WALIS GOVERNANCE REVIEW Proposed New Governance Model

WALIS GOVERNANCE REVIEW Proposed New Governance Model 1 SEPTEMBER 2009

Document Change Control Log Document storage location: V:\Divisions\Walis\Strategic Management\WALIS Governance Review\Governance review V0003 Version Status Date By Approved Release Notes By V001 Draft May 2009 ML Initial draft for working group consideration V002 Draft August 2009 ML Proposed model for working group consideration V003 Draft September 2009 ML WG Release for consultation Governance review V003.doc i

WALIS GOVERNANCE REVIEW PROPOSED NEW GOVERNANCE MODEL 1 INTRODUCTION WALIS has been in operation for 28 years. While its governance structure has undergone a number of modifications, a full review of its governance structure has not been undertaken for some time. Earlier this year, the WA State Government disbanded the WALIS Advisory Committee as part of a whole-of-government program to rationalise the number of committees and boards. In addition, a post implementation review of the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP) was undertaken that offered several recommendations regarding the WALIS governance structure. Through the WALIS Spatial Management Group, a working group was formed to undertake a review of the WALIS governance structure. The group began by reviewing the current and proposed structures of similar bodies to WALIS across Australia and New Zealand. Several other jurisdictions are undertaking reviews as well. The review also considered issues facing WA as a starting point for developing a new structure for Western Australia. An overview of the proposed model was also considered by WALIS Council at its meeting on 26 August 2009. This paper provides a more in-depth analysis of the proposed model and will be released to the WALIS community for comment during September 2009. In addition to a new governance model, the working group has also been working on a spatial vision for Western Australia. This work will continue and link to that also being developed by Landgate under instruction from the Minister for Lands. 2 PROCESS WALIS Spatial Management Group tasked the working group to develop a new draft governance model, to be finalised for release at WALIS International Forum 2009 (November) with implementation from 1 January 2010. Members of the working group are: Dave Currell Mike Waters Damian Shepherd Paul Harris Ray Wills Marnie Leybourne (SMG, Water Corporation) (SMG, FESA) (Council, Department of Agriculture and Food) (Former Chair, WALIS Advisory Committee) (Former Deputy Chair, WALIS Advisory Committee) (Director, WALIS) 3 PROPOSED GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE The diagram in Annex 1 outlines the proposed new governance structure for WALIS. The key components of the governance structure will be: - WALIS Council, made up of representatives from all the WALIS member agencies. These will include WA State Government departments/agencies, WA GBEs, statutory authorities and a Local Government representative. Governance review V003.doc Page 1

This has been the traditional structure of WALIS Council and the general level of representation in recent years has been GIS Manager/Senior Manager. It is not proposed that this change. WALIS Council has been functioning very effectively and it is expected that this will continue. The primary function of WALIS Council will be to coordinate operational aspects of WALIS; manage stakeholder relations; and provide direction and advice on policy, technical and operational aspects of WALIS. WALIS Council will be chaired by the Director, WALIS and would meet six times/year. - Associate Members Consortium, comprising all Associate Members of WALIS. Categories of membership for Associate Members will include the private sector, NGOs, academia and research, community, professional and lobby groups. The role of the Associate Members Consortium will primarily be to provide advice to government on policy issues relating to spatial information. However, it will also be a focal point for discussions on spatial information and provide greater opportunities for the WA spatial community to collaborate, which should strengthen the WA industry. Consortium members will likely mostly contribute to WALIS activities through working groups (see below), however regular consortium sessions will be scheduled, depending on the needs of consortium members. It is expected that at least two mini-forums a year will be held with consortium members and WALIS Council members. - Associate Members Reference Group, comprising at least one representative from each of the categories of associate members, as a primary group for the WALIS Board (see below) to seek advice from. - WALIS Board, which will be the governing body of WALIS. Its role will be to oversee the WALIS Program, set goals and direction and adopt a strategic spatial vision for Western Australia. The WALIS Board will comprise three (?) representatives from the Associate Members Consortium (selected by consortium members) and five (?) representatives from WALIS Member Agencies at at least Executive Director level and include the Chief Executive of Landgate (as the employer of the WALIS Office). - A monitoring and evaluation group, set by the Board and reporting to the Board, to monitor implementation of the WALIS plan and evaluate progress against KPIs set by either the Board or the WA State Government. - Working groups, which will be either standing committees or ad hoc committees set up for specific issues under direction from WALIS Board. The committees will be made up of appropriate representatives from WALIS member agencies and/or associate members. 4 HAVE ISSUES WITH THE CURRENT STRUCTURE BEEN ADDRESSED? The issues and review document released earlier by the working group highlighted a number of issues with the current government structure. This section works through those issues to ensure that each is being addressed by the proposed new structure. - As highlighted in the review paper, the evolution of the WALIS governance structure essentially occurred due to a delegation, over time, from senior executive-level Governance review V003.doc Page 2

representation at WALIS Council to more and more junior levels. This created a multi-tiered structure (WALIS EPC, WALIS SMG and WALIS Council) with limited interaction and did not adequately address the problem of appropriate representation. The proposed governance structure has removed one tier from the structure, which will help address the interaction issues. It is recognised that appropriate representation still exists. In reality, it is not possible to oblige departments to send senior executives to meetings: it is more appropriate to ensure that those that attend the meetings have the ability to contribute and to make commitments on behalf of their organisations or sectors. A better functioning structure, particularly at the proposed WALIS Board level, will assist in gaining better recognition for the business of WALIS at senior levels. - Private sector involvement. The PIR of SLIP commented that the WALIS Advisory Committee appeared to be functioning most effectively, and a review in Victoria pointed out that institutional arrangements that support state spatial data infrastructures must clearly identify the roles of the three sectors in the spatial information industry government, private and academic sectors. The proposed governance structure has clearly enforced involvement of all three sectors, with the professional and academic sectors being included through the Associate Members Consortium, the Reference Group, seats on WALIS Board and through working groups (as appropriate). - Lack of legislative backing. As the review document commented, WALIS has been founded on the principle of cooperation and currently has no legislative or regulatory underpinning to any of its work. There is limited requirement by any member agency to comply with policies or positions developed through WALIS. None of the bodies currently forming part of the governance structure of WALIS have any significant decision-making powers. The proposed governance structure does not address this, however at this stage it is not presumed to be needed. WALIS has managed to function relatively well through the collaborative approach, and certainly no other jurisdiction is planning to introduce legislation or regulation for its spatial councils. However, the addition of the M&E Group does increase the compliance quotient and may help improve compliance in the future. - Ability for government to deal with government business. Over the past couple of years, WALIS Council meetings have been opened to associate members. This has made the meetings more dynamic, however it has been a little more difficult to deal with pure government business (at times, associate members have had to be asked to leave). The proposed structure, returning WALIS Council to be primarily government, will address this. The proposed mini-forums with members of the WALIS community and associate members will ensure that the advantages of the combined meetings are not lost. - Associate member categories. It is recognised that the categories of associate members will require modification, and the proposed structure identifies associate members in categories such as academic, professional, private, etc, rather than whether they are providers of data or not. Governance review V003.doc Page 3

5 ISSUES TO STILL BE ADDRESSED Even if this proposed structure is adopted without further modification, there is still considerable work that will need to be done (such as forming terms of reference for each of the groups) and some issues that will still need to be addressed. Some of these issues are: - The Federal Government. Should Federal Government agencies be considered as WALIS member agencies, or as associate members? At present there are three Federal Government agencies that are associate members of WALIS: Australian Bureau of Statistics, the National Native Title Tribunal and Australia Post. The preference of these agencies is for recognition as full members of WALIS rather than as associate members. However, WA State Government legislation does not apply to them, nor can any directive from the WALIS Board necessarily apply to them. On the other hand, it would be beneficial from a government coordination perspective for these agencies to operate at the WALIS Council level. - Process for determining what agencies will sit on the WALIS Board (either as representatives form the WALIS members agencies, or from the associate members consortium). For the consortium, a voting process is the likely outcome, with rotating membership. For WALIS member agencies, will representatives be required to represent sectors (as for SMG at present, which does not work very well), or will it come from those agencies most active in the WALIS community? - Board Chair. At present, either WALIS Office or Landgate (as the employer of the WALIS Office) chairs the various governing bodies of WALIS (Council, SMG, EPC). There are three options that could be considered: 1) Landgate Chief Executive chair the WALIS Board; 2) an Independent Chair be appointed (by the Minister); 2) Board members elect a chair. Comment on these options, or other possible scenarios, is sought. - Membership fees. There are no membership fees for members or associate members of WALIS. It is not being proposed that a fee be set, however the option is open for discussion. The WALIS Office is funded, by appropriation, as a separate output (output 3) of Landgate and could be considered as a contribution from all government agencies. However, Landgate does contribute significantly in additional ways, both to the WALIS Office and to the WALIS Program. Other agencies also contribute significant levels of resources and staff time to WALIS-related activities, although not necessarily directly to the WALIS Program (or Office). Associate members do not, at present, contribute financially to WALIS. 6 CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS Comment is sought from all members (or proposed member) of the WALIS community on this proposed governance structure. In particular, comment is sought in relation to the three issues in section 5 (above). Comments are requested to be provided by COB Friday, 2 October 2009. Governance review V003.doc Page 4

ANNEX 1 PROPOSED WALIS GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE Minister Associate Members Consortium -Academic -Professional -Lobby -Research -NGOs -Private sector AM Reference Group WALIS Board M&E Group Set by the Board, reporting to the Board WALIS Member Agencies State Government, LG Reps, Statutory Authorities, GBEs WALIS Council Working groups for specific issues Governance review V003.doc Page 5