Hobart City Council put compulsory voting and the introduction of the ballot box to local government elections on the agenda and Alderman Eva Ruzicka spoke passionately for it, citing a need for consistency across all three levels of government - federal, state and local.

With only 54.5 per cent of Tasmanians bothering to vote in the local government elections last year, some would say there is a good case to see it introduced, but surprisingly, or maybe not, it didn't get up, with the vote going 21 against to eight for.

Those against - including King Island Council, which has possibly the strongest voter return rate in the country on 82.9 per cent - blamed a potential cost recovery burden from the non-voters. You would think they might be the ones to worry the least.

A move to give councils the right to vote in the mayor and deputy didn't get any discussion, when no one would second the motion.

One friendly person at the conference said to me it was better this motion didn't succeed because there was all likelihood of party factions becoming more evident in local government if it had.

However, the motion from Hobart council on political donations saw some good discussion and was passed with applause.

Alderman Ruzicka summed it up nicely, saying what many ratepayers probably think: "... for us to accept political donations and then sit as a planning authority, puts an odour against the decisions that we make."

But on to the big "A".

It has been eight months since Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein put the hotly debated topic back on the table, and through many calls, texts, meetings, emails and I'm sure a bit of back-room cajoling, we've seen four regional models unveiled.

If anything, the LGAT conference just made it that bit more clearer how discussions around amalgamation or resource sharing - were not going, with the media caught in the confusion.

As it stands, the four models on discussion are that for the North and North West, which are looking only at resource sharing - for the moment - yet amalgamations and potentially a new council could be created in either a Greater Hobart or Greater South Eastern.

With all the "no one wants to include Launceston in talks" over, it was good to see that the city will be a part of any discussions in the region.

As occurred to Launceston City though, Devonport City has now been the one left out of discussions because they want to have amalgamations on the table - something which the surrounding eight councils certainly are not keen on.

While in the South, the relatively small Brighton Council has come out swinging, saying they want no part of discussions, and Southern Midlands, Central Highlands, Derwent Valley and Huon Valley also want to be excluded.

Glenorchy City are expected to make a decision shortly.

The findings from the modelling to be undertaken now will provide a greater argument for or against.

With the conference over for another year, it's set to be an interesting 12 months, at least in the South, where not all those in attendance may be back in 2016.