Tropical Cyclone Yasi

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland yesterday announced Commonwealth Government assistance for people in Far North Queensland affected by the impact of Tropical Cyclone Yasi.

Financial assistance that will be provided includes:

• Assistance under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements;
• The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment; and
• The Disaster Income Recovery Subsidy.

The Queensland Government declared 19 Local Government Areas across Far North Queensland natural disaster zones - Burdekin, Burke, Cairns, Carpentaria, Cassowary Coast, Charters Towers, Croydon, Doomadgee, Etheridge, Flinders, Hinchinbrook, Mackay, Mount Isa, Palm Island, Tablelands, Townsville, Whitsunday Wujal Wujal and Yarrabah.

The Australian Government Crisis Committee has met to help coordinate Commonwealth assistance to the region. The Australian Defence Force has established a Joint Task Force based in Townsville to coordinate ADF support.

For more information or to claim the Australian Government Disaster Payment or Disaster Income Recovery Subsidy, people should contact the Australian Government Emergency Information line on 180 22 66 or visit their local Centrelink office. Information about Australian Government assistance is also available by visiting www.disasterassist.gov.au or www.centrelink.gov.au. Information about Personal Hardship assistance is available through the Queensland Department for Community Services on 1800 173 349.

ALGA President shares council concern over water utilities' report

ALGA President Cr Genia McCaffery has backed the Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW (LGSA) in its rejection of key findings in an Infrastructure Australia Regional Towns Water Quality and Security Review.

The LGSA says there was no consultation with key players and relevant data that acknowledges councils are best placed to deliver these services has been conveniently ignored.

The Report recommends wholesale amalgamation and corporatisation of non-metropolitan Local Water Utilities, with the transfer of ownership to State Government Water Corporations.

President of the Shires Association of NSW, Cr Bruce Miller, said the LGSA challenges many of the key findings and strongly objects to the way the Review has been conducted.

"We're furious at the lack of consultation, selective data collection and clearly flawed findings of the Infrastructure Australia Report in to Local Water Utilities," said Cr Miller.

The LGSA have already called on the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, not to accept this Report on face value without consultation with local government. ALGA's recent Federal Budget submission asks the Federal Government to devote resources to the important priorities of water saving urban design projects and recycling initiatives to improve security of supply and respond to the effects of climate change and drought.

Infrastructure Australia is seeking feedback on the findings and recommendations of the report which is available here. If you wish to comment on the report, please email mail@infrastructureaustralia.gov.au by 25 March 2011.

National General Assembly (NGA) Registrations Open

The 2011 NGA, with the theme of 'Growing with our Community - Place, Position, Partnership,' aims to stimulate ideas about new ways of doing business to meet the needs of local people and their communities.

The three elements of the theme allow for an exploration of the challenges facing governments and local communities:

• 'Place' recognises that people live and work in specific locations and local communities. These places and communities differ geographically, culturally, economically and socially. A new approach is required to ensure that government programs are planned, coordinated and delivered to be more responsive to local needs.
• 'Position' refers to the need for local government to be seen and treated as an integral part of the Australian federal system. There are 565 local governments in Australia and all of them are democratically elected, accountable to their community and charged with the responsibility, under state legislation, to govern in the interests of their local community.
• 'Partnership' recognises that government service provision, including regulation, is a shared responsibility. While local government provides a wide range of services and infrastructure many of these are in partnership with other levels of government. At the national level, the partnership between local government and the Australian Government has delivered benefits to every Australian community through programs such as the Roads to Recovery Program and the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program and offers opportunities in the future through areas such as climate change and broadband.

The NGA is already receiving very high interest from politicians and keynote speakers. The Provisional Program has been released and can be found on the NGA website along with the online registration form at http://nga.alga.asn.au

ALGA's submission to the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, on the 2011-12 Federal Budget lodged last Friday asks for $200 million over four years to fund electronic development assessment (eDA) system rollouts at regional and rural councils. A national push towards eDA systems is consistent with the national eDA implementation project prepared for COAG by the Local Government and Planning Ministerial Council (LGPMC) on which ALGA is represented.

Capitalising on the Government's investment in broadband technology is crucial for local government and local communities. One of the major potential benefits of high-quality, reliable and affordable broadband will be the ability of all residents to conduct e-business with the private sector and other levels of government.

While many metropolitan councils have introduced varying levels of eDA capability, rural and regional councils are much less well-resourced to go down that track. We want all councils to have the same opportunity to handle the lodgement, processing and tracking of DAs electronically and be able to efficiently undertake the referral responsibilities imposed by the States, and to a lesser degree, the Commonwealth.

The Federal Government committed $30 million from the housing affordability fund (HAF) in March 2008 to help jurisdictions and local governments to roll out eDA systems. At this stage the take-up has favoured those councils with the financial resources to implement the systems and many smaller regional and rural councils have missed out. A significant investment by the Federal and State and Territory Governments in a roll-out which includes all local governments is needed to create a national interoperable and efficient development assessment system. Additional and targeted Commonwealth investment to assist councils to re-engineer their 'back of office' systems to accommodate e-business processing would further enable councils to deliver more efficient and improved services to their communities, such as application lodgement, referrals, online tracking and public notifications. More accurate and transparent data collection and analysis would also be made available.

As Mayor of North Sydney Council, I have seen the benefits of eDA systems - creating greater convenience for those lodging applications and significantly reducing the need for communication time between stakeholders and planning officers, thereby allowing officers to concentrate on the process of efficiently considering the applications before them.

Local government can help enhance Australia's productivity and overall sustainability through administering an efficient and effective development assessment planning system, based on comprehensive and integrated strategic planning. I am a strong supporter of the use and adoption by councils of better business technologies which improve decision-making and provide more interaction and community involvement by making processes easier to undertstand and use. However, local government ultimately needs the other levels of government, particularly the States to play their roles in making this a reality!

Cr Genia McCaffery
ALGA President

Briefs

Call for motions: National General Assembly

This year's National General Assembly of Local Government (NGA) theme is 'Growing with our Community - Partnership, Place and Position'. The NGA theme reflects current issues being debated nationally and priority issues facing local government.

The NGA is your opportunity to contribute to the development of national local government policy. The ALGA Board is calling for motions for the 2011 NGA under the theme Growing with our Community - Partnership, Place, Position.

To assist Councils in preparing motions, a Discussion Paper has been prepared and is available at http://nga.alga.asn.au.

To be eligible for inclusion in the NGA Business Papers motions must follow the principles:

1. Fall under one of the themes - Partnership, Place, and Position;
2. Be relevant to the work of local government nationally; and
3. Complement or build on the policy objectives of state and territory associations.

Motions should be submitted electronically via the online form on the website and should be received by ALGA no later than 22 April 2011.

Motions submitted will be reviewed by the National General Assembly Committee as well as by State and Territory Local Government Associations to determine their eligibility for inclusion in the NGA Business Papers. When reviewing motions, the Committee considers the importance and relevance of the issue to local government. Please note that motions should not be prescriptive in directing how the matter should be pursued. Any motion deemed to be primarily concerned with local or state issues will be referred to the relevant state/territory local government association, and will not be included in the Business Papers.

Through the review process, minor edits may be made to motions to ensure they can be included in the Business Papers. These edits will change the motion to call for action, for example to 'call on the Australian Government' to do something, to ensure relevance to local government nationally by removing state specific references or to ensure the wording is consistent with current conventions such as referring to the Australian Government instead of the Federal Government.

To assist in facilitating efficient and effective debate, motions that cover similar matters will appear grouped together in the Business Papers and the matter will be debated only once with the lead or strategic motion being that which is debated.

Motions that are agreed to at the National General Assembly become Resolutions. These Resolutions are then considered by the ALGA Board when setting national local government policy and when the Board is making representations to the Federal Government at Ministerial Councils, during meetings and in ALGA publications. The ALGA Board is not bound by any resolutions passed at the NGA.

For further information please contact Clare Hogan, Director National Events on (02) 6122 9436 or clare.hogan@alga.asn.au

2009-10 retrospective

ALGA's annual report for 2009-10 is available here. A major focus of the fiscal year 2009-10 for government at all levels was responding to the continuing impact of the Global Financial Crisis. Local government played a substantial role in contributing to Australia's response with the roll-out of $1.1 billion in community infrastructure funding (some 5000 individual projects in total) as part of the Australian Government's stimulus package. It was also the year when major steps forward were taken towards achieving the inclusion of local government in the Australian Constitution. In December 2008, 600 elected councilors from across Australia voted unanimously to support the Government's push to amend the Australian Constitution to recognise local government. A key outcome of the Summit was the identification of the preferred changed being to include amendments to section 96 to allow the Federal Government to fund local government directly. A High Court challenge to payments under the Federal Government's Stimulus Package by states' rights activist and academic Bryan Pape, while unsuccessful, highlighted the vulnerability of direct payments to local government under programs such as Roads to Recovery on current constitutional settings.

Engaging an Indigenous workforce

In spite of some suggestions to the contrary, local government has the most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees of the three levels of government.

Local government values the role of Indigenous people, both in society in general as well as the roles they play in our sector. Despite the great achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in local government to date, there are still gaps to be filled and we are looking as to how we best do that.

An interesting parallel sector to local government is the tertiary education sector, in particular, universities. Large universities have similar human resource issues. They have limited financial resources to manage a diverse range of employment requirements. Like local government, universities have high-level administrators, specialists, support and administration and as well as various grounds and building maintenance staff.

That is not to say that universities and councils are identical, there are clear differences on issues such as succession planning and diversification of skill-sets that affect more remote councils.

Most universities came to the conclusion long ago that to have a good representation of Indigenous people in their institutions, they would need to undertake serious policy development. This allowed for the creation of targeted employment strategies, as well as people tasked specifically with driving that strategy forward.

The Australian National University in Canberra has one of the most advanced Indigenous employment strategies of any tertiary institution in the country. ALGA attended the internal seminar day on 1 February to address any questions or issues that those involved in the process may have had since the previous seminar had been held a year ago. It was an invaluable insight and gave direction to informing anything that local government may undertake to address both representation and employment gaps.

Early FAGs payments to flood-affected councils in Victoria

Following on from the announcement regarding Qld councils, the Minister for Regional Australia Simon Crean has announced early payment of grants to Victorian councils as part of the comprehensive Commonwealth assistance package for Victorians affected by flooding.

The Federal Government has brought forward an early payment of more than $92 million in Financial Assistance Grants to help Victorian local councils rebuild after the recent flood devastation.

The announcement is in addition to Commonwealth assistance already being provided across 27 Victorian Local Government areas under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.

Meanwhile the Victorian Premier recently announced the Red Cross Victorian Floods Appeal, and a $1 million contribution. The MAV has also re-activated the MAV Local Government Emergency Recovery Fund for any councils wishing to support Victorian flood-affected municipalities. First established after the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires, it is a council-to-council fund to ensure contributions are wholly spent on municipal efforts to rebuild communities. The MAV will administer the fund, with 100 per cent of the funds donated (together with any interest earned) to be allocated to flood-affected councils. For further information on how to donate email James Holman or phone 9667 5595.

Developing inclusive communities

A new resource showcasing international good practice around engaging with migrants and refugees in local communities is the IBIS (Integration: Building Inclusive Societies) "on-line community" website. IBIS is a joint project of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

If your council has a cultural diversity project or initiative that you would like to showcase on this website, submit it at the UNAOC website.

UNAOC are currently in discussions with the MAV and other Australian and Victorian organisations to plan an IBIS regional launch and workshop in Melbourne later this year.

Work starts on high speed rail study

The feasibility study to determine the economic benefits and financial viability of a high speed rail network along Australia's east coast has started.

The first stage will be undertaken by a consortia lead by AECOM Australia (the other members are KPMG, Sinclair Knight Merz and Grimshaw Architects)and will identify possible route and station options which will provide the basis for determining indicative transit times and construction costs.

This first stage is expected to be completed by the middle of this year.

The study's second stage will determine an optimum route alignment, identify patronage levels, develop robust cost estimates and investigate financing options.

The study will provide the basis for an informed public debate about whether this technology is an appropriate response to our nation's future transport needs.

ALGA has been invited to participate in the formal reference group oversighting the study.

The study will focus on identifying possible routes, corridor preservation and station options, including city-centre, city-periphery and airport stations. This will provide a basis for route development, indicative transit times and high-level construction costs.

As part of the core network element at the centre of the east coast corridor, the Newcastle-Sydney 'spine' will be a central aspect of this work. Options for links northwards to Brisbane and southwards to Canberra and Melbourne will also be considered.

Specifically the study will:

• Identify undeveloped land corridors and/or existing corridors that could be considered for a high speed railway, and preservation strategies;
• Identify the main design decisions and requirements to build and operate a viable high speed rail network on the east coast of Australia;
• Present route and station options, including indicative construction costs and interaction with other transport modes;
• Provide costs estimates of undertaking the next stages of work, such as detailed route alignment identification and corridor resumptions;
• Identify potential financing and business operating models for the construction and operation of a high speed railway;
• Provide advice and options on relevant construction, engineering, financial and environmental considerations.

The Accessible Communities grants program

Councils are encouraged to consider making an application to the Accessible Communities grants program recently announced by Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Senator Jan McLucas.

The program is aimed at assisting local councils to improve the accessibility of their communities for people with disability. Applications for grants of up to $100,000 close on 25 February and must be matched by the applicant with an equal or greater amount of money. Each council may submit up to two applications.

The program provides an opportunity to address specific infrastructure access issues such as purchasing pool lifts to enable people with mobility disability to access a swimming pool or improving the accessibility of children's playgrounds. Grants might also be used to improve access to public buildings or provide better and more accessible signage to and in public facilities.

Many councils have already developed disability Action Plans and are in a good position to identify projects that have been prioritised by the community. Others, however, might need to consult with their Access Committee or local community organisations to identify the most effective use of funds. Information on the grants program can be found here.

The Disability Discrimination Commission has a range of resources material on its website that may assist in identifying and preparing projects under this grants program.

Improve online provisions for people with disabilities

BrowseAloud is hosting a series of Accessibility Mornings in four locations in Australia:

• Canberra, Wednesday 9th February. Waldorf Canberra, 09.00 - 13.30
• Brisbane, Friday 11th February. State Library of Queensland, 09.00 - 13.30
• Melbourne, Tuesday 15th February. State Library of Victoria, 09.00 - 13.30
• Sydney, Wednesday 16th February. Wesley Conference Centre, 09.00 - 13.30

Topics Covered will be: updates to the Australian Human Rights Commission Disability Discrimination Act: Web Advisory Notes; BrowseAloud Information and Demonstration; creating websites accessible to people with cognitive disabilities; and a Question and Answer session. The Accessibility Mornings are free to attend, however spaces are limited so early registration is recommended. To reserve a space, interested parties should E-Mail Samantha Corr on s.corr@browsealoud.com

Support for 85 Indigenous health organisations

The Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, said more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will have access to best-practice health care, with the Australian Government announcing $5.6 million to help Aboriginal Health Organisations achieve accreditation under Australian quality standards. The funding will benefit organisations that provide health services to people living in rural and remote areas, including primary health care, substance use assistance, social and emotional wellbeing and advocacy. Full table of recipients here.

Local councils support rural women

Proving that Australia's rural women are just as tech-savvy as their urban sisters, the National Rural Women's Coalition (NRWC) will celebrate International Women's Day 2011 by connecting women in rural and remote areas around the country through a live and interactive webinar with the host of ABC's Compass program, Geraldine Doogue AO.

Supported by funding from the Commonwealth Office for Women, NRWC will hold this high-tech and all-inclusive event for all women in rural, regional and remote Australia on 8 March 2011, the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day Ms Karen Tully, NRWC Chair, said that the live, interactive webinar will be broadcast during a nation-wide morning tea for women living in rural and remote areas. Ms Tully invites local government councils to register as hosts for a morning tea and so participate in the event.

NRWC invites all women living in rural, regional and remote areas to participate in the morning tea through their local Council. NRWC has some funding available to offset costs to Councils.

All women are welcome to participate and are encouraged to join the National Rural Women's Network by visiting www.nrwn.org.au to strengthen connections whilst celebrating 100 years of International Women's Day.

Councils in rural, regional and remote areas can participate in the NRWC's International Women's Day celebrations by registering on the NRWC website or on the numbers below. An information sheet for councils considering participation is also available on the website.

Call for papers - 2011 LGSA Water Management Conference

The Associations are calling for papers for the 2011 LGSA Water Management Conference being hosted by Clarence Valley Council in Grafton on 14 to 16 September.

The LGSA Water Management Conference is an annual event providing local government with a broad range of information on water management and issues associated with water supply and sewerage services provided by water utilities. The conference presents an opportunity for councillors, local government professionals, government representatives and the broader industry to tackle key water management issues and discuss emerging issues in the water portfolio from a local government perspective.

Councils and other stakeholders are invited to forward papers and/or suggestions for consideration in the development of the conference program. In particular, papers are invited on the main topics planned for the conference; i.e.:

• Regional water supply solutions. Clarence Valley Council and Coffs Harbour City Council have jointly developed a regional water strategy with major infrastructure projects such as the Shannon Creek Dam and associated pipelines
• Review of regulatory and institutional arrangement for local water utilities in regional NSW, particularly implementing regional water supply solutions to improve town water security. The conference will discuss outcomes on the NSW Government's Inquiry into Local Water Utilities as well as the national Inquiry into Australia's Urban Water Sector by the Productivity Commission
• Interaction between natural resource management, water quality and water supply and sewerage services. Clarence Valley council is a leader in wetland and creek rehabilitation and cooperative floodplain management.

Regularly updated information about the conference as well as the opportunity to subscribe to a conference email newsletter is available on the conference website.

Papers should be emailed by 15 April 2011 to Sascha Moege, Senior Policy Officer, sascha.moege@lgsa.org.au.

PIA National Congress, Hobart, Tasmania 6-9 March 2011

Come to engage with some of the leading thinkers from around Australia and overseas on the challenges facing planning in 2011 and beyond, including the former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia Enrique Penalosa. Enrique is recognised as one of the artists behind the transition of Bogota as one of the world's most dangerous, violent and corrupt capitals into a peaceful model city. Dyan Currie from Toowoomba Regional Council will also be speaking on the recent "inland tsunami' and flood recovery efforts in Queensland. Topics and projects explored range from urban renewal, transit oriented development and sustainable communities, to food security, healthy communities and public engagement. Interesting site tours explore Hobart and surrounds to enable participants to visit firsthand the application of planning issues on the ground in local communities. For more information and to register online click here.