A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is defined under the Local Government Act 1993 as an arrangement:
- between a council and a private person to provide public infrastructure or facilities (being infrastructure or facilities in respect of which the council has an interest, liability or responsibility under the arrangement), and
- in which the public infrastructure or facilities are provided in part or in whole through private sector financing, ownership or control,
but does not include any such arrangement if it is of a class that has been excluded from the operation of this Part by the regulations.
Any council entering into a PPP must comply with the Guidelines on the Procedures and Processes to be followed by Local Government in Public-Private Partnerships – January 2022.
The guidelines are not intended to be onerous or require work in addition to that normally expected of a prudent organisation when entering into a complex partnership arrangement. They follow well-established practices for PPPs at the State level.
Councils are required to submit an assessment of the project to be carried out under the PPP to the Office of Local Government before they enter an arrangement. The General Manager must certify that this assessment has been carried out in accordance with the PPP guidelines.