ALGA President meets with Minister Crean

The close relationship between regionalism and localism, the new approach to regional issues and constitutional recognition of local government were on the agenda when ALGA President Geoff Lake met with Simon Crean, the new Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development, Local Government and the Arts, in Melbourne on Monday.

In a wide-ranging discussion which clearly highlighted Mr Crean's passion for regional development, the role of Regional Development Australia committees and the synergies that exist with regional development efforts of councils were covered, with Cr Lake noting the need for complementary rather than competitive efforts. The meeting also focused on the regional infrastructure programs that the Government has foreshadowed, including the $800m Priority Regional Infrastructure Program which will succeed the current Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program (RLCIP) from July 2011. The shape of the Program and eligibility criteria are currently being developed by the Government and Cr Lake took the opportunity to acknowledge the great success of the RLCIP, particularly that component of the program which provided a direct allocation to each council.

Cr Lake also outlined ALGA's proposal for constitutional change to recognise local government, noting that the need to ensure that local communities received adequate services and infrastructure was at the heart of the change being sought by ALGA. Minister Crean welcomed the ALGA's leadership on the issue, which is being assisted by a grant of $250,000 from the Australian Government to help advance the issue at the local level, and stressed the importance of broad community and bipartisan support for the success of any referendum.

Worst road and bridge competition

A feature of next week's 2010 National Local Road and Transport Congress will be the "Worst Road and Bridge" Competition. This started out a good natured way for ALGA to acquire some photos to use in its submissions to Government.

We have been inundated with over 200 photos of some truly appalling roads in both rural and urban areas. The photos demonstrate the difficulties that councils face in maintaining the roads systems that serve their communities and are central to their local economies.

They are a stark indictment of the underinvestment in our transport system. While we as a nation are able to find $44 billion for a national broad band network to move data and virtual people we seem to be unable to find much smaller amounts to move real people and real goods. All photos received will be shown at the Congress. However as the numbers of photos received is so large voting will be restricted to a smaller number of photos agreed by the ALGA Board.

Unfortunately the prize will not be the money to fix the "worst" road or bridge - just a consoling bottle of wine! Thank you to everyone that took the trouble to enter a photo.

Councils helped by drumMUSTER

Efforts to control the onslaught of the locust plague are stepping up and AgStewardship Australia's drumMUSTER program is implementing special procedures to help manage the container waste generated. Councils in plague affected areas have been contacted by drumMUSTER about the special arrangements to expedite the major efforts going on through local, state and federal governments, along with affected farming communities.

drumMUSTER is the national program for the collection and recycling of eligible, non-returnable agricultural chemical containers through the Industry Waste Reduction Scheme (IWRS). Local Government is a signatory to the IWRS and is on the board of AgStewardship Australia who has oversight of the drumMUSTER program.

ULV formulations in chemical products manufactured to control locusts are inherently difficult to clean. With the major efforts required to control the locust outbreak, the program has established specific criteria for the acceptance of these containers at drumMUSTER collection centres as part of the locust plague control efforts.

Chemical containers qualified under the program display the 'drumMUSTER eligible' container logo. Follow the specific product cleaning instructions on the label or contact the manufacturer for further advice. drumMUSTER collection centres can be found here or call 1800 008 707

An inspection process will still occur, but under this initiative councils have been advised by drumMUSTER to accept the ULV formulation containers. The containers are required to be rinsed clean to the best possible standard before delivery.

Briefs

Murray Darling Basin Authority Guide

The Guide to the proposed Basin Plan will be released today at 4pm (with a media lockup from 1:30). The new water caps will not be set until the Plan is finalised. The Guide will provide an overview of the proposed Basin Plan which is expected to reveal the high cost of water buy backs. MDBA will be holding public meetings in regional centres across the Basin and in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to discuss the Guide to the proposed Basin Plan. Details of these meetings and a copy of the Guide will be available on the website once venues are confirmed.

Mobile recycling helps our coastline

Local communities have only three weeks left to round-up their old mobiles and help MobileMuster and Landcare Australia rejuvenate Aussie beaches this summer. For every kilogram of mobile phones handed in for recycling, before 31 October, a tree will be planted in one of five key coastal areas across the country.

"There are less than three weeks to help make a difference to Australia's coastline this summer," says Rose Read, manager recycling with MobileMuster. "There are approximately 16 million unused old mobiles lying in homes throughout Australia that could be recycled."

According to Ms Read, if just one in every 200 of these old phones was handed in for recycling, 25,000 new trees could be planted along Australia's coastline. "Australia's iconic beaches and coastlines are suffering from erosion, storm water pollution, weeds and damage caused by people and their cars," says Ms Read.

The more mobiles and accessories collected the more native plants Coastcare volunteers will be able to plant. These will help tackle problems such as dune erosion, loss of native plants and will help to restore native wildlife habitats. MobileMuster's funding will be distributed by Landcare Australia to local Coastcare volunteer groups in five key areas in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

Recycling an old mobile phone is free and easy, simply:

1. Drop them off at your mobile phone retailer / local collection point - to find out where click here or call 1300 730 070
2. Post them in by picking up a free MobileMuster recycling satchel from Australia Post
3. Post them in by printing off a reply paid mailing label from www.mobilemuster.com.au

Roads Congress starts next week

The 2010 National Local Roads and Transport Congress begins next Wednesday evening with a Civic Reception at Bunbury Council Chambers. As part of a packed program of speakers and concurrent sessions, Melissa Parke, the member for Fremantle, will give an address on behalf of the new Minister for Regional Development and Local Government Simon Crean. There is still time to register via the ALGA website, to hear the views of the Opposition Spokesman on Infrastructure and Transport, Warren Truss, as well as Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlum who is spokesperson on Local Government. Release of the report on the Roads Study and the Worst Road and Bridge competition will be added highlights. Join us there.

NBN update forums in Sydney and Melbourne

The Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) is running NBN and Digital Economy Update forums in Sydney (20th October) - and Melbourne (26th October).

These forums will provide an update from NBN Co on developments including the NBN Wholesale Fibre Access Service Product Specification available here.

The forums will also look at the approach being taken by the NSW and Victorian Governments to NBN deployment and take-up including applications and test bed projects - See here and here.

Then discussion will "Shift Gear" to the Digital Economy developments, looking at the recently released NICTA Report - Telemedicine in an NBN context - available here and at developments with a range of projects underway at the Institute for the Broadband Enabled Society (IBES) at Melbourne University

ATUG's work with members on the Digital Economy will also be outlined - a summary is available here.

New counselling service

Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis has launched a new telephone counselling service for Australians who have experienced or are at risk of physical or sexual violence. 1800 RESPECT is a confidential service that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week over the phone. Australians can access the line by calling 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). Over the coming months 1800 RESPECT will also be expanded to include online counselling and coordination with existing State and Territory domestic violence and sexual assault services.

Rural women's award

Rural Women have just a week remaining to get their applications in to the RIRDC Rural Women's Award 2011, before it closes on World Rural Women's Day-15th October 2010. The Award recognises and encourages rural women's contribution to primary industries, resource development and rural Australia.

The Award is open to all women involved in primary industries, including forestry and fisheries, natural resource management and related service industries. The RIRDC Rural Women's Award 2011 provides a bursary of $10,000 for each of the seven State and Territory winners and the opportunity for State and Territory winners and runners up to attend the Australian Institute of Company Directors' leadership based program. The Award 2011 National Winner and Runner Up will, in addition, each receive a travel bursary of $10,000. Applications can be downloaded from the website.

Applications for Paid Parental Leave scheme open

Working parents expecting a baby in the New Year will now be able to lodge their claims for Paid Parental Leave. The Federal Government's Paid Parental Leave scheme provides eligible working parents of babies born or adopted from 1 January 2011 with parental leave pay for up to 18 weeks at the minimum wage (currently $570 a week before tax). For many working parents, including casual and part-time workers, contractors and the self employed, this will be the first time they will have access to paid parental leave. To help parents get all their paperwork done before the birth of their child, claims for Family Tax Benefit and Maternity Immunisation Allowance can also be lodged early, using a combined claim form with Paid Parental Leave. Details at www.familyassist.gov.au. Application forms are also available at Family Assistance Offices located in Medicare Australia and Centrelink offices or by calling 13 6150. Before lodging their claim, parents should plan their caring and leave arrangements and discuss these with their employer. The Government has committed to introducing two weeks paid paternity leave from 1 July 2012.

Age discrimination

The Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth Broderick, has released her Age discrimination - exposing the hidden barrier for mature age workers paper, saying that age discrimination needed to be acknowledged and denounced before it can be removed from our workplaces and from our community.

"It is vital that we recognise age discrimination for what it is - something that stereotypes people, strips them of their individuality, robs them of choice and control and prevents them from being assessed on the basis of merit," said Commissioner Broderick. "Ultimately, age discrimination - like any form of discrimination - will result in less diversity in our workplaces."

While anti-discrimination laws are a powerful tool in fighting unlawful age discrimination, Ms Broderick said it was imperative that we also see the groundswell of a social movement, similar to that which has happened with other forms of discrimination in our society. This would both build awareness and challenge broader ageist attitudes in our society.

Ms Broderick said the message to take away from her paper was that we must 'out' age discrimination whenever we see and experience it - whether it be by pointing it out to friends, family, co-workers and managers, by lobbying members of parliament or by making a complaint either to management, to state and territory equal opportunity agencies, or to the Commission. The paper is available here.

Women in leadership census

Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick has welcomed the release of the EOWA 2010 Women in Leadership Census, saying the results should be seen as a baseline against which we should be expecting dramatic improvements by the next census in 2012.

"If the 2012 Census does not reveal a dramatic increase in the number of women in Board Director and Chair positions and in executive management positions, I would suggest we need to consider putting stronger initiatives in place," Commissioner Broderick said.

Ms Broderick said the importance of the census lay in the fact that it was undertaken every two years. Over this period, it has demonstrated a trend which shows there has been no significant improvement since 2002, when the first census was conducted.

"The 2010 Census results gave very little indication of change from the previous census results in 2008, which showed a decrease in almost every indicator of women's representation in leadership positions," Commissioner Broderick said.

Commissioner Broderick said she was hopeful that initiatives such as those implemented by the government, the ASX Corporate Governance Council and others would deliver significant improved outcomes for women by the time the 2012 census is conducted.

Senate Committee into taxes

A new Senate Select Committee into taxes will be chaired by Shadow Assistant Treasurer Senator Mathias Cormann. Senator Cormann said the Committee would scrutinise the mining tax proposal and any other taxes introduced by the Government. An interim report will be delivered by 8th June 2011 with the final report completed by the 30th November 2011.