New Australian Council of Local Government

Cr Paul Bell, President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister of the establishment of the new Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) in November, saying it marked a new chapter in Federal-Local Government relations.

"The Council marks the beginning of the Federal Government building a stronger relationship with local government and local communities across Australia," he said.

Cr Bell made his comments as part of a joint press conference with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, at Parliament House yesterday.

The Prime Minister and Minister Albanese jointly announced that the Federal Government would convene the first meeting of the new Council in November in Canberra and would also invite all mayors and shire presidents to attend.

The one-day meeting would address a number of issues including local infrastructure, the challenges facing major cities and steps towards the constitutional recognition of local government.

The meeting would also see the announcement of the ongoing membership and charter of the ACLG.

"The focus of the Council's agenda reflects the challenges currently facing local government, particularly in the area of financial sustainability and community infrastructure. The size of the community infrastructure investment deficit was estimated by PricewaterhouseCoopers to be in the order of $14.5 billion in 2006, with an annual underspend on infrastructure maintenance of around $1.1 billion," said Cr Bell.

"ALGA is also progressing the issue of constitutional recognition of local government this year through a process of engaging individual councils and through a Constitutional Summit to be held in Melbourne on 9-11 December. The outcomes of the Summit will provide a firm basis for taking this issue through the ACLG and with the Australian Government."

Cr Bell noted that ALGA would now work closely with the Government to develop the timing, the format and the agenda for the meeting in November and the arrangements for the ongoing operation of the ACLG.

Roads to Recovery lauded as bill debated in Parliament

ALGA President Cr Paul Bell has written to all members of the new Senate advocating the smooth passage of the AusLink Bill which provides for the continuation of Roads to Recovery until 2014 and locks in increased funding.

Cr Bell met with Nationals Leader and the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Local Government, Warren Truss, on Tuesday to discuss the legislation which is supported by the Opposition. Mr Truss commended the legislation as 'the sincerest form of flattery' as it matched the Coalition's election commitment. Cr Bell said he was delighted at the display of bipartisan support for Roads to Recovery evidenced by the line-up of 42 speakers in favour of the legislation from the Government and Opposition which so far included: Chris Hayes, Brendan Nelson, Brett Raguse, Luke Simpkins, Greg Combet, Bruce Scott, Mark Dreyfus, Mark Coulton, Bob Baldwin, Gary Gray, Rowan Ramsey, Jodie Campbell, Sharman Stone, Scott Morrison, Yvette D'Ath, Barry Haase, James Bidgood, Wilson Tuckey, Damian Hale, Peter Lindsay, Jim Turnour, Kay Hull, Nola Marino, Craig Thomson, Alby Schultz, Julie Collins, Darren Chester, Bernie Ripoll, Ian Macfarlane, David Bradbury, Peter Slipper, Darren Cheeseman, Luke Hartsuyker, Roger Price, Tony Windsor, Janelle Saffin, Paul Neville, Jill Hall, Louise Markus, Sid Sidebottom, Bruce Billson, Kirsten Livermore.

"The Roads to Recovery program is a highly-successful flagship program for local government which is crucial in providing councils with much-needed resources for the construction and maintenance of local council roads infrastructure, the safety and security of which is paramount for all Australians," Cr Bell said.

The Legislation is currently before the House of Representatives.

Housing Affordability fund guidelines released

Councils and state governments are eligible for funding under the application guidelines for the Government's new Housing Affordability Fund (HAF) launched this week by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek.

The HAF invests $512 million over five years to target the planning and infrastructure costs that are incurred when building new housing developments.

ALGA President Cr Paul Bell welcomed the announcement of the HAF program and its guidelines, saying that ALGA had been working with the Australian Government on the initiative, through the COAG Housing Affordability Working Group.

Cr Bell urged councils to examine the guidelines carefully and decide whether they would make an application under the program. "Housing affordability is an issue for councils and local government welcomes the flexibility for the program," he said. "We are particularly pleased that the Australian Government is prepared to fund community infrastructure related to HAF projects."

"It would defeat the program's purpose to fund affordable housing that did not have access to transport, adequate sewerage and water, playgrounds and library services. These basic services need to be funded. Without Federal Government funding, local government would expect developers to make a contribution to this sort of community infrastructure. Local government could also benefit from access to funding to speed up the release of land and undertake the necessary planning work associated with HAF projects."

Minister Plibersek said 'tens of thousands' of new home buyers would directly benefit from the Fund, with savings coming from grants of up to $10 000 per home, reduced holding costs, and contributions from other levels of government. The grants would be targeted towards areas with high demand for new, entry-level housing and applicants would have to be able to demonstrate that their cost savings were passed on to new home buyers. For further information on the Housing Affordability Fund and the application guidelines please visit www.fahcsia.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/housing/haf.htm.

From the President

What a week it has been in politics! It began with the announcement of a new Opposition Leader and finished with the Prime Minister standing shoulder to shoulder with myself and Minister Albanese to make a historic announcement for local government.

When I was invited at short notice to attend a joint press conference yesterday with the Prime Minister and Minister Albanese, and although I did not know the full content of the announcement, I suspected the hard work, the resilience, and the tireless campaigning efforts of local government were finally paying off.

The Prime Minister announced that for the first time in our nation's history, every single council in Australia would be invited to attend a one-day forum with him to address issues of national and local significance, including building national and local infrastructure to boost the quality of life in our communities, as well as issues about major cities and very importantly, Constitutional Recognition. This convention will officially launch the Australian Council of Local Government.

The PM's announcement is proof that local government's core messages are getting through to our nation's leaders; these being the need for collaborative partnerships, fairer funding and constitutional recognition.

Being in local government, we know that local councils have long deserved a better deal. We know that local government is integral to the health and prosperity of local and regional communities in so many different fields of endeavour: fostering social inclusion, promoting healthy built environments, welcoming enterprise, adopting new technologies to make life easier, helping communities learn and understand the challenges that confront them (like climate change), providing home and community care, supporting those in need, extending programs to our aged, supporting the disabled, hosting community events and awards, and so on.

I am keenly aware as you all are that local government has been doing things tough for many years. Our general purpose funding has been consistently falling every year since 1995-96 as a proportion of total Commonwealth taxation revenue (excluding the GST). Even the Productivity Commission has said that this funding merits review. And whilst our human services and reach have expanded, programs have been faced with cost squeezes and other pressures, including withdrawal of funding or involvement of the other spheres, leaving us to pick up the tab because we never have and never will abandon our communities. And whilst we are doing all we can to build up communities as we know it is the backbone of everything good in Australia, the backlog of local community infrastructure renewals is getting greater, with the result that our communities are deprived of these important social wellbeing assets.

At the end of what has been a historic week in our history, I think we can all be proud that local government has been tenacious in taking up the fight for a better deal. We are clearly being heard at the highest levels of the Rudd Government. Let's continue to build on this great achievement at the inaugural gathering in November 2008.

Cr Paul Bell AM
ALGA President

Quote of the week

"I am sure Mr Turnbull has the energy, determination and skills to be an effective leader of the Liberal Party."
National Party Leader Warren Truss

International news  

The UK is building the most cramped housing in Europe in a phenomenon dubbed "rabbit hutch" Britain, with every country in western Europe, from Ireland to Italy, providing bigger new homes.

"The cause is simple and shocking," said Ellis Woodman, the curator behind the British pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, opening today, which examines why the quality of British housing has fallen behind the rest of Europe. "England and Wales are the only parts of Europe where house-building is unregulated by legally binding minimum space standards," he said. "That oversight is all too indicative of the failure of successive British governments to ensure that we are well housed."

Homes in the UK have the smallest rooms west of Poland and old dwellings are not much bigger, with the average floor space almost a quarter smaller than in Denmark, which boasts western Europe's most spacious living accommodation. Among the smallest homes on the market are Barratt Homes' "Manhattan pods" in Harlow, Essex, which have just 34 square metres of space and a living room measuring three metres by 3.6 metres. A survey by the housing charity Shelter of 500 families living in overcrowded conditions revealed that 86% felt someone in their family was suffering from depression, anxiety or stress and 71% said overcrowding had a negative impact on their health.

In November, London mayor Boris Johnson will propose the reintroduction of minimum space standards on all publicly-funded housing in the capital, with one-bedroom flats having to be no smaller than 50 square metres and three-bedroom homes a minimum 74 square metres. Johnson said in the summer that it was "shameful that new buildings in London have some of the smallest rooms in Europe". In a separate move aimed at freeing up more space in Britain's homes, the government said yesterday that it would waive planning procedures for loft conversions of fewer than 50 cubic metres and single-storey extensions no more than 3 metres deep.

Forthcoming events

For a full listing of forthcoming events, see ALGA's Events calendar.

• 15 - 16 February 2011 Behaviour Change Workshop with Doug McKenzie-Mohr
• 16 - 17 February 2011 Enabling meaningful change through community engagement
• 23 - 24 February 2001 Evolving Models of Governance and Accountability
• 25 February 2011 Future housing for older Australians
• 02 - 04 March 2011 Census | beyond the count
• 06 - 09 March 2011 PIA National Congress
• 09 - 11 March 2011 LGSA Tourism Conference 2011
• 21 - 23 March 2011 Industrial & commercial Waste Recycling 2011
• 28 - 29 March 2011 Traffic Theory workshop
• 30 - 31 March 2011 3rd Annual Water Leaders Congress