AUSTRALIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

21 Aug 2009

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Local government must be included in any roads and transport tax reform

The President of ALGA, Cr Geoff Lake, has called for local roads to be included in any move to link road funding with road use. His comments follow the release of the report called 'A Conceptual Framework for the Reform of Taxes Related to Roads and Transport' by Professor Clarke and David Prentice from Latrobe University. The Report was commissioned as part of the Henry Tax Review.

In responding to the report, Cr Lake said: "Local government generally supports the principle recommended in the Clarke/Prentice report that there should be a direct linkage between the use of road infrastructure, charging and funding. Future reform that more directly links funding of local roads to their usage would be welcomed by local government."

However Cr Lake warned against any suggestion that local roads be excluded from any charging regime that might be developed as this would lead to a two tier roads system. The report recognises the danger of a two tier road system that could result in "rate running" by motorists and heavy vehicles to avoid being charged for road use.

Local government is strongly of the view that any system of road user charging that may be adopted by the Federal and State Governments must be comprehensive and cover the entire road system. The report will be considered by the committee chaired by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry charged with the Review of Australia's Future Tax System and due to report to the Government by the end of 2009.

The Clarke/Prentice Report can be accessed from the Treasury website.

ALGA's submission to the Tax Review is available here.

ALGA addresses committee on effects of Global Financial Crisis

Last Friday, ALGA's Chief Executive Mr Adrian Beresford-Wylie appeared before the House Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government to discuss aspects of ALGA's submission to the Committee's Inquiry into the Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on regional Australia.

At the hearing (held in Canberra), ALGA outlined the role of local government in regional development and the importance of ensuring that local government is consulted on initiatives designed for regional Australia, including Regional Development Australia. ALGA discussed the importance of local community infrastructure including the role it can play in building resilience at the local community level. The Committee Chair, Catherine King MP, reiterated the Committee's support for an ongoing funding program to ensure local community infrastructure can continue to deliver benefits for local communities.

ALGA also took the opportunity at the hearing to formally table the State of the Regions 2008-09 Supplementary Report released in July 2009, which was mentioned but not available at the time of ALGA's submission. Ms King described the State of the Regions reports commissioned annually by ALGA, as an 'excellent' resource.

ALGA's submission is available here and for further information please visit the website.

Roads and Transport Congress - Communications Workshop

Two communications workshops will be offered at the Mackay Roads and Transport Congress. These follow on from the highly popular workshops held in conjunction with the Shepparton Roads and Transport Congress last year. The workshops will again be presented by Crispin Hull from the University of Canberra.

This year the workshop will concentrate on communication with the younger generations and non-traditional forms of communications. This is your opportunity to learn about Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Bebo, Myspace, Twitter and other emerging social networking technologies.

As in the past the workshops are available to delegates at no extra cost. However places are limited to 30 per session and will be allocated on a first come basis. Registration for the Congress is available here.

Remember to tick the box for the communications workshop if you wish to attend.

From the President

The National Local Roads and Transport Congress this year will be held in Mackay from 8-10 November. This will be the tenth national gathering of local government and will provide an opportunity to discuss and bring to the attention of the Federal Government the transport issues facing local government.

The first Congress held in Moree in 2000 is credited with being the catalyst for the establishment of the Roads to Recovery Program. A key speaker at the first Congress was former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson who was instrumental in the creation of Roads to Recovery and we have arranged for him to reflect this year on what has been achieved over the past decade and to contribute his perspectives on the "Road to the Future" theme for this Congress.

The timing of this year's Congress provides the ideal opportunity for us to consider our successes and focus on the challenges ahead. The event will culminate in a Communique which will be presented to the Federal Government and form the basis for ALGA's advocacy. We will be hearing from the Government, the Opposition and for the first time the Greens. We have invited the Greens in recognition of the key role they play in the Senate and the support they have given local government by backing the Government's economic stimulus packages which have provided just over $1 billion in community infrastructure funding for local government and their efforts to secure $100 million for local heritage and cycleways.

Since last year's Congress in Shepparton, national and international economic circumstances have dramatically changed. The recent High Court Pape judgment also raises concerns about the constitutionality of programs such as Roads to Recovery. Against this background it is appropriate that we review our current local roads and transport strategies.

The Rudd Government has demonstrated a key interest in infrastructure and Infrastructure Australia has identified a large number of national road, rail and port projects which deserve funding. It has also identified the congestion issues facing our cities as major impediments to economic growth and the Government has shown that it is prepared to make major investments in this area.

Another key policy direction emerging from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is the charging and financing arrangements for roads. It is important that local government is part of this debate and that we remind other levels of government that funding for local roads is not currently linked to any specific revenue source and must be included in any charging scheme that may be developed in the future. Local government after all, is responsible for more than 80 of all Australian roads. The Congress will feature a quality program of speakers to update delegates on these and other emerging transport policies.

We need to remind the Government of the important role that local roads play in Australia's transport system both in rural and regional Australia and in our cities. Almost every road journey, whether for passengers or freight, begins and ends on a local road and it is proving increasingly difficult for local government to meet the increasing costs of maintaining the vast local road network. There is little, if any, scope for local government to raise additional own source revenue for upgrading this infrastructure. This is why it is critical that councils participate in national efforts such as this Congress to assist in developing and refining our national case for more funding for local roads.

Over the years the Congress has evolved from having a pure roads focus to a wider focus on the broader transport challenges facing local government. The annual Congress now has a more comprehensive transport focus that encompasses rural and regional and urban issues.

The popular Media Workshop will be available at no extra cost. Spaces are limited and delegates need to indicate when registering for the Congress as places will be allocated on a first come basis. The topic will be particularly interesting as it focuses on communicating with Gen Y through new technologies such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.

I encourage delegates from as many councils as possible to attend the Congress this year so that we can have your input into developing a new Roads and Transport Strategy that local government can put on the table in the context of the 2010 election and to assist with our Budget submission. I will be writing to all councils shortly with a detailed brochure and invitation to attend the Congress.

In the meantime you can register at www.alga.asn.au/policy/transport/congress/ and take advantage of the cheaper early bird registration that is presently available.

See you in Mackay.

Cr Geoff Lake
ALGA President

Mothballing a vineyard

Australia's wine and table grape industries are facing an escalating biosecurity challenge due to the mothballing, and abandonment, of vineyards.

With winegrape prices so low, significant numbers of vineyard owners - spanning large, medium and smaller operators in all key production regions - are walking out, leaving the vines to tough-it-out, or die.

This is exposing industry to exotic threats, such as Pierce's disease, which it's said, 'would make Phylloxera look like a kindergarten picnic'.

For Wine Grape Growers Australia (WGGA) Executive Director, Mark McKenzie, this is now a key concern.

WGGA is raising the issue with government agencies. "We're initiating dialogue with the states, and we would like to see harmonisation to ensure a basic, consistent level of hygiene and monitoring activity can be implemented," Mr McKenzie said.

"But, clearly, it's beholden upon everyone to increase their vigilance - we just can't leave this to the authorities. This means growers and vineyard managers continuing to monitor vines for pests and disease, and reporting anything at all unusual. Early detection is the key, which is why abandoned vineyards will continue to be a biosecurity risk," Mr McKenzie said.

Vic transport portal

The Victorian Transport Statistics Portal, developed by the Policy & Communications Division (PAC) and Public Transport Division (PTD) of the Department of Transport in January this year, has just been updated with new data and improved functionality. To improve the site's utility, a mapping function has been developed to enable users to view the data spatially as well as in the existing table and chart formats.

The new capability will also allow users to overlay additional transport layers such as train and tram networks and stations. The new datasets include Motor Vehicles by LGA and Property Sales data. When accessing the Property Sales data users can make comparisons over time.

It can be accessed at www.transport.vic.gov.au/statistics.

Sea levels

The Eurobodalla Shire Council is already considering the impact of sea level rises before approving developments on the South Coast.

Eurobodalla has already deemed an area of Batemans Bay unsuitable for development because of possible coastal inundation, preventing proposed tourism accommodation being built in the Wharf Road East precinct.

The National General Assembly of Local Government this year in Canberra called on the Federal Government to pass laws to indemnify councils from the cost of any voluntary buyback of coastal properties affected by sea level rises caused by climate change.

The NSW Government has, meanwhile, released a draft policy which would see its planning benchmarks acknowledge that sea levels are predicted to rise by 40cm by 2050 and 90cm by 2100 compared to 1990 levels.

Vic Food Bill

On 10 June 2009, the Food Amendment (Regulation Reform) Bill 2009 was introduced into Parliament. The new Bill proposes changes to reform the Victorian Food Act 1984 in order to create an improved approach for regulating the safety of food sold for human consumption. The Victorian government says that the legislation has the purpose of reducing the regulatory burden on food businesses registered under the Food Act. These amendments do not affect businesses registered under the Dairy Act 2000 (VIC) or the Meat Industry Act 1993 (VIC) as these two key Acts are not part of this revision.

MCIMA meets in Canberra

Cr Sam Alessi from Victoria represented ALGA at last Friday's Ministerial Council for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (MCIMA). The Ministerial Council was chaired by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, and attended by Parliamentary Secretary Laurie Ferguson, and Ministers from all states and territories and New Zealand.

A key initiative discussed at the meeting was the Australian Government's intention to take a more strategic approach to migration planning by examining Australia's dynamic labour force, training needs, demographic changes, social and broader economic needs. Consultation with interested parties will occur soon and local government will be one of several important stakeholders that will be invited to comment on the future intake of migrants to Australia.

Local government has an interest in this area for several reasons:

Local government strongly supports the skilled migration stream;
Local government continues to face extreme skills shortages, particularly in our remote and rural areas;
All migration has spatial impacts and any review of migration intake should consider the flow on effects on housing provision (and cost), community infrastructure, provision of supporting services and facilities and the broader environmental costs associated with population growth.

Other issues discussed at the meeting included:

Settlement services are of considerable importance to local government. This issue deals with the capacity of communities to meet migrant needs and provide appropriate services.
Humanitarian settlement is particularly sensitive given the views of many communities that insufficient resources are provided by the Australian Government to properly assist with refugee integration in society - English language courses, housing, welfare etc. Newcastle and Tamworth LGAs are two high profile areas; in Victoria, the highest concentrations are around city of Greater Dandenong, Maribyrnong and Brimbank.
Local government does pick up costs associated with settlement of new arrivals and the on-going costs of ensuring longer-term migrants receive services that are accessible and deliver equitable outcomes.

Digital regions

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has called for proposals to deliver innovative digital services for regional, rural and remote Australia.

"The $60 million Digital Regions Initiative will fund projects that deliver high-quality digital applications for education, health and emergency services supported by the National Broadband Network," Senator Conroy said.

"Regional, rural and remote Australia has much to gain from our broadband investments and this program provides support for community-focused digital initiatives. The Digital Regions Initiative will ensure Australians living outside our major metropolitan centres benefit directly from improved access to digital health services, online educational opportunities and improved emergency and disaster response."

Senator Conroy announced the publication of Digital Regions Initiative final guidelines and called for expressions of interest from potential funding recipients. The guidelines call for collaboration between innovators and all levels of government to ensure projects provide maximum benefit for the community.

"The National Broadband Network will change the way we address regional service delivery, providing improved access to specialist healthcare, education and emergency services for all Australians," Senator Conroy said.

The Digital Regions Initiative was announced as part of the Government's initial response to the Regional Telecommunications Review in March 2009. Further funding was announced in the 2009-10 Budget. Expressions of interest are now open and will close on 14 September 2009. Digital Regions Initiative online: www.dbcde.gov.au/digitalregions.

Information sessions will be held in each state and territory on the Final guidelines as outlined below. To register for the meetings and obtain full meeting details please use the following online facility www.dbcde.gov.au/digitalregions.

Date	Location	Time
Monday 24^th August	Brisbane	14:00 - 15:30
Tuesday 25^th August	Darwin	14:00 - 15:30
Thursday 27^th August	Perth	08:45 - 10:15
Friday 28^th August	Adelaide	09:30 - 11:00
Monday 31^st August	Canberra	09:30 - 11:00
Tuesday 1^st September	Hobart	09:30 - 11:00
Thursday 3^rd September	Melbourne	11:00 - 12:30
Friday 4^th September	Sydney	11:30 - 13:00

Opposition slams cost-shifting

The Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government, Scott Morrison, said hikes to local government fees and charges were a symptom of 'the barrage of cost shifting on councils by State Governments.'

"Poor performing State Governments are intent on creating costly bureaucratic nightmares for local government, ordering them to set up new departments and employ more bureaucrats - whether its ordering councils to become agents for new laws to register cats to counting weeds in parks - all the while washing their hands of any responsibility to fund them properly to do the job," Mr Morrison said.

"As a result, councils are increasingly struggling to meet the demands of their communities for basic services such as fixing roads, providing community facilities or catering for the increasing local needs of our ageing and disabled population," he said. "This endless cost shifting is the result of State Government's addiction to regulation and failure to manage their finances, despite a river of funds flowing from the GST for almost a decade."

In a media release this week, the President of the Shires Association, Cr Bruce Miller, said that NSW councils had an increasingly heavy burden to bear in providing local services and facilities.

"The combined effect of rate pegging, an inadequate share of taxation and a cost shifting bill that now totals approximately $400 million each year for responsibilities offloaded by the State Government is an impost that is getting steeper," he said. "The cost of providing our communities with essential services and infrastructure gets bigger every year - and while we're good at fulfilling the needs of our residents, we're fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

Gen Y goes mainstream

Usage of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook has jumped 29%, research from comScore reveals. More than 70% of Australian internet users visited a social networking site in June, totalling 9 million people. Facebook dominated the survey with 6 million visitors, ahead of MySpace with 3.5 million. While Twitter boasted just 800,000 visitors it showed the most explosive growth, up from 13,000 visitors a year ago. While social network sites were dominant, Google sites remained the most visited property on the internet by Australians with 10.7 million visitors in June, 71% of whom were also ranked as social networkers.

Henry flags tax overhaul

Treasury Secretary and federal tax review chair Ken Henry has flagged a more centralised tax system which takes into account the needs of each level of government. Speaking at an economic policy forum in Sydney on Wednesday, Dr Henry spoke about fundamental reform of state taxes and the prospect of an intergovernmental agreement to drive reforms. He said the intergovernmental agreement could specify reforms to state taxes such as payroll tax and road funding and transport taxes. "Once the panel has considered each tax on its merits, only then will the panel consider the level of government to which different taxes and transfers will be assigned," he said. "We will take into account the long-term financial needs of each level of government and that could take us into a discussion about roles and responsibilities."

Senate passes energy target

The Senate passed the Federal Government's renewable energy target legislation yesterday.

The Government split the legislation from its emissions trading scheme and negotiated more industry compensation with the Coalition to secure support for the bill. Under the new target, 20 per cent of Australia's electricity will have to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020. The Nationals were unsuccessful in their bid to get compensation for food-processing industries and the Greens' effort to have the target raised to 30 per cent also failed.

Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the Coalition must now pass the emissions trading scheme.

"It is critical to have the CPRS legislation passed through this Parliament and it is critical for the Coalition to stand up in the national interest," he said.

Truck road safety

The Federal Government announced this week that is providing $40 million to improve road safety for trucks and heavy vehicles under the second and final round of the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.

The Program provides funding to building more rest stops and cutting-edge technology to make highways safer for truck drivers and the motorists sharing the roads with them.

The Program is primarily aimed at state and territory governments and the trucking industry and is seeking projects for funding that that can help cut the number of speed- and fatigue- related fatalities involving heavy vehicles on our roads. These include:

Construction of more heavy vehicle rest stops and parking areas along highways and on the outskirts of major cities;
Trials of technologies that electronically monitor a truck driver's work hours and vehicle speed - for example, using an onboard 'black box', electronic log, or the Global Positioning System (GPS); and
Upgrades to bridges and freight routes to allow them to carry bigger loads.

All up, the Federal Government is providing $70 million for truck safety projects through this Program. The first round of $30 million has already provided to 150 projects earlier this year.

As one in five road deaths involve heavy vehicles, with speed and driver fatigue being significant contributing factors in these crashes everyone on the roads benefits from more rest stops for fatigued truck drivers. New technologies like black boxes and GPS can also help keep our roads safer by tracking speed and hours.

Submissions for round two of the HVSPP will be taken until 30 September 2009.

For further information: click here.

Getting serious about diversity

The Diversity on Boards of Directors report launched by Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry encourages companies to make their appointment processes more structured and open, to keep the composition of boards under review, and to develop processes for evaluating skills and the performance of directors.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, said she is concerned a number of the suggestions in the report have already been tried, and have failed to deliver a better gender mix on Boards.

"If we are to expect better results, then we must move on from those strategies that are not working and try others - because, as long as women remain under-represented at the most senior levels of the private sector, women all across Australia continue to be marginalised," Commissioner Broderick said.

Ms Broderick said it was time for approaches that will guarantee progress towards gender equality in the marketplace, including consideration of voluntary targets, quotas, compacts between government and business with financial incentives, and gender equality standards for companies doing government work.

"If we are to create sustainable high performance organisations that deliver, not just for business, but also the national economy, we cannot afford to waste the talents of over half our citizens," said the Commissioner.

The Diversity on Boards of Directors report noted the decline in the number of female directors of ASX top 200 companies from 8.7 percent in 2006 to 8.3 percent in 2008, and senior line management roles held by women from 7.4 percent in 2006 to only 5.9 percent today. The report is available here.

Web 2.0 Roundtable

This week, ALGA participated in a roundtable in Canberra hosted by the Government 2.0 Taskforce. Taskforce Chair, Dr Nicholas Gruen, and other members of the Taskforce, encouraged participants to contribute their views on principles for openness and access of government information, quality and integrity of information, how to maximise efficiency in the production and distribution of information and how to maximise the potential that Web 2.0 offers to government.

The roundtable was attended by a number of Australian Government departments and agencies such as Families, Housing, community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Geoscience Australia, Centrelink and Medicare, the ACT Government (including the ACT Library and Information Service), industry and the tertiary education seminar.

At the roundtable, ALGA took the opportunity to note the role of local government and the potential for Web 2.0 to assist in more citizen-centric focus at the local community level.

Comment on the Taskforce's Issues paper are due by the start of business Monday 24 August 2009. Further information, including on the public consultations to be held by the Taskforce, is available at http://gov2.net.au/.

Bushfires report

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Interim Report was tabled in Parliament on Monday 17 August 2009. The report stopped short of suggesting the stay-or-go policy be ditched, but said people should be warned that staying to defend carried many risks, including death. Its 51 recommendations include:

The re-introduction of community refuges.
Incident controllers to be given more responsibility for issuing warnings, even when they are not managing the fire concerned.
Emergency call services including triple-zero be boosted on high-risk days.
Councils to review their Municipal Emergency Management Plans to ensure that they include appropriate provision for safe places and refuges for people fleeing bushfires.

Download a copy of the Commission's Interim Report and Executive Summary.

Migration Demand List

Last Friday the Australian Government released the first issues paper for - and called for comments to - the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) review.

The evaluation process will be a major step in constructing a framework for migration which will meet Australia's longer term economic, social and demographic needs.

The MODL review will assess the central skills targeting mechanism for the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program. The MODL was introduced to target the GSM to applicants who had skills in occupations and specialisations in short supply in Australia.

The changes to the MODL will not affect the ability of Australian industry to meet its skill needs through the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) and Regional Sponsored Migration Schemes (RSMS). Other arrangements currently in place, including the Critical Skills List and the priority processing arrangements, will continue until the outcomes of the MODL review are finalised.

There is a range of stakeholders who have interests in the outcome of the review, including local government. To ensure they have an opportunity to submit their views, two issues papers will be made available for comment. The first of these papers is now available below.

Issues Paper No. 1, August 2009 (PDF 130KB | RTF 2.81MB )

Responses to the first issues paper are due by 28 August 2009.

Mobility scooters

Earlier this month, Dr Craig Emerson, Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, issued a notice warning of the safe use of motorised mobility scooters. At the same time, he noted that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will invite a number of key stakeholders to form a Reference Group to develop a joint national approach to problems involving motorised mobility scooters.

ALGA will attend the first meeting of the Reference Group in Canberra on Thursday 17 September 2009 to explore this issue in further detail.

Many local councils know first-hand that there has been a rise in the popularity of motorised mobility scooters over recent years, but may not know that this has unfortunately come with what the Minister described as an 'alarming' increase in the risk of deaths or serious injury associated with their use.

"Since July 2000 there have been reports of 71 deaths in Australia directly related to accidents involving motorised mobility scooters," Dr Emerson said.

"Tragically there have been 26 deaths in Victoria alone and more than 150 people have received hospital treatment".

The warning notice, which follows advice from the ACCC, is contained in a statutory notice under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and is published in the Commonwealth Gazette. The notice warns consumers of the potential dangers associated with the use of motorised mobility scooters.

It notes that the people who intend to use motorised mobility scooters must ensure they have the necessary physical and cognitive skills to operate and manoeuvre them safely. Users should take care when riding a scooter and observe the following safety guidelines:

Stay within the legal speed limit of 10 km/h;
Be aware that taking medication or driving under the influence of alcohol may affect the user's judgement;
Be clearly visible at all times and particularly at night or on dull days - users should utilise the lights and reflectors and install a reflective safety flag high enough to be seen by motorists;
Wear a bicycle helmet whenever possible; Slow down when you near other people, especially pedestrians and cyclists;
Avoid stopping or driving on inclines greater than the scooter is designed for;
Use footpaths if possible. If there are no footpaths, plan to use quieter roads; and
Plan the trip and avoid uneven surfaces, dips and potholes. Ensure that parcels loads will not over-balance the scooter and that parcels do not interfere with controls or vision.

Sister Cities Summit

The Australia-China Sister Cities Summit (ACSCS) and The Australia-China Business Summit (ACBS) will be held at NSW Parliament House on 31 August 2009.

ACSCS & ACBS will provide a platform for Government organisations, communities, business and corporate business to exchange ideas, gain knowledge, generate and identify opportunities, establish networks and form friendships.

Traditionally, the primary focus of Sister City Agreements has been based around cultural exchange and friendship. The ACSCS AND ACBS, recognise that in order to be economically competitive on an international level, the Sister City Agreements should utilise all opportunities afforded by the Sister City Agreements in developing leading, cutting edge business innovation whilst creating business opportunities mutually beneficial to each city.

Attending the Summit will be a combination of 28 districts, cities and provinces from China, local and interstate Australian local councils, local Chinese business councils, representation from the corporate business and finance sector, together with a discussion panel comprising of key-note speakers from State and Federal Parliament.

The whole day program is divided into two parts:

9am till noon - Australia-Chinese Sister City Summit, including morning tea.
Noon till 4pm - Australia-Chinese Business Summit, including lunch

The option is available to attend either session or full day program. For further details, please visit www.acscs.com.au or contact info@acscs.com.au

Smoke-free outdoor areas

There is growing community interest in the provision of smoke-free outdoor areas such as playgrounds, sporting fields and alfresco dining areas. Across NSW almost 60 local councils have responded to this interest by introducing some form of an outdoor smoke-free policy in their local communities.

The Heart Foundation has conducted its 2009 survey of local governments in NSW to determine which councils have introduced smoke-free outdoor areas policy. As of May 2009, almost two fifths of the 152 councils in NSW had implemented policy.

Download the survey report
Download the media release

To assist local councils develop their own smoke-free outdoor areas policy, the Heart Foundation, The Cancer Council NSW, the Australian Medical Association NSW and Action on Smoking and Health Australia have developed an updated policy resource kit for local government.

The updated Resource Kit for Local Government includes five Fact Sheets. These are available for download below:

Fact Sheet 1: Why are outdoor smoke-free areas important for your council?

Fact Sheet 2: Sample council report and policy

Fact Sheet 3: Case studies: Smoke-free councils

Fact Sheet 4: Frequently asked questions

Fact Sheet 5: Addressing the Challenges

Manly Council first introduced smoke-free zones in May 2004, starting with playgrounds and beaches. Since then their policy has been expanded to cover other outdoor areas and in 2008, Manly Council won a Heart Foundation Local Government Award at national level for their comprehensive program. For more information about Manly Council's smoke-free zones click here.

Quote of the week

"The rest of the world is not out of the woods yet, and it is possible that there will be a second shockwave" -
Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, warning against prematurely declaring that 'the war is over' regarding the Global Financial Crisis.

International news

Brad Pitt hasn't thrown his hat in the ring to be mayor of his adopted hometown, New Orleans. Others have done that for him, launching a grassroots campaign complete with nifty T-shirts touting "Brad Pitt for Mayor." But he's more than willing to serve, the actor told TODAY's Ann Curry with a self-deprecating laugh. "If chosen, would you run?" Curry asked in the prerecorded interview that ran last week. "Yeah," Pitt said. "Would you serve?" "Yeah. I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform," he joked. That comment drew a measured "OK" from Curry. "I don't have a chance," Pitt predicted. The Brad Pitt for Mayor movement began as a whim by Tulane art history professor Thomas Bayer, who posted a tongue-in-cheek list of 13 reasons Pitt should be the city's next mayor. Reason No. 2 is as thanks for what he's done for the city. The next reason is: "If we elect Brad Pitt mayor, Angelina Jolie would be the First Lady of New Orleans." Reason No. 12 is: "Instead of having to sue for the release of public records, or to attempt to restore accidentally deleted emails, we can learn everything about our first executive from the pages of the National Enquirer and People Magazine." (Source: TODAYShow.com)

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 News can be read online each week at www.alga.asn.au/news.aspx
Editor: newscomments@alga.asn.au Tel: 02 6122 9434.
Australian Local Government Association - 8 Geils Court, Deakin, ACT, 2600.
Copyright © 2001 Australian Local Government Association. ISSN 1447-980X

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Local government must be included in any roads and transport tax reform

ALGA addresses committee on effects of Global Financial Crisis

Roads and Transport Congress - Communications Workshop

From the President

Mothballing a vineyard

Vic transport portal

Sea levels

Vic Food Bill

MCIMA meets in Canberra

Digital regions

Opposition slams cost-shifting

Gen Y goes mainstream

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Henry flags tax overhaul

Senate passes energy target

Truck road safety

Getting serious about diversity

Web 2.0 Roundtable

Bushfires report

Migration Demand List

Mobility scooters

Sister Cities Summit

Smoke-free outdoor areas

Quote of the week

International news

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Forthcoming events