Ravim RBC is a strategic consultancy moving Councils beyond day-to-day management. We focus on assisting local government authorities with a range of initiatives. This blog category is used to update clients on industry news based on John Ravlic’s extensive experience in the Australian local government environment.
Pools Are Not Commercial Services Regional public pools are not designed to operate on a commercial basis. They are subsidised essential public infrastructure delivering: Profit and loss measures financial performance, but these community-based outcomes sit outside the revenue line. Structural Cost/Revenue Imbalance The business model for regional pools is inherently Read more
Since around 2010, England alone has seen hundreds of swimming pool closures – estimates suggest almost 400 fewer pools in the decade following austerity-era funding cuts and rising costs. Pools have continued to close or face closure for multiple reasons, including operating deficits, ageing infrastructure, and constrained local government finances. Read more
Once the underlying business model for operating public swimming pools is examined (specifically, the factors that drive demand and those that drive costs), it becomes apparent that the prevailing service model is structurally challenged over the long term. Demand Drivers Demand for public pools is largely shaped by external and Read more
Where income from pool entry fees represents a relatively small recovery of total costs, councils may consider waiving entry fees as part of a broader service review. The immediate financial effect of this approach is that the costs of delivering the pool are spread across a larger number of participants, Read more
Introduction The State of Aquatic Facility Infrastructure in Australia Report, commissioned by the Royal Life Saving Australia (RLSA) in 2022, found that 500 pools across Australia would need replacing, or require “significant repairs” to the pool shell, within the next 10 years – at a cost of $8 billion. It Read more
I was recently editing a Draft Report for a client when I decided to review the following statement to make sure it was still accurate… “Cars purchased by Australians are significantlyless fuel efficient compared to those in similar countries.“ Fuel Efficiency: Still Lagging Data from the Australian Government shows that, Read more
Coalition Review Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has established a working group of Liberals and Nationals, led by shadow energy and emissions reduction spokesman Dan Tehan, to develop a policy to take to the next election. The federal National Party has appointed outspoken critic of Australia’s net-zero emissions target, Matt Canavan, Read more
Introduction The transition to net-zero fleet is not for fleet management to solve. There is too much that needs to be done across the organisation for the transition to net-zero fleet to be the sole responsibility of fleet management. Effective development and implementation of the net-zero fleet transition program requires Read more
For years, Australia’s gas sector has positioned natural gas as a vital “transition fuel” on the path to net zero emissions by 2050. This framing—widely accepted by industry, government, and even some climate policy circles—suggests gas will smooth the shift from coal to renewables, firm the grid, and support industrial Read more
The Liberal Party’s federal election defeat marks a watershed moment in its modern political history. Such losses go beyond parliamentary arithmetic and they call into question the Party’s purpose and relevance in the national conversation. In moments like this, the impulse is to focus on process and procedure and quickly Read more