New group to assist council reform

A NEW reference group has been formed — composed of members from local government, industry and the community — to help develop practical reform in the local government sector.

It comes as the Govern- ment continues to review the state’s Local Government Act.

The reference group’s role will be to workshop feedback from consultation and provide advice to the Review Steering Committee on possible reform options.

The new reference group is made up of 17 members, including Tourism Tasmania CEO Luke Martin, TasCOSS CEO Kym Goodes, Clarence City Council Mayor Doug Chipman and Simmons Wolfhagen solicitor Karen Abey. BILL Shorten has promised to give victims of misconduct by the banks huge payouts for non-financial costs such as losing their jobs and suffering marriage breakdowns.

The Labor leader pledged to boost compensation available for non-financial losses from $5000 to up to $2 million for consumers and small businesses. Compensation caps would also be increased to $2 million for both consumers and small business — up from $500,000 and $1 million respectively.

The compensation package forms the cornerstone of Labor’s response to the banking royal commission and seeks to outbid the Coalition’s response. Mr Shorten said the compensation would help victims restart their lives.