisions about how different areas of
7:35land can be developed. They manage
7:38building approvals and inspections and
7:40they also are responsible for land and
7:42coast care programs, again taking
7:45responsibility for the local environment
7:48and the maintenance of it. They're also
7:51responsible for pet control. So if you
7:53have a a pet animal that you are that
7:57you look after then the local council is
7:59going to be the agency the the level of
8:01government that looks after the
8:02regulation of pets.
8:05So as the uh New South Wales parliament
8:08website puts it local councils are
8:10concerned about matters policies and
8:12programs close to our homes. So things
8:15like building regulations and
8:16development, public health, local roads
8:19and pathways, parks and playing fields,
8:21libraries, local environment issues,
8:23waste disposal and many community
8:24services.
8:26And a lot of that is because many of the
8:28decisions that are made around public
8:31health and around restriction of
8:33movement were very much based on local
8:35government boundaries. So when we think
8:37about the federal, the state and then
8:39the local levels of government, local
8:42government is perhaps not the most
8:45significant that we would think about.
8:48It's not going to have responsibility
8:50for some of the the the big policy areas
8:53that we usually think about when we're
8:54studying public policy.
8:56And it's worth noting that local
8:58councils are a state government
9:00responsibility. So local government is
9:03covered by state legislation. So in New
9:06South Wales, it is the New South Wales
9:07parliament that has passed legislation
9:09that sets all of the arrangements up for
9:11how local government is going to work.
9:14When we talked about federalism, the
9:16federal government and the state
9:17governments both having sovereignty
9:20and that's really important in a federal
9:22system. Local governments on the other
9:24hand have no sovereignty at all. They
9:27are the creation of the New South Wales
9:30Parliament. So local governments can be
9:33dismissed, abolished, amalgamated. They
9:37can have their boundaries changed. They
9:39can have responsibilities removed by the
9:41state government. And this does mean
9:42that councils can be suspended or put
9:44under administration by the minister for
9:46local government if there is some kind
9:48of issue with what's happening inside a
9:50particular local council. And we do have
9:52cases where that happens on a fairly
9:55regular basis. Local councils can be
9:57suspended or put under administration
9:59for a period of time.
10:01Winter Carabishia Council was uh put
10:03under administration in 2021 and that
10:07was as a result of infighting that had
10:09been going on where there were
10:10irreconcilable diff differences between
10:13counselors working on the particular
10:14local council. Sometimes we've seen
10:17local councils have got into into
10:18trouble in terms of managing their
10:20finances and similarly they've had to be
10:22put into administration by the minister.
10:24So an administrator is appointed to for
10:27a period of time to see them through and
10:30to to uh take responsibility for
10:33rectifying their financial situation.
10:36It's important to note then that local
10:38councils are elected by their their
10:41local constituency but they have no
10:43sovereignty. They are still responsible
10:45to the New South Wales government.
10:48Some of you who have lived in New South
10:49Wales for a while might be aware that in
10:522017, the Liberal Coalition government
10:55in New South Wales decided to amalgamate
10:59many of the local councils in the
11:01interests of getting economies of scale
11:03and simplifying the local level of
11:05government. And so they put through a a
11:09quite a significant reform which was
11:12aimed to at amalgamating a lot of the
11:15smaller councils into into bigger local
11:17government areas. And that was a very
11:20controversial. There were many local
11:22councils that pushed back that took the
11:25state government to court that that
11:27resisted in many different ways. Quite a
11:30lot of them did merge but others flatly
11:33refused to do so. and ultimately the
11:35premier backed down on the policy.
11:40When we look at local government in New
11:42South Wales and have a bit of a think
11:44about where the power lies, one of the
11:47things to think about is where the money
11:48comes from.
11:51The main source of revenue that local
11:53councils have is usually in the form of
11:56rates, which is a kind of tax that's
11:58paid by property owners. So if you own a
12:02house in a particular local government
12:04area or if you own land then you will be
12:06paying rates on that which will be uh
12:11directly aimed at paying for the
12:13services that are provided by the local
12:15council in a local area. Alongside that
12:18then a a large part of the revenue that
12:20local councils gather comes from user
12:22charges. So what that means is uh fees
12:24that we pay for the services that we uh
12:27use. So if you use a uh local waste
12:31management center for example then you
12:34would pay fees to be able to deposit
12:36rubbish at a waste management center at
12:38a tip. If you park in a particular area
12:41you'll be paying parking fees and so on.
12:43But as you can see the bulk of the
12:45services that they the bulk of the
12:47revenue that they receive comes from
12:48their local residents through rates and
12:51through user charges. Now, local
12:53governments are elected by their
12:55residents and local council elections
12:58are held every four years on a fixed
13:00date in New South Wales. The exception
13:03to that has been because of the CO 19
13:06pandemic.
13:07When you look at what has happened in
13:09the most recent local government
13:11election and think about who was elected
13:12to your local council, uh it's worth
13:14having a look at whether the mayor was
13:17directly elected or whether the mayor
13:19was indirectly chosen by the elected
13:22counselors. Different councils have
13:24different ways of organizing their
13:26leadership in terms of who gets to be
13:28the mayor, but quite a lot of mayers are
13:31directly elected by the people by the
13:33voters. Usually a local government area
13:36is divided into wards which is like an
13:39electorate. So voters will choose
13:41representatives for their own ward,
13:43their own section of the local
13:44government area. Some councils are
13:46undivided. So they don't have wards. All
13:48of the voters choose counselors to serve
13:51from across the whole local government
13:54area.
13:55It's worth noting that voting is
13:56compulsory for local government
13:58elections. So everyone who is on the
14:00electoral role is required to vote for
14:02local government elections. So it's not
14:04something that is voluntary. All people
14:06whether they are property owners or not
14:09if they are residents and on the
14:10electoral role then they need to vote
14:12for the local government elections. One
14:14thing to note about local government
14:16elections is that we are less likely to
14:19see the major parties participate in
14:22local council elections though that has
14:24started to change in recent years.
14:26Usually local council elections are
14:28contested by independents and groups
14:31that are not necessarily affiliated with
14:33a particular political party. So they do
14:36group together but they don't
14:38necessarily represent the Liberal Party
14:40or the Labor Party for example. We have
14:42started to see uh political parties
14:45stand visibly uh and contest local
14:49government elections with groups of uh
14:52candidates who are clearly affiliated
14:53with the political party. but it tends
14:56to be less partisan than it would be at
14:59the state or the federal elections. So,
15:02you might want to have a look at uh who
15:04was elected at the most recent uh local
15:07government election to the council that
15:08you're observing and think about whether
15:11those counselors that were elected,
15:13whether they represent a particular
15:14political party or a particular group or
15:17whether they stood as genuinely
15:19independent candidates. It might affect
15:22the way that they behave during a
15:24council meeting if they see themselves
15:25as being part of a group or part of a
15:28party. Now, when you conduct your
15:29fieldwork, before you watch the meeting,
15:33do some general research on how councils
15:36work. So, I've already mentioned the
15:37Office of Local Government. It's a good
15:39website to start with, which is the New
15:41South Wales government's uh agency that
15:44looks after local governments. You might
15:46also like to have a read of the
15:47parliament education office uh
15:50information the link that I've given you
15:51there which talks about the three levels
15:53of government and how they work
15:54together. I've given you a a collection
15:57of suggested readings in legato for the
15:59fieldwork task. Some of them are about
16:01how to do field work and some of them
16:03are about local governments in
16:05particular. So you might like to have a
16:07look at those. They're not compulsory
16:08but they they're certainly suggested.
16:10What I do think you should look at very
16:12carefully is the model code of meeting
16:14practice for local councils in New South
16:16Wales. Uh and you should certainly have
16:18a look at not necessarily reading the
16:21whole document but getting a sense of
16:23how meetings are supposed to take place
16:25and what the rules are. You will see
16:27that when you observe a local council
16:29meeting they are following that code of
16:31meeting practice. So they are following
16:33the rules that are set down there. So it
16:35will make more sense to you what they do
16:36if you have an awareness of what's in
16:38the code. You might also like to watch
16:41the the film which is quite old now but
16:43it's a good film about how local council
16:45works. It's an actual documentary called
16:47Rats in the Ranks which is about the
16:49influence of the Labour Party in an
16:52inner west uh in urban council in
16:55Sydney. So it might be interesting to
16:58give you a sense of the sorts of
16:59business and the way that uh councils
17:02have been seen to run in the past. You
17:04should certainly do some research on the
17:06chosen council that you're going to do
17:07your field work with. So who are the
17:09counselors? Who is the mayor? Do they
17:11belong belong to parties or groups? Can
17:14you find the name of the general manager
17:16as well is a useful thing or the CEO,
17:18the chief executives executive officer
17:20of the council. The reason you want to
17:22find the name of that person is because
17:23that person will be attending the
17:25council meeting and you'll find that
17:26they probably do quite a lot of talking
17:28but they are not an elected counselor.
17:31So they're not elected, they're
17:32appointed. their body their role is to
17:35be essentially the head of the the
17:36public service that supports the local
17:39government. So the general manager will
17:42be answerable to the counselors at that
17:44meeting and will often provide a lot of
17:46important information. So it's good to
17:48know who they are before you watch the
17:49meeting. Make sure you've looked at the
17:51agenda for the meeting before the
17:53meeting starts so you know what sorts of
17:55things are going to be discussing, what
17:56issues are on the agenda, and you might
17:59be able to work out where there are
18:00issues that are going to be debated for
18:03a decision or whether there are there
18:05are uh items on the agenda that are just
18:07about sharing information. Have a look
18:10and see if you can also see if there are
18:11going to be items on the agenda where
18:13the public gets to have a say or where
18:15they've got members of the local
18:17community who are going to be speaking.
18:20While you're watching the meeting, I
18:22want you to think about making quite uh
18:26quite detailed notes so that you can
18:29then distill those into a meaningful
18:32report. So, as you're watching, make
18:34notes about a specific policy debate.
18:37You'll see that the questions that I
18:38want you to answer to discuss a specific
18:40policy debate. So, not the whole
18:42meeting, but focus on a particular
18:44agenda item where you can see that
18:46there's a debate around a particular
18:47policy issue.
18:49So think about that and identify the
18:51different perspectives on the issue that
18:53is being debated. See if you can see
18:55that there are different views being
18:57put. If there's a number of people who
19:00are speaking in favor and then perhaps a
19:02number of people who are speaking
19:03against, see if you can identify who
19:05those people are and what the reasoning
19:07is that they are presenting when they're
19:09speaking. Perhaps it's worth identifying
19:12the who spoke and the points that they
19:15made, but also then see if you can
19:16identify if they belong to a particular
19:18party or a particular group. Whether
19:20they are in the same group as the mayor
19:22or not is another relevant thing you
19:24might want to think about. And then
19:26while you're watching the meeting as a
19:28whole, think about how did the meeting
19:30rules and procedures help or hinder the
19:32exchange of views. So I'm there talking
19:34about that code again about how meetings
19:37should take place. Those rules about how
19:39the meeting takes place can often work
19:41in in favor of some actors and against
19:44the interests of others who might want
19:46to speak more freely. Think about how
19:48the mayor uh governs the process of
19:52holding the meeting. Does the mayor
19:54follow the rules very closely? Does the
19:56mayor use the rules to shut down debate
19:59or to extend debate in the interests of
20:02some? And what you're really doing there
20:04is looking at the way that the the
20:06institutions, the conventions, the rules
20:09might hinder or enable particular actors
20:13uh in a way that is a reflection of
20:15power. What I want you to be doing is
20:18looking carefully for evidence of power
20:21uh as it is manifested in a council
20:23meeting. So who is most powerful in the
20:26room? How do they exercise that power?
20:28How can you observe that power? What are
20:30you really seeing? So that's where you
20:32can look at the the role of the mayor
20:33for example or the role of particular
20:36groups or parties in the council or the
20:39role of the the general manager or the
20:41CEO or the just the way in which the
20:44institution itself the the rules about
20:46how the meeting should be conducted, how
20:48those things influence power and how
20:50it's exercised.
20:52I also want you to be looking for
20:54ideology. When we think about political
20:56parties, I want you to think about
20:58whether ideology is behind the positions
21:00that the different counselors take when
21:02they are debating a particular issue.
21:05You might also want to think about to
21:06what extent do local community members
21:08have a say. Is there evidence that there
21:11has been consultation with the local
21:13community? Are local community members
21:15allowed to speak to the council during
21:17the meeting or have they uh expressed
21:20their views in a different form such as
21:22through a petition or a submission or
21:25something like that? Do the councilors
21:27talk about having spoken to their local
21:30constituents? Do they present themselves
21:32as representing the views of their
21:34constituents? In what ways does the
21:37local community uh have a say in terms
21:39of the the way issues are debated by the
21:41local council? You might also want to
21:44think about how the issue that is being
21:45debated, how did it arrive on the
21:46council's agenda? Is it there because it
21:49was something that was promised during
21:51the election? Is it there because it's a
21:54routine matter? Is it there because a
21:56particular interest group or a
21:58particular organization has asked for
22:00the issue to be debated? How did it get
22:02onto the agenda? And then when you think
22:05about how the counselors are engaging in
22:07the debate, do they speak? Do they
22:09remain silent? when they speak, are they
22:11speaking for or against? Whose interests
22:14are they representing? Sometimes it'll
22:16be that you can see evidence of party
22:18allegiance. So, they speak in support of
22:20their fellow party members or fellow
22:22group members.
22:25When you're writing up your report, it's
22:27really very important to pay careful
22:29attention to detail and accuracy in
22:31terms of the way that you write it up.
22:34So, you need to be very focused. Your
22:36report needs to be clear and succinct.
22:38It's important that you express yourself
22:40very precisely and accurately.
22:44I do hope that you'll be able to refer
22:46to some of the course readings to
22:47support your analysis. And where you do,
22:49you must include a bibliography.
22:52Have a look at the marking rubric on
22:53Moodle. It will help you to get a sense
22:55of what's important when we mark the
22:57this assessment task. There's a handout
22:59there which gives a list of the
23:00questions that you need to answer.
23:03you haven't got very much space to talk
23:05about what the issue is, but put a lot
23:07of effort into explaining what the issue
23:09is. This is where I want you to put the
23:11the bulk of your your effort. And I do
23:14want you to think about where you have
23:17been able to observe the exercise of
23:19power or the relevance of ideology or
23:23perhaps the role of interests and
23:25institutions in the in terms of the
23:28issue that you are talking about and in
23:30terms of the decision-m process that you
23:32are observing. So I do want you to be
23:34able to refer to some of the theory that
23:36we have been talking about in this
23:37course so far. So, make sure you think
23:39about it in terms of your readings, in
23:41terms of the things that we've discussed
23:42in class and how you're seeing that
23:44manifested through the actual council
23:47meeting.
23:49And when it comes to thinking about
23:50attending a meeting, for some of you, I
23:53realize you are not currently in
23:54Australia and you have no choice but to
23:57attend online.
23:59And in that sense, you'll find that many
24:02local councils are still holding their
24:04meetings online. So they they either
24:07live stream their meetings or they
24:09publish video or audio recordings of
24:11their meetings so that you can watch
24:13them afterwards. For those of you who
24:15are in New South Wales, I certainly
24:17recommend that you get yourself along to
24:19a local council meeting because it will
24:20be much more fun to watch it in person
24:24and there are uh certainly things that
24:27you will be able to see that you would
24:28not be able to see if you were watching
24:30a video recording of the meeting.
24:32They're usually held in the evening. So
24:34after after usual business hours uh and
24:37they will obviously be held in the local
24:38council chambers. So do just check that
24:40by calling your local council before you
24:42attend.
24:44It's worth having a look at what the
24:45arrangements are for the local council
24:47that you want to observe. Sometimes they
24:49have a way of showing the the meeting
24:51papers on the screen as well as showing
24:53the the people speaking. And that can be
24:56quite useful particularly if you're not
24:58sure of of what they're talking about.
25:00It's quite useful to be able to see the
25:02papers at the same time so that you can
25:04follow the debate and be clear about
25:05which item on the agenda they are they
25:08are working through. So do do look
25:11around for different uh local councils
25:14and and have a look at the find a
25:16meeting format that suits you best. I
25:19hope you do enjoy this fieldwork
25:20experience. It's usually uh something
25:22that students get a lot out of actually
25:25either going to a council meeting or
25:26observing it online and seeing the way
25:28that policy is made at the local level
25:31and the way that power and ideology are
25:33manifested. I hope you enjoy the
25:35experience and of course if you have any
25:37questions we'll be able to cover them in
25:38class and you can certainly email me
25:41with questions at any time.

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