The President's Address

On Wednesday 31 March, the President of ALGA, Cr Geoff Lake, addressed the National Press Club with his speech, 'Strengthening Democracy in Australia'. It was broadcast live on ABC TV. It is the first time that an ALGA President has been asked to address the Press Club.

In his address, he highlighted the positive role that councils play in communities across the country. He criticised the development industry and state government planning officials for undermining the democratic basis of planning in Australia by stripping out community involvement input into planning decisions.

"The problem when developers and other levels of government talk about planning reform is that they always start from a position that community involvement in planning decisions and local variance is bad and it ought to be curtailed," he said. "State governments have been captured by a development industry which has for months been running an orchestrated smear campaign against community involvement in planning."

Cr Lake said that communities have a fundamental right to have a say in how their neighbourhood develops, and that local goverrnment would defend that right.

He rejected attempts by the other levels of government to equate planning reform as action on affordable housing.

"In the past few months we have seen all sorts of nonsense about planning process reform being mixed into debates on affordable housing. It may suit governments to talk about action on affordable housing through reform of planning processes but it is the biggest fraud going around in Australian politics and they should be called to account on it."

Cr Lake also discussed the changing role for local government in service delivery and highlighted the need for funding and constitutional reform to put local government on a more sustainable footing.

A copy of the speech is available online at ALGA's website.

Healthier local and regional communities

Earlier this week, the Australian Government announced the first 12 Local Government Areas that will receive funding under its $72 million Healthy Communities Initiative. The grants flow from the first round of funding under the Australian Government's Healthy Communities Initiative, and further rounds are expected later in 2010 and again in 2011.

The Initiative will enable some of the most disadvantaged and at risk communities to experience the benefits that come from healthier lifestyles and healthy eating. The Initiative also recognises the critical role local government plays in supporting the delivery of national health objectives at the local level.

ALGA President Cr Geoff Lake has previously welcomed the Healthy Communities Initiative, noting that it is critical that health funding help encourage people to be fit and active if we are to reverse the high levels of lifestyle-related chronic disease in our communities.

The link between well-maintained local community infrastructure and better health outcomes for all Australians is also critical. ALGA continues to advocate strongly for the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program to be extended beyond 30 June 2010 so that ageing community infrastructure, which includes sporting facilities and bike paths, can be renewed.

Local government is also aware of the importance to communities of the broader health reform agenda, and ALGA looks forward to working with the Prime Minister, Minister Roxon and the states on these reforms.

Easter driving

Please drive safely over the Easter holidays. Remember to keep within the speed limit and to take enough breaks from driving. Fatigue and the unfamiliarity of roads en route to people's holiday destinations are risk factors that need to be taken into consideration.

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) gives the following tips for safe travelling. These will reduce your risk of being involved in a crash as well as improving your personal safety as a motorist.

Power check
When checking your vehicle, the POWER check is the easiest to remember. This stands for Petrol, Oils, Water, Electric, and Rubbers. Everything under each heading should be visually checked at least once per week.

Two-second gap
At all times maintain a two-second gap from the vehicle ahead, no matter what speed you are travelling. When it is raining, a foggy night, or any combination of these, the gap should be doubled to four seconds.

Safety gap between vehicles
When you stop behind another vehicle in a line of traffic, always ensure you are able to clearly see the bottom of the vehicle's rear tyres. This ensures you are not too close to the other vehicle. Also, as you commence to move, your two-second gap will already be in place." (www.racv.com.au - Tips were found under "Road Safety" heading.)

Daylight Saving ends on Easter Sunday. More likelihood of travelling at dawn or dusk means drivers need to be extra wary of kangaroos, wombats, pedestrians and cyclists. Be careful this Easter and remember that double demerit points apply from Thursday April 1 until Monday, April 5, inclusive. And of course, as everyone will recall, alcohol and driving do not mix. Drink or drive, please don't do both.

Councils are a major provider of public and municipal health services. They have a coordination role across a range of services such as environmental health, food inspection, maternal and child health and immunisation. They also help deliver programs that support Australians as they age, so that older Australians can live independently for as long as possible. Councils are also involved in a range of areas that aim to secure better health outcomes for all Australians, such as road safety policy, drug and alcohol services, building regulations and inspections, and integrated planning processes to promote cleaner and healthier urban built environments.

ALGA welcomes this week's announcement by the Australian Government of the first 12 Local Government Areas that will receive funding under the $72 million Healthy Communities Initiative. The funding will enable disadvantaged communities to experience the benefits of healthy eating and healthy lifestyles.

Community health is core business for local government. It is encouraging that the Australian Government has chosen to work with a number of councils across the nation to support the Healthy Communities objectives.

A major focus for local and regional councils across the nation is preventative health - keeping people fit and active through the provision of sports and recreation programs and facilities. These programs and facilities provide Australians everywhere with the opportunity to engage in recreational activities, but also help to prevent the risk of lifestyle-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

The grants flow from the first round of funding under the Australian Government's Healthy Communities Initiative. Further rounds are expected later in 2010 and again in 2011.

The involvement of local government in the Healthy Communities Initiative underlines the critical role councils play in supporting the delivery of national health objectives at the local level.

Local government has long appreciated the link between well-maintained local community infrastructure and healthier living. The Australian Government has provided much-needed funding for the maintenance and renewal of ageing local community infrastructure through the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, but more needs to be done. Local councils have proven they can deliver health and lifestyle programs, and maintaining local community infrastructure is just as vital to reducing disease in our community.

Cr Geoff Lake
ALGA President

Briefs

National Compact welcomes 100 Partners

Today, the National Compact welcomes Drug Free Ambassadors Australia as the 100^th organisation to sign up as a Compact Partner. This significant milestone comes only 12 days since the Compact was launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Parliament House on 17 March 2010.

The Compact is an agreement between the Government and the Third (not-for-profit) Sector. It gives community organisations, large and small, real input into Government policy and program delivery. It enables true collaboration on key social, economic and environmental challenges facing our communities and it allows the broad range of Australian not-for-profit groups to work with Government to achieve a shared vision.

The interests and responsibilities of Third Sector organisations are diverse, but they are united by a shared commitment to community wellbeing without individual commercial gain. Compact Partners are individuals and organisations who support the National Compact's shared vision, purpose and principles and have signed up to reflect this commitment.

The 100 Compact Partners reflect the diversity of the Third Sector which includes community groups working in areas as diverse as health and social welfare, mental health, homelessness, heritage, the arts, the environment, sport, employment, volunteering and advocacy.

For more information on the National Compact please click here.

National Broadband Network partners

This week, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, welcomed a call by NBN Co for partners to build the National Broadband Network.

NBN Co has advertised its Request for Capability Statements for the design and construction of the NBN's Fibre Access Network.

In announcing this step, the Minister said "the NBN is the largest nation-building project in Australia's history and NBN Co will be looking for suitably qualified and experienced companies or consortia to provide the detailed design and construction services for the network."

Under the Request for Capability Statement, NBN Co is seeking capability statements and proposals to select the right partners to work with on this major infrastructure project. NBN Co will use the Industry Capability Network to assist the participation of small and medium enterprises and intends to require tenderers to prepare Australian Industry Participation plans.

Interested companies are encouraged to participate in the Request for Capability Statement process and further details can be found on the NBN Co website.

Councils win Lehman case

The High Court has held that a deed proposed for collapsed Lehman Brothers Australia is unfair on the basis that it would bind creditors not to sue third parties, i.e., Lehman in the US. It is the first time the legitimacy of deeds of arrangement containing third-party releases has been tested in court, as Wednesday's Australian Financial Review points out. Marsha Jacobs writes that the decision means that 70 councils, including Woollahra, Sydney, and charities and schools can proceed with a law suit against Lehman Australia for millions of dollars they claim was lost in investments in complex structured debt products.

In August, the Wingecarribee Shire Council, the City of Swan and the Parkes Shire Council had successfully argued that the deed proposed by Lehman Australia was invalid because it purported to extinguish the councils' rights to pursue other Lehman entities. This included Lehman US, which the councils wanted to sue.

Piper Alderman partner, Sasha Ivanstoff, who represented the councils that challenged the deed in the High Court, was pleased with the result. He said that the High Court's ruling suggested that deeds were not suitable for large-scale administrations involving many companies across different jurisdictions.

Council's living rooftop

Technology Indicators have released the results of a study into Records Management in local government. The study provides comparative peer data that councils can use to assess how they manage their records and to identify areas where their organisations are leading (or trailing).

The study highlights common challenges which local councils face. About 70 per cent of local councils reported increases in the number of electronic records they registered over the last 12 months, and in some local councils the volume of electronic records more than doubled. Local councils also experienced an increased public demand for council records (property information, maps, development applications, etc). Among the reasons for the changes in the number of records-related service requests are an increased awareness of the public about council records through relevant information available on-line, an increased use of on-line services and e-mail to request and/or access council records, and population growth in some areas.

For many local councils, improvement of staff productivity is becoming a dominant business driver for the deployment, replacement or upgrade of their electronic records/document management systems. However, concerns over 'compliance readiness remain - almost 40 per cent of the local councils find it difficult to comply with legislative requirements for records management.

Across local councils of different sizes and types, top common issues with a negative impact on records management practices are the lack of support from council staff and poor utilisation of electronic records/document management systems. One of the challenges closely related to this lack of support is inadequate training in records management. In more than 70 per cent of local councils, less than 10 per cent of the council staff were provided with formal records management training in the last 12 months.

The report with the study findings can be ordered from Technology Indicators, service@tech-indicators.com.au

Specialist Training Course

With cyber security being a significant area of concern for both government and the private sector, there is a growing demand for practical information-sharing, common situational awareness and specialised training focused on keeping SCADA/Control Systems safe and reliable.

CERT Australia through the Attorney-General's Department, is now seeking Expressions of Interest from owners and operators of systems used in Australian Critical Infrastructure who might have staff interested in attending an Industrial Control Systems Cyber Security Training course. The course is specifically directed at people involved in the installation and maintenance of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), also known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) or Process Control Systems (PCS), in either an ICS or Information Technology (IT) capacity.

The course, conducted by the US Department of Homeland Security, is to be held on 21^st to 25^th June 2010 (inclusive) at the Idaho National Laboratories (INL) in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA. The course is provided free of charge, and successful applicants may be eligible for a grant of $A5,000 to offset travel and accommodation costs. Applications to attend the training course close 16th April 2010, and some conditions apply. Staff from a number of Australian local government organisations have attended previous courses and found the training to be of considerable benefit.

Interested applicants should download the EOI documents in either Word or Adobe PDF format from the website.

Further information is available by email at info@cert.gov.au or by telephone 1300 172 499.

Local Government education online

The South Australian LGA supports the need for better civics education and citizenship through its education kit, which can be found online

According to the useful and succinct monthly magazine, LGA News, the site was designed as a resource for students, teachers and the general public to find out about local government in South Australia. The website allows students and teachers to learn about, among other things, the history of local government, how councils operate and the services they provide, and the careers that are possible in local government.

Tidy Towns

Tidy Towns, in partnership with the GPS brand, Navman, is asking people to vote for their favourite town. Run by Keep Australia Beautiful, the judges for the Tidy Towns competition travel the country, judging towns on tidiness and a set of social and environmental attributes. But unlike the official competition, the "Navman People's Choice" award is about popularity with the people, and designed to allow everyone to have a say by nominating or voting for their favourite town in Australia.

Scott Lyall, executive officer of Keep Australia Beautiful, said: "Tidy Towns goes from strength to strength each year with more than 1,000 communities and over 90,000 volunteers involved, and Navman's People's Choice will complement this existing competition by getting everyone from all over Australia to have a say and add their town to the map."

Everyone who votes or nominates a town goes in the running to win a Navman GPS. The nomination and voting process is simple. Visit the website and nominate a town and give a reason why it should win. You can also upload photographs of the town onto the website. The website has a clear definition of what constitutes a "town" as cities or suburbs are not eligible to enter. The competition runs until 31 May 2010, and the winners will be announced in June.

Drink container recycling

Keep Australia Beautiful is able to offer financial assistance for local communities wishing to improve beverage container recycling. This financial assistance is made possible thanks to a Coca-Cola Foundation Community Recycling Grant.

Applications close 3rd May 2010. Grants will be between $3000 and $10,000.

In larger communities this may mean infrastructure for events or for special venues such as large retail centres or education centres. In smaller communities, it may mean assistance with transport or processing to overcome remote location or dispersed population. The focus is on:

• recycling away from home
• practical projects that leave a legacy
• projects that don't duplicate existing recycling activities
• projects that result in measurable volumes of recycled materials

Application form
KAB Beverage Container Recycling community grants launch story

Bike awards close 5 p.m. Monday 12 April

Nominations for the Australian Bicycling Achievement awards are invited from individuals, organisations, schools, businesses and government departments. Online nominations are encouraged but hard copies and emails will also be accepted.

The first award category is: Cycling Promotion Award of the Year, sponsored by the Heart Foundation. Include a short outline of the contributions and their impact. The second, the Special Achievement Award by a Bicycle Organisation is sponsored by the Cycling Promotion Fund. Nominations should include an outline of the organisation, its history, membership, staff and volunteers and a description of the achievements.

Also sponsored by the CPF is the Local Government Award for Special Initiative to Encourage and Promote Cycling. Nominations should include an outline of the initiative, departments involved and achievements. There are four other categories: Award for an Educational Institution for Innovation in Encouraging Cycling to School, Award for Bicycle Friendly Business, Award for Contribution towards Cycling by a Politician, and Award for Contributions towards Cycling by a Bicycle retailer.

Details can be found on the website above, or by contacting the Cycling Promotion Fund on Tel: (03) 9818 5400 Fax: (03) 9818 4535. Email: office@cyclingpromotion.com.au. Post: PO Box 3052 Auburn 3123 Victoria.

Awards will be presented in June 2010. Remember, the nominations close on 12 April.

Appointment brings hope for women

A Department of Local Government media release recently profiled the average local councillor as a male in his 50s whose first language is English. An even more unequal picture would emerge from a survey of local government general managers: 3.2 per cent of general managers in NSW are women. The recent appointment of Vanessa Chan as general manager of Ashfield Council is a welcome change away from the trend.

"As our communities become more active in their citizenship and demand higher levels of business excellence and also demand engagement with them, I would expect that more women will be moving into these roles as these are very often the competencies that women bring to the workplace," said Ms Chan. She said that she was passionate about making Ashfield one of the truly innovative and engaged councils.

The Minister for Women, Jodi McKay, and Minister for Local Government, Barbara Perry have both heralded Ms Chan's appointment.

Affordable housing increasingly elusive

Average buyers cannot compete with rich, tax-subsidised investors, concludes Tim Colebatch in the Age On Tuesday 16 March. Affordable housing will remain elusive for more and more people if past price trends continue for another decade. If they do, home ownership would remain out of reach for millions of younger and lower-income Australians and our transformation from a nation of home owners to one of landlords and tenants would be complete.

But the astute economist claims that this won't happen. Melbourne house prices have trebled since 1997, not because our incomes trebled, but because we paid those prices by a massive increase in debt. In the 20 years to January 2010, household debt to the banks grew 10 times over, from $118 billion to $1224 billion. As a share of our disposable income, they more than trebled, from 45 per cent of what we earn to 156 per cent.

If we want house prices to keep growing at that pace, we'll have to keep going deeper into debt at that pace - to more than $4 trillion by 2020, or more than three times our income. In Colebatch's opinion, we won't take on debt like that again. If your house increases its worth by a large margin, it does not benefit you because you have to live somewhere, and you're usually buying and selling in the same market. The only people who benefit from rising house prices are people downgrading to a smaller home - and investors.

House prices have soared because of a widening gap between supply and demand. The supply of new homes has barely grown in 40 years, averaging 154,500 over the '00s. Yet demand has soared, for two reasons. Population growth has doubled, to almost 500,000 a year. And 40 per cent of lending to people buying established homes now goes to investors.

Colebatch reminds us that it wasn't always like that. Before Labor restored the tax break for negative gearing in 1987, investors took only 8 per cent of lending for established homes. Most of their borrowing was to build new homes, such as apartment blocks. And most landlords made a profit from renting. But not now. Tax Office figures show that 1.1 million Australians declared negatively geared property investments in 2006-07. They claimed total losses of more than $10 billion, which probably cut their tax bills by about $4 billion. In effect, that $4 billion then falls on other taxpayers.

Why run a rental business that loses money? Because your losses are more than offset by the capital gain when you sell the property. And thanks to John Howard, you pay only half as much tax on capital gains as you pay on the income you earn from working.

Few countries offer housing investors such a generous tax deal. In most, you can write off your losses against rental income, but not against income from other sources. That's what we need to do here, where the scale of negative gearing is now so massive that housing cannot become affordable to young and low-income buyers competing with so many richer, tax-subsided investors.

Consider this: in the 13 years to 2006-07, landlords as a group went from declaring net profits of $399 million to net losses of $6.4 billion. Those reporting profits grew by 36,000. Those reporting losses grew by 594,000. Our tax laws have upset the proper balance between home owners and investors and have led 1.1 million people to become landlords who make losses in order to reap the tax gains. That flood of investors has upended the balance between supply and demand, driving up prices and denying millions the chance to own their own homes. Housing will not be affordable for many until this is addressed.

Batts blame is misleading

With the ABC now calling the Federal Government's insulation program a failure, the program's status as a debacle has become quasi-official, reports Tuesday's Australian Financial Review on 16 March. The Government is being held accountable for four deaths of installers, although the only link is that the Commonwealth funded the scheme, and the media has ignored the fact that the number of fires due to installation has actually fallen, as a percentage of installations, compared to the years before the scheme.

Trans fats ban?

Food manufacturers would have to reveal the levels of killer trans fats in all products under recommendations to be put to a national inquiry in Sydney this week, reports Clair Weaver in the Sunday Telegraph.

Trans fats, by dramatically raising cholesterol levels and clogging arteries, are responsible for causing 6,000 deaths of Australians per year. COAG and the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council have appointed a Review of Food Labelling and Policy, and if compulsory labelling reveals high levels of trans fats are being used by manufacturers, experts will push for a total ban nationally.

Trans fat is often found in pastries, biscuits and fried foods and is cheap, makes foods crispy and extends shelf life. It also raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and strokes. Under current Australian rules, processed foods containing trans fats are rarely identified.

Chicken nuggets, popcorn, croissants, crackers and cheese are often high in trans fats. Countries including Denmark and Switzerland have banned trans fats and the US has mandatory labelling. Some NSW councils, including Botany Bay, Gosford, Kogarah, Hurstville and Waverley, have introduced trans-fat bans in local restaurants and take-away outlets. Blacktown and City of Sydney are considering bans.

Consultant dietitian Susie Burrell said she supported a ban on trans fats but also argued that labelling was imperative to protect the health of children in the future. "If it's good enough to do in the US, why not do it here?" she said. "Trans fats are very toxic. Consumers have the right to make an informed choice."

The foods with the highest amount of trans fats are, in descending order, popcorn, breakfast bars, potato chips, savoury biscuits, chicken nuggets, fried noodles and hot chips. See the full list of foods with trans fats at the website.

Ballina Council burns some fat

While the combination of beef, mutton and soy might seem like the ingredients for a stir fry, Ballina Shire Council is putting them in their petrol tanks, according to a report in the Northern Rivers Echo on 25 March.

Earlier in March, Council began using B20, a blend of conventional diesel and 20% biodiesel derived from tallow (beef and mutton fat) and soy beans, in their heavy plant and light vehicles, after having upgraded fuel pumps and the computerised fuel management system to accommodate the use of biodiesel.

Cr Ben Smith, who initiated the idea, said the fuel also helped clean the engines. "It reduces our dependence on finite reserves of oil and reduces production of 'new' CO^2> from burning fossil fuel," Cr Smith said. "There are benefits in cutting particulate emissions, with no loss in engine power or fuel economy.

"It's also about Ballina Shire Council leading by example. We're keen to improve environmental outcomes for our community in simple, practical ways. This demonstrates that we are taking these issues seriously and looking at improving environmental outcomes where we can."

Mayor Phillip Silver said using B20 put Council ahead of the game. "There's a small extra cost to Council, but a big community benefit through using a cleaner burning fuel," Mayor Silver said. "Based on Council's current use of diesel, we'll cut more than 200 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. We've also insisted on using Australian sources for our biodiesel."

Cr Silver also suggested the initiative would be a good way for neighbouring councils to increase sharing resources and that he would be taking the idea to NOROC, the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils.

B20 will be used in 60 heavy and 40 light vehicles, which use around 550,000 litres of diesel a year. Ballina Shire Council resolved to introduce B20 biodiesel for all its operations, provided the blend meets the Australian Diesel Fuel Standard and the biodiesel component meets the Australian Biodiesel Standard.

Drug research

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) is undertaking research to look at:

• trends in Australian media reporting on illicit drugs, and
• youth perceptions of and reactions to different types of media portrayals on illicit drug use.

This is the first major study of its kind in Australia and the focus is on all Australian youth aged 16-24 regardless of whether they have or have not used illicit drugs.

As part of the project NDARC have launched a nationwide online survey and require a sample size of 2,000 young people aged 16-24, from across Australia.

The survey can be found here.

Please circulate this opportunity to participate among your youth networks. For further information please contact Dr Caitlin Hughes on (02) 9385 0132 or 0468 914 050.