Roads Congress calls for whole of government national transport vision

Almost 300 delegates at the Australian Local Government Association's 2009 National Local Roads and Transport Congress meeting in Mackay have called for a detailed intergovernmental national strategic transport vision to respond to population projections of 35 million by 2049 and a doubling of freight volume by 2020.

"Our cities urgently need coordinated and integrated planning by the three levels of government to address the pressing issues of ageing and social inclusion, congestion and carbon emissions," ALGA President Cr Geoff Lake said. "I welcome the Federal Government's move into urban planning and public transport, however, in the foreseeable future, motor vehicles will continue to dominate transport and local government wants to see all levels of government on the front foot in planning for our future road and freight needs.

"Local government has responsibility for over 80% of Australian roads. It is becoming increasingly difficult for local government to meet the funding needs associated with maintaining this vast national asset. As almost every trip begins and ends on a local road, appropriate investment in our local roads is essential for boosting the nation's productive capacity. Local government wants to work closely with the Commonwealth Government to secure an increased investment in our local road network."

In a Communique issued from the Congress, delegates have called for:

• Permanent funding for the Roads to Recovery program;
• The inclusion of local roads in any move to road user charges to ensure that any revenue raised is returned to councils for reinvestment in local roads;
• The Federal Government to establish an agreed set of indicators in consultation with local government to measure the condition and performance of the local road system; and
• The Federal Government to amend the graduated formula for the charging of Fringe Benefits Tax on motor vehicles to properly reflect government and community need to positively encourage reduced use of motor vehicles.

Housing affordability fund

Round Two of the Housing Affordability Fund, opened this week.

The Housing Affordability Fund is a $512 million initiative reducing planning and infrastructure costs of building new housing developments.

Thirty-seven projects shared in around $120 million under Round One, which aims to benefit tens of thousands of home buyers through savings on individual lots and faster planning and development approval times.

Each successful infrastructure project under Round Two must provide savings on at least 50 new homes, with preference given to housing for low and moderate income earners. Round Two also gives priority to greenfield and infill projects with access to public transport, and public housing estate redevelopments which create mixed communities by building affordable homes for private ownership.

Applications can be submitted by State and Territory Governments, local governments and Local Government Associations, and they can partner with private companies and developers.

Applications for Round Two close on 8 January 2010. For further information on the Housing Affordability Fund and the application guidelines, please click here.

Heart Foundation Local Government Awards

The Heart Foundation's 2009 Local Government Award winners were announced in Melbourne recently. As in previous years, ALGA was invited to help judge the national awards.

The Awards recognise and showcase local governments working to improve heart health through building a sense of community, encouraging people to be physically active, be smoke-free, and make healthy food choices.

The national winners were the City of Greater Dandenong for the One Stop Shop, Blacktown City Council for the Waterwise Indigenous Aquatic Education Project, Corangamite Shire Council for the Heart of Corangamite Network, Baw Baw Shire for Active by Design, the City of Cockburn for its Tobacco Action Plan, and the City of Rockingham for its Employee Health and Wellbeing Plan.

For more information on winners visit www.heartfoundation.org.au/lga

(Photo: L-R: Mark Doubleday - City of Greater Dandenong, Trish Keilty - Avocare, Kathy Bell - Heart Foundation CEO (Victoria), Cr Roz Blades - City of Greater Dandenong and Mark Patterson - City of Greater Dandenong)

ALGA's tenth Local Roads and Transport Congress was held this week and the deliberations at the Congress will play an important role in driving our strategy in the lead-up to the 2010-11 federal budget and next year's expected federal election.

The Congress paid particular attention to the areas of local road funding and management, urban transport, mobility and access for regional Australians, freight management, road safety and the long term financial sustainability of local government. We were fortunate to have former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson return to mark the 10 year anniversary of the first gathering in Moree where Roads to Recovery was conceived.

Presentations by Catherine King, the Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and Warren Truss, the Shadow Minister for Trade, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, showed that there continues to be strong bipartisan support for Roads to Recovery and the continuation of funding.

Delegates were also interested to hear from the President of Local Government New Zealand, Lawrence Yule, on road usage charging models across the Tasman and appreciated his insights into some of the strengths and weaknesses of recent New Zealand road reforms. The Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports and Major Projects, Tim Pallas, provided some positive examples of how local government and state governments can work in partnership to promote the benefits of greater investment into local roads.

We have achieved much in the past few years by working in partnership with the Australian Government such as:

• Roads to Recovery extended to 2014 at an increased rate of $350 million per year worth $1.75 billion;
• Federal involvement in the funding of urban rail projects;
• $40 million for bike paths;
• $150 million for railway level crossing upgrading;
• $1 billion Regional and Community Infrastructure Program;
• $25 million Local Government Reform Fund;
• the formation of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government;
• Greater recognition of the needs of local "last and first mile" in road transport reforms including a local government targeted communication strategy by the National Transport Commission;
• Regional airports security funding of $42.9 million over four years;
• Subsidies for weekly flights to remote regions of $44.7 million over four years; and
• $3 million for a Remote Aviation Infrastructure Fund

However, much remains to be done as we move forward into the second decade of the twenty first century. One thing we have learned since meeting in Moree, is that it is not enough just to identify problems and ask for assistance. It is up to us to develop solutions, argue the case and provide evidence that we - local government - understand and appreciate the nation's transport challenges and that we can be part of those solutions.

Transport is an issue which unites the city and the country council alike. We all know transport is critically important to the wellbeing of every Australian, and with freight and passenger transport on track to double between 2003 and 2020 and projected population increases, it is now more important than ever that Australia gets the transport agenda right and that local government needs are on that agenda.

I encourage you to read the Communique from the Congress and help us on the road to the future. The Communique, which will form the basis of ALGA's development of a roads and transport election blueprint on behalf of local government, is available here.

Cr Geoff Lake
ALGA President

Briefs

Indigenous community safety

The Commonwealth Government hosted a roundtable in Sydney on Friday on Indigenous community safety for State and Territory Attorneys-General, Indigenous Affairs Ministers, Police Ministers and Commissioners and Indigenous professionals working in the field.

Relevant Ministers and Police Commissioners agreed that there was a need for continued improvement by all Governments to improve the safety of Indigenous people living in remote, regional and urban areas in response to high levels of violence, abuse and other crime.

Community safety is a vital pre-condition to achieve COAG's targets in health, education and housing. It was agreed that if there is not action to address serious problems in this area, it will not be possible to make improvements in other areas.

The Ministers agreed to:

• Develop an effective approach for determining law enforcement and support services required in remote and very remote communities, and to recruiting and retaining sworn officers, especially Indigenous officers;
• Develop strategies to reduce alcohol induced violence, abuse and crimes in affected Indigenous communities;
• Provide leadership at all levels on the need for information sharing and integrated service delivery, particularly in relation to family violence and child abuse or neglect cases; and
• Explore the feasibility of a "first door must be the right door" service delivery model between States and Territories and the Commonwealth, where people receive the appropriate care and support through the entire process of recovery.

Officials will develop detailed proposals around each of these matters for consideration by Ministers at a further meeting to be held before the end of the year. The communique is available here.

WA amalgamation process staggers on

Local Governments have made their final submissions to the State Government on amalgamations and the Minister's Steering Committee is now dealing with the hundreds of permutations that are possible as a result. An under-resourced Department of Local Government is valiantly attempting to support the process, but it lacks the necessary personnel and funding to do real justice to a process that many considered to be fundamentally flawed from the outset. The Minister will receive the Steering Committee's report and (probably) make known his recommendations in late January 2010.

WA Local Governments remain highly sceptical of the process and say they would much prefer to focus on cooperative regional solutions as defined in WALGA's Systemic Sustainability Study, than waste time, effort and energy on a process with no clearly defined and understood objectives or benefits, other than "to reduce the number of Local Governments". All councils require funding to continue the process whether mutually agreed or not however as yet the State Government has not announced any provisions in the State Budget.

Gender and crime report

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released the following publication: 'Mental health, abuse, drug use and crime: does gender matter?' by Lubica Forsythe and Kerryn Adams. Using data from the Australian Institute of Criminology's Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program, this report examines the direct relationship, mediated by gender, between mental health, prior experiences of child abuse, drug use and offending. The paper is available here.

Attention all rural and regional planners

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is looking for comments on the nature and content of its next Agricultural Census, to be run from June 2011.

The Agricultural Census is held every five years, and is the second largest collection that the ABS undertakes after the population census. It plays a vital role in supporting the development and monitoring of Australia's agricultural, natural resource and water policies.

People interested in providing comments can read the information paper Agricultural Census: ABS Views on Content and Procedures 2010-11 (cat. 7103.0.80.002) on the ABS website. The closing date for comments is Friday, November 20, 2009.

Giving in the workplace

A new report has found 75 per cent of Australians are donating to charities through their workplace despite the negative and uncertainty caused by the Global Financial Crisis. Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Senator Ursula Stephens, officially launched the Australian Charities Fund's research report Project Ignite - Igniting the Potential of Workplace Giving - which also revealed respondents felt a stronger sense of community wellbeing after donating a portion of their income. Project Ignite reflects the Australian Government's Social Inclusion Agenda and reinforces the National Compact, which strives to build links between Government and the Third Sector. "The Compact will give the Third Sector, including charities, the ability to work with us and have a voice in the development of future policy and programs," Senator Stephens said. The National Compact with the Third Sector is due to be considered by Government in December 2009.

Stamp duty and mobility

Stamp duty reduces house sales and lowers house prices, according to new research from The Australian National University.

Professor Andrew Leigh, an economist in the Research School of Social Sciences, analysed data on house sales from 1993-2005 and found that higher stamp duties make it harder for people to sell their homes. Those who do sell receive a lower price when stamp duty rates are higher.

Although there are potential arguments in favour of stamp duties, Professor Leigh's results show some of the social costs. "For homeowners, stamp duties are effectively a tax on mobility," Professor Leigh said. "This can reduce the likelihood that an unemployed homeowner takes a job in another city. Within a city, higher stamp duties may cause people to commute longer distances, rather than buying a home closer to their place of employment. High stamp duties may also discourage young families from upsizing their housing, and deter retiree households from downsizing." Professor Leigh's research paper, How Do Stamp Duties Affect the Housing Market? is available here.

Community heritage grants

Community groups across the country will have a greater capacity to preserve Australia's heritage following the announcement of the 2009 Community Heritage Grants.

Grants worth $383 852 are going to 75 community groups and organisations in 2009. The groups include museums, libraries, archives, historical societies, art galleries, city councils, migrant, Indigenous and religious organisations. Each will receive funds to assist in the preservation of community owned but nationally significant heritage collections.

In addition, recipients will attend a three-day intensive preservation and collection management workshop held at the National Library, the National Archives of Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.

National Library Director-General Jan Fullerton said the Community Heritage Grants program demonstrated the commitment by the National Library, along with its partner institutions and the Federal Government, in encouraging communities to preserve and manage Australia's cultural heritage. More details here.