AUSTRALIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

ALGA's submission to the Aviation Green Paper

ALGA has made a submission to the Aviation Green Paper. The submission covers a number of aviation related issues of concern to local government including airport planning and safety; regional aviation; aviation services to remote Australia; and major airport planning and development.

The submission welcomes a number of initiatives proposed in the Green Paper dealing with the continuation of support for services on remote routes and to airports and safety planning at regional airports. It also cautiously welcomes the proposed consultative arrangements for major urban airports although there is a need to see how they operate in practice.

The submission is critical of the Green Paper in number of areas.

In an earlier submission ALGA had urged that funding provided by councils to maintain regional airports be sought to establish the true cost of these airports. This has not been undertaken and as result the opportunity to find out the true cost of regional aviation has been lost. The lack of this information has, in ALGA's view, led to a suggestion in the Green Paper that councils with airports can use their Financial Assistance Grants to maintain them. This is an unrealistic position when the financial position of many regional councils is recognised. The ALGA submission once again calls for national regional aviation strategy and an associated program of funding.

In relation to security the submission calls for equity in the cost to access secure airport areas irrespective of whether the secure area is at a regional airport or at a main city airport.

The submission is critical of the Green Paper for continuing to exempt commercial non-aeronautical developments on major city airports from state and local government. There is no explanation given why this should continue.

The submission can be found on the ALGA website.

ALGA's submission to Senate Inquiry

ALGA's submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Investment of Commonwealth and State Funds in Public Passenger Transport Infrastructure and Services was in response to request from the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport.

The ALGA submission examines the importance of public transport to local communities and the role of local government. The submission points out that apart from Brisbane City Council local government is not a major provider of public transport but nevertheless has a keen and direct interest in public transport and the impact on local communities. For example, many urban councils have developed their own transport plans focused on linkages to the city wide public transport facilities.

The submission also points out that in response to climate change there is a need to revaluate current practices and behaviour with the objective of better coordinating land use and transport planning, providing broader transport options, reducing traffic congestion on roads, providing better conditions for cycling and walking, all with the aim of reducing the level of greenhouse gases and other transport-related pollutants in our atmosphere.

The rising patronage across all modes of public transport as a result of the oil prices increases in 2008 indicates that people will change their travel behaviour in response to changes in the cost of motor vehicle operation and concludes that there is little doubt that the demand for public transport will rise in the future. The submission emphasises that it is the responsibility of all three levels of government and the private sector to ensure that demand is adequately met.

ALGA restates its long-held position that the Federal Government should be involved with the provision of public transport infrastructure and sets out its view that the role of the Federal and State Governments is to set regulatory frameworks and provide the planning, coordination and funding for public transport infrastructure at a regional or city-wide level. The role of local government is one of supporting broader state and national policies developed by the Federal and State Governments.

The important role of local government in providing community transport to some of the most disadvantaged is also highlighted in the submission.

The ALGA submission can be found on the ALGA website.

Cooperation not coercion needed for WA reform

WA Local Government Association President Cr Bill Mitchell has warned that a cooperative approach between Local and State Government was essential to ensure necessary sector reform maintains the best interests of local communities.

Cr Mitchell said it was important for the community that the reform of local government was a success but it would require collaboration with and support from the State Government to achieve effective reform.

"It is clear the Minister and his Department want to be seen to be leading the Local Government reform process and the Association welcomes their enthusiasm but should not be excluded from the process," Cr Mitchell said.

"There is a genuine appetite in local government to undertake reform that will deliver better services to the community without taking away local involvement in decision making," Cr Mitchell said.

"Local government in WA supports reform of the sector but it is imperative that any reform process is supported by sound research and is undertaken using a voluntary and cooperative approach rather than coercion if any changes are to be truly sustainable."

At a meeting of its State Council, WALGA endorsed guiding principles for carrying out reform of the sector, including regional cooperation with local political representation; a focus on delivering improved services for the community and ensuring an appropriate number of elected members who are better trained and remunerated. It strongly endorsed support for voluntary structural reform but opposed any forced amalgamation process.

Last month WA Local Government Minister John Castrilli announced strategies for local government reform based on a voluntary reduction in the number of individual councils.

Mr Castrilli said he hoped future merged councils would also reduce their total number of elected members to between six and nine.

"I am inviting each of the 139 councils within Western Australia to embrace this opportunity to voluntarily amalgamate and to voluntarily reduce the total number of elected members for each council," he said.

The Minister nominated a period of six months for each council to advise him of its clear intentions for amalgamations and reductions in the total number of elected members. When pressed, the Minister stated that should local governments choose not to amalgamate voluntarily, he would seek to legislate to force amalgamations. He also requested all local governments to form appropriate regional groupings of councils to assist with the efficient delivery of their services.

From the President

The ALGA Constitutional Summit held in December last year was a significant step forward for local government in its quest for constitutional reform to improve Australia's intergovernmental arrangements.

The ALGA Board has been busy progressing the issue since the Summit's conclusion and I will deliver a full progress report at the National General Assembly in Canberra on June 21-24.

At the recent ALGA Board meeting in Hobart, the Board resolved to invite the assistance of leading constitutional law expert Professor George Williams from the University of New South Wales to help us develop the case for constitutional reform.

I am delighted that Professor Williams, who played a key part in the Summit, has this week agreed to take on this role and to assist ALGA with drafting a set of words to accurately reflect the principles for constitutional change adopted by the 600 delegates at the Summit.

Professor Williams is committed to achieving reform to the Australian constitution in order to reflect the modern role played by local government. Indeed, we are fortunate that our goal is his goal because he adds significant credibility to our case for change. His strategic advice and assistance in drafting the detail of a change proposal will be invaluable.

Once the wording has been developed, it will be released for comment to councils around Australia as well as to federal and state governments and the community.

For those of you who weren't at the Summit, the Summit Declaration agreed to a model for change which:

proposes a new power be added to the constitution to expressly empower the Federal Government to fund local councils; and
proposes that the existence of local government be reflected in the Constitution and provides for the right of people to democratically elect their local council.

The ALGA Board will meet again next week for a Strategic Planning Workshop to review ALGA's 2007-2010 Strategic Plan and to identify the priority areas of focus over the coming months. An important part of our work plan will be focused on developing the case to support constitutional reform and I look forward to a wider sector discussion at the National General Assembly in June. I hope your council will be represented. Details at http://nga.alga.asn.au/event/2009/

Cr Geoff Lake
ALGA President

Quote of the week

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."
Robert Wilensky

International news

Venice's mayor has backtracked on a plan to let Coca-Cola install vending machines throughout the lagoon city after the deal left critics in a fizz, Italian media reported on Tuesday.

Mayor Massimo Cacciari said the city was opening up the proposals to other offers by launching a tender process.

"A call for offers is the most transparent procedure in the world," Cacciari said, according to the ANSA news agency. "All possibilities remain open."

Cacciari also issued a challenge to those who criticised the agreement for not bringing enough financial benefit to the cash-strapped city.

"All those who publicly said they would have made more advantageous offers than Coca-Cola will now have the possibility to prove it," he said.

The announcement of the E2.1 million $A4.19 million), five-year deal to install 38 machines which would not have carried the Coca Cola logo sparked fears the historic city was being sold out to commercial interests.

Daily newspaper La Stampa reported the story under the headline Venice for Sale.

Venice has strict rules on the sale of food and beverages to tourists including a 1987 law prohibiting eating or drinking in its centrepiece Saint Mark's Square.

The machines are not to be installed in the city's most iconic tourist areas, such as the square, but could be set up in other locations including the docks for the vaporetti water shuttles, news reports said.

"I am amazed by the debate that is erupting over the planned partnership with one of the biggest and most prestigious brands in the world," the left-wing mayor had said earlier.

He called it "a financial strategy that is essential today for the safeguarding of our artistic heritage".

Venice has an ever-dwindling population and suffers from a lack of funds to maintain and restore its immense cultural heritage.

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

ALGA's submission to the Aviation Green Paper