The NSW Office of Local Government has released data relating to all Council complaints which excludes important context and unnecessarily impugns good council reputations.

Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan said he was disappointed that the Office of Local Government (OLG) and the Minister Gabrielle Upton had selectively released the statistics without the next level of data which tells a different story.

OLG claims Northern Beaches had 31 complaints in 2017-18 but further interrogation of the data reveal 24 were rejected by the OLG, requiring no further action. That leaves seven complaints over a twelve month period that OLG thought warranted follow up, in a population of around 270,000 residents.

“Here at Northern Beaches we value community feedback and are always looking for ways to improve our customer service.” Mayor Regan said.

“However selectively releasing statistics like this for an apparent quick headline provides a distorted picture at the expense of reasonable councils.

“If this exercise is so the Minister can shame local councils into doing better, then she could at least better reflect those that do need improvement.

“At Northern Beaches we have around 270,000 residents and in twelve months the OLG deemed only seven complaints were worth any follow up.

“At this stage we don’t even know if those seven complaints stand up after they have been investigated.

“I’d encourage OLG to reconsider how they collate and release these statistics so it can actually be of real benefit to the community and the local government sector.

“And I’d welcome a visit from the Minister to the glorious Northern Beaches to see what great work we are doing as a newly amalgamated Council delivering great benefits for our community.”