Governing in the age of disruption
This whitepaper is a strategic foresight paper for local government CEOs in Australia and New Zealand, produced by Symphony3 in partnership with LGPro and supported by AWS. It looks at the six forces reshaping the sector, political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal, and sets out what will change in the decade ahead, what will not, and what CEOs should do now to lead through it.
Key Highlights:
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The Changing Landscape: Six force fields shaping local government today, each tested against global evidence including Deloitte, KPMG, the World Economic Forum, and the Davidson Australian Local Government CEO Index.
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A Framework for Managing Change: What is directionally certain to change by 2036 across service delivery, workforce, finance, and community engagement, and what will not, giving CEOs a way to lead while the picture is still incomplete.
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The CEO Playbook for Change: Five areas of focus, building leadership wisdom, building AI capable teams, finding revenue opportunities, getting IT foundations right, and collaborating with peers, plus a revenue deep dive and two practical playbooks.
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The evidence base: Drawn from LGPro's first sector-wide baseline of AI adoption, surveying 2,500 staff across 22 Victorian councils, alongside Deloitte, KPMG, WEF and Davidson research.
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Contributed perspectives: Original articles from experienced leaders across academia, local government and Symphony3, including Jill Brown, CEO of LGPro, and Professor Ronan McDonald from the University of Melbourne.
The paper also includes fourteen "what if" scenarios to stress-test strategic plans, and further contributed perspectives and council case studies of AI already running in production.
