Planning workforce report a curate's egg - good in parts
7 September 2004
The Planners for Tomorrow report on planning workforce shortages released in Melbourne today is something of a curate's egg - good in parts, the President of the Australian Local Government Association, Councillor Mike Montgomery, said today.
"A range of action is needed on several fronts to tackle the shortage of planners," Cr Montgomery said. "Planning shortages are acutely felt by councils across the country and we support sensible and practical strategies to boost the workforce to acceptable levels."
"The report, by the Planning Institute of Australia, makes a number of recommendations to improve the supply of planners.
"ALGA generally supports those recommendations that seek to address the shortage of planners without imposing an additional financial burden on local government. Such recommendations include:
- an increase in fully-funded places for planning students
- inclusion of planning on the list of 'migration occupations in demand'
- sharing or pooling planners in rural and regional Australia
"However, some recommendations are not acceptable to local government, particularly those that impose additional financial burdens on already hard pressed council budgets.
"Nor can we accept the fundamentally anti-democratic suggestion that councilors be compelled to undertake planning training. It is the people who decide who is elected to a council. It is not up to a professional body to dictate the skills or qualifications elected councillors must possess.
"ALGA will seek to work with the Planning Institute to ensure mutually acceptable recommendations can be advanced to alleviate the planner shortages. We're keen to play our part," Cr Montgomery said.
