Too many layers of government?

We had council elections late last year. Unlike state and federal elections there is no compulsion to vote in council elections. Nevertheless I voted. 

My preferred candidate for Mayor did not get in and the local community will be the poorer for it.  There were some nasty accusations made by and about some candidates for council. Thee were promises made by the winning candidate which cannot possibly be met but this is politics isn't it? 

Perhaps the only thing to be said for the results in this council area is that all the vacancies were filled. We have a functioning local council of sorts. This surely has to be better than those councils which are having "supplementary" elections at council expense because not all the vacancies were filled. One council has just the mayor and one councillor. Nobody else put their hands up. Another has two vacancies, another several more. It seems people no longer want these roles unless they have political ambitions. Our current mayor ran for parliament and lost. Another councillor is eyeing a political career after some experience at local level. 

The Senior Cat used to say we were "over-governed". He was always active in local affairs. As a school principal it was inevitable. He did not have time to be on the local council - and yes, it takes time to do the job properly. Of necessity he had to work with each council in the city over things like rubbish collection at the school, the parking restrictions around the school, which trees they wanted on the school grounds and the best dates for various activities. Every council had different regulations and it all took time. There were layers of bureaucracy even within the council. Like every other school principal there were times when he acted first and sought permission to do something late. 

All this happens in a country which has a population smaller than that of California, much smaller. All these layers of government clog up the workings of everyday life. Things do not get done when they should be done and sometimes do not get done at all.

This morning there is more news, this time that the state government wants to set up yet another "advisory council" which will involve yet more elections. This one is for a body which it seems will be very similar to the subject matter of the federal referendum next year. Would we "need" this if we had one less layer of government? If the remaining layer was ultimately answerable to our federal parliament would things actually get done sometimes?