Councils now have much more broad-ranging duties, mostly handed to them by the state government through laws, regulations and the council charter, but also through expanding demands by residents. One of those acquired responsibilities is local economic development, such as making sure there is enough zoned land for business and industry, reducing red tape, attracting events and so on.

Some of the new responsibilities create a potential conflict with council’s other responsibilities, as in the case of tenders where council must accept the best value and most advantageous tender.

An especially controversial aspect of economic development is the idea of giving preference to local business. During last September’s election campaign, there was a lot of expressed desire that council should give preference to local businesses.

Since then, council staff and councillors have given significant attention to the idea. At last month’s meeting submissions from the public were considered and a Local Preference Policy for tenders of more than $150,000 was adopted for a 12 month trial.  

The policy means firms with a principal place of business in our LGA will get a 5 per cent weighted advantage on tendered price to a maximum $25,000. Cr Mike Cusato and I voted against it, despite strong support from many in the business community.

Council has done well in the past, actively helping local business become more tender competitive with tendering debriefs, supplier forums and tender writing workshops. I’ve been a strong advocate of that process. I didn’t support the local preference policy because it opens us to challenge under competition law and does little to drive local businesses to be more competitive.

Mayor Peta Pinson is on leave for three weeks, and I will be fulfilling the duties of mayor in the interim.

These are Cr Intemann’s opinions and not necessarily council’s.