AUSTRALIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

State of Australian cities revealed

The State of Australian Cities 2011 report and Liveable Cities Program were released this week by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, during the State of the Commonwealth Cities Symposium in Brisbane

The State of Australian Cities 2011 builds on the knowledge contained in the first report published last year. It brings together a raft of new data that compares our cities with each other and cities internationally. State of Australian Cities 2011 provides an evidence base to support the national urban policy released earlier this year - Our Cities, Our Future.

The Report is essentially a descriptive document and draws from many disparate sources to paint a picture of the current state of the 18 major cities in Australia (those with a population over 100,000). “The purpose of the report is essentially to inform policy and investment decision making that have a direct impact on urban communities, to record trends in urban development, and to evaluate the wider community about the factors that are shaping not only the way cities are planned and built, but also the Australian way of life,” Minister Albanese said.

In summary, the 258-page report provides evidence that residents of Australia’s major cities are using less electricity, are leaving their car at home more often in favour of catching public transport, producing less household waste and raising children who are staying at home until an older age than was the case one or more generations ago.

Minister Albanese also released details of the Liveable Cities Program at the Brisbane Symposium. The Program consists of $20 million funding available over two years to help improve planning and design in capital cities and major regional cities that are experiencing population growth pressures and housing and transport affordability cost pressures.

The program will seek to improve the capacity of 18 selected capital cities and major regional cities to undertake strategic planning and demonstration projects in line with the Government’s National Urban Policy and the Council of Australian Governments agreed criteria. The Program aims to improve the productivity, sustainability and liveability of our cities.

States, territories and eligible councils can now submit an application for funding under the Liveable Cities Program - a key element of the Australian Government’s Action Plan design to trial new, potential solutions to urban sprawl, congestion, a lack of affordable housing and carbon pollution.

The Program offers up to $500,000 for innovative planning and design initiatives and up to $4 million for demonstration projects.

For more information about the Program click: here

Managing emissions from landfills

Following the passing of the Clean Energy legislative package by the House of Representatives last week, the package of reform will now be considered by the Senate.

Under the package, the Government will put a price on carbon, effectively forcing organisations including landfill operators responsible for annual emissions of 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide or more to pay a tax on carbon emissions. Importantly for local government, changes agreed to the legislation will mean that landfill operators managing facilities with emissions of less than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year will not be liable. The amendments are consistent with ALGA’s submissions made during the Government’s consultation period on the legislation. However, it should be noted that the Climate Change Authority will review arrangements for smaller landfills (between 10,000 and 25,000 tonnes) no later than 2015-2016 to examine the impact of this arrangement. If the threshold is changed, through changes to regulations, smaller landfills would be covered by the carbon price mechanism sometime after 2015. The Government will ensure that these landfills are liable only for emissions from waste deposited after the change is made.

Landfill facilities with direct emissions of 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year or more will be liable under the carbon price. Therefore, all councils that own and operate larger landfill facilities will need to understand and manage their obligations noting that the carbon price will not apply to emissions from waste deposited prior to 1 July 2012, which are known as legacy waste emissions.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (the NGER Act) provides a framework for methodologies for estimating emissions upon which carbon price liability will be based. Click here for more information about the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Framework.

Councils with landfills covered by the carbon price will also need to consider how they might reduce their carbon price liabilities or in some cases avoid liability by reducing their emissions below the liability threshold. Activities that reduce emission including capturing landfill gas to generate electricity, flaring methane, waste diversion, recycling, and composting. Many of these activities can generate revenue and may be eligible for Government incentives through schemes such as the Renewable Energy Target and the Carbon Farming Initiative. The Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) will provide incentives to reduce emissions from legacy waste by creating carbon credits. More information about the CFI can be found here.

Guidelines released for Digital Local Government program

This week, the Australian Government released guidelines for the $17.1 million Digital Local Government program. The guidelines call for the submission of project business cases for funding to deliver innovative online services by councils in the eight National Broadband Network first-release sites.

The program encourages the development of online services that are replicable and scalable and which other local governments across Australia can adapt for their purposes. It has the potential to assist local governments to deliver innovative online services—in particular to homes and businesses – and aims to encourage a step change in the quality, availability and speed of local government services.

The program guidelines provide information on the objective and purpose of the program, as well as information to assist eligible councils to develop project business cases for program funding.

In releasing the guidelines, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy called on industry to put forward proposals that would encourage “a step-change in the delivery of local government services using our world class National Broadband Network”.

The $17.1 million Digital Local Government program will make funding available to councils in the 40 communities to first benefit from the NBN.

It will provide funding of up to $375 000 per project initially to the first eight councils to benefit from the NBN. Funding will progressively be made available to other councils according to the NBN rollout schedule.

The first eight eligible councils are:

Armidale Dumaresq Council (Armidale, New South Wales);
Circular Head Council (Smithton, Tasmania);
City of Onkaparinga (Willunga, South Australia);
Dorset Council (Scottsdale, Tasmania);
Kiama Municipal Council (Kiama, New South Wales);
Moreland City Council (Brunswick, Victoria);
Sorell Council (Midway Point, Tasmania); and
Townsville City Council (Townsville, Queensland).

ALGA encourages councils to support the roll out of leading-edge technology in their areas and take advantage of the cultural, economic and social benefits that the technology will bring.

To view the guidelines or for more information about the Digital Local Government program visit: www.dbcde.gov.au/digitallocalgov

President's column

From the President

In this year’s federal budget, the Australian Government formally announced the establishment of a new Suburban Jobs Program. The Program - to be administered by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities – provides $100 million over four years to support a range of initiatives for employment initiatives outside the CBDs of capital cities.

You may recall that the need to boost real employment opportunities in suburban Australia was one of the key findings in a previous State of the Regions Report, commissioned by ALGA, to examine the reasons for Australia’s housing affordability crisis. In short, National Economics argued that Australia’s current housing affordability crisis had taken 20 years to fully manifest itself and that it would take a decade or two of intense policy application to significantly correct the current disequilibrium in the housing market.

The report showed the problem of housing shortages had arisen from decades of under investment in infrastructure and failed industry policy, which would have supported commuter transport, and investment in freight transport infrastructure that would have supported real and necessary job generation in regions with greenfield sites.

Given the above, ALGA provided the Department with some feedback on the draft program guidelines that were open for comment over the past few weeks. In our submission, we reinforced our support for the policy objectives and intent of the program, but raised concerns about the proposed applications process, who can apply for funding and how the program will be assessed and evaluated. We also raised concerns about the tight timeframe for submissions and the need for the draft guidelines to capitalise and build on initiatives that are already underway to some extent.

From my perspective, I want to see the Suburban Jobs Program, when it is finally released later next month, being able to support a small number of substantial, integrated projects that combine the delivery of public good infrastructure with other outcomes in areas such as planning, research, communications and community engagement. The Program is also a chance to demonstrate the opportunities of the digital economy to increase access to jobs in suburban locations so that projects deliver real and lasting benefits for the communities concerned.

While the recent focus at the national level has been on a major Jobs Summit and new Manufacturing Task Force, involving the key industry and union players, I think we must not lose sight of the fact that local employment opportunities in small to medium businesses are the heart of our communities and this new Program must be used to strengthen those opportunities.

Mayor Genia McCaffery
ALGA President

Briefs

Recognising energy efficiency activities

ALGA is currently finalising a submission to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) on the Community Energy Efficiency Program. This is a $200 million program providing funding for community organisations and local councils to undertake energy efficiency activities such as retro-fitting internal lighting, window glazing and shading, street-lighting and upgrades to community transport efficiencies.

The ALGA submission supports the creation of this program and the special role highlighted for local government. The submission also stresses the importance of street-lighting to local councils.

ALGA sees this program as a key opportunity for innovation in this area. However, there are some concerns that have been noted in the submission. The program as it is now, would perhaps favour larger and better-resourced councils and would exacerbate the already existing gaps in energy-efficiency activities.

ALGA presents submission on Draft National Cultural Policy

ALGA has lodged its submission on the draft National Cultural Policy. This is the first active program for renewal in arts policy since the mid-1990s. The draft policy outlines a set of national support structures for arts and culture-related activities and industries. This ranges from funding for the National Institute of the Dramatic Arts (NIDA) to encouraging innovation in technology related to film-making and set design. The policy also notes a special role for Indigenous arts and culture.

ALGA welcomes this effort to put art and culture back onto the national agenda. The key issue raised in the ALGA submission is the need to expand the definitions of what constitutes arts and culture in Australia today. Our submission also notes that that this is an area with which local government has had a long-standing and in fact, expanding relationship. The submission argues that support for the traditional ‘arts’ is vital but there needs to be equal recognition of and support for other activities that local government knows are also important and promote the benefits of a society with a vibrant arts and culture hub. These benefits include greater opportunities for cultural exchange, truly reflecting the diverse cultures in Australia today and encouraging social cohesion.

Call for submissions on business regulation benchmarking

The Productivity Commission has been requested to benchmark the extent to which particular approaches to the exercise of regulatory responsibilities by local government authorities affects costs incurred by business and specifically to:

identify the scope of local government regulatory responsibilities in each state and territory
clarify the extent to which the local government role includes implementing policies of national and state/territory governments
assess whether different responsibilities and the approach taken to their exercise has a material impact on business costs
identify best practices which have the capacity to reduce unnecessary regulatory costs for business.

The study will develop indicators to benchmark the performance of jurisdictions and facilitate regulatory improvements, and will draw on leading practice approaches both across Australia and overseas.

The productivity Commission welcomes submissions on its Issues paper that was released early last month. See her for further information.

Communications and Media Authority invites comment on proposed Payphone Guidelines

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has prepared draft Payphone (Assessment of Net Social Benefit) Guidelines which detail the format and methodology for the Primary Universal Service Provider (PUSP, currently Telstra) to make an assessment of net social benefit to the local community when installing a PUSP-operated payphone or removing the last remaining PUSP-operated payphone from a site.

The ACMA is seeking public comment from interested parties on whether the proposed guidelines provide appropriate advice on the form and methodology to be used in any assessment of net social benefit to a local community. A copy of the consultation paper and the proposed guidelines is available on the ACMA website.

The closing date for written submissions is 5.00 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) on 25 November 2011.

Townsville City Council enhances customer service

Citizens and customers of Townsville City Council (TCC) will soon enjoy better quality and quicker response times to their questions through a deal signed this week between TCC and IMC Communications to implement livepro®, a cloud-based knowledge management solution.

Megan Leavy, Executive Manager Customer Service, TCC headed up the search for a system to help the large team to provide accurate and quick responses to questions ranging from, ‘what night is garbage night?’ through to survival information in natural disasters.

“We had moved from a word based document system to a free shareware product and then to SharePoint, but the searching still remained chunky,” Ms Levy said.

“We wanted to track who's read what and importantly, who understands it. Our needs were specific, and we chose livepro® as it was the only product on the market that gave us what we wanted.”

The ability to update multiple users simultaneously will help TCC manage emergency responses.

“DuringCyclone Yasi, our Disaster Recovery strategy was supported by the LGAQ call centre in Ipswich. However, the nature and speed of the cyclone’s approach meant we needed to quickly supply the Ipswich team with information on how to handle the calls.”

“Next time, with livepro®, we’ll be prepared; able to update information and for it to reach people in real time. This will help save lives,” said Ms Leavy.

Ms Leavy hopes to leverage their livepro® Knowledge Management experience to benefit other councils: “Much of what we do will be very similar to our peers and we’ll be able to then share that information with other Queensland councils.”

Apps to ease Parramatta's parking problems

A new app developed for Parramatta City Council will see users track free car spaces in real time using their smart-phone GPS display. The free Parra Smart Parking application enables users to touch on any of the locations to view car park details including up-to-the-minute occupancy rates.

The Parra Shuttle Bus Tracker application will also see users being able to track the Parramatta free shuttle bus in real time.

“Already, consumers are experiencing advanced mobile applications that make positive contributions to daily life,” said Parramatta’s Lord Mayor, Cr John Chedid said. “So it’s exciting that Parramatta is at the forefront of digital technology and deploying applications such as these, and finding smart ways to improve our urban life.”

Frank Dorrian, Managing Director of SGS Australia and Program Manager for Parramatta’s Digital Concierge program, said that the application will help to improve future traffic management.

The Parra Smart Parking and Parra Shuttle Bus Tracker application is available for download, for free, on all android phones and will be made available on the iPhone and Blackberry and other popular devices in the coming weeks.

The apps can be downloaded from the ParraConnect website at www.parraconnect.net.au

World-first P Driver Safety Project launched

Victorian Minister for Roads, Terry Mulder and Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King this week announced a world-first driver research project in a bid to curb young driver fatalities.

The $10 million trial of the P Drivers Project is jointly funded by the Federal Government, NSW and Victorian governments, and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), RACV and NRMA Insurance.

Ms King said the project had been developed to research and trial a behaviour change program for young P-plate drivers. The trial will test the effectiveness of the program in reducing the number and severity of crashes involving new drivers.

“Young drivers are one of the most at risk groups travelling on our roads with P plate drivers being three times more likely to be involved in casualty crashes than experienced drivers,” Ms King said.

Launching the project in Melbourne, Mr Mulder said the trial will focus on high-risk behaviours amongst new drivers with the aim to change behaviour to improve safety.

“We are calling on the community and asking everyone to encourage young drivers to get involved and help keep them and their mates safe on our roads,” Mr Mulder said.

“Pending the outcome of the trial there is potential for the P Drivers Project to be rolled-out more broadly,” they concluded.

Country doctors to discuss future medical services at major national conference

Rural doctors will be taking the latest in rural and remote medical skills, knowledge, and issues to the heart of Australia next week as they gather in Alice Springs for their key national conference, Rural Medicine Australia 2011 (RMA 2011).

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Rural Generalism – the future of sustainable medical services’ and the delegates will be focused on plotting a course to promote the delivery of more doctors and other health professionals to the bush, and better access to quality health care for rural and remote Australians.

Hosted by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), RMA 2011 will bring together more than 300 doctors, registrars, academics, educators, junior doctors, medical students and other health professionals with an interest in rural and remote health care.

The three day conference will feature influential key speakers from Australia and abroad; a national medico-political forum; and a wide range of clinical training sessions and research presentations.

RDAA President, Dr Paul Mara, said: “This year the focus of our keynote sessions is firmly on securing the future of quality medical care in the bush. We believe this involves having the structures and funding in place for an Australia-wide Rural Generalist training program that would give young doctors the appropriate skills to work as a rural doctor, and a viable career path to follow.”

For more information, including the full program, visit www.acrrm.com.au.

Show Us Your Lungs campaign wants your support

The Australian Lung Foundation is encouraging Australians to start taking their lung health seriously.

The Lung Foundation recently conducted a Newspoll survey which found that while 84 per cent of respondents aged 35 and over rated the health of their lungs as excellent, very good or good, one in three (36 per cent) revealed that they had experienced at least one of the signs of poor lung health.

The Lung Foundation has decided to take action by creating a campaign to draw the nation’s attention to their lungs and encourage people to protect their lung health and to see their GP if they have concerns.

Show Us Your Lungs aims to reach as many households in Australia as possible. The Lung Foundation is keen to work with local councils to spread the word in order to convey this message far and wide. There are several things councils can do to help deliver this important message, including:

Follow the Foundation on Twitter (twitter.com/lungfoundation), like the Foundation on Facebook (facebook.com/australianlungfoundation) and tweet or post on the Foundation’s behalf from social media sites
Work with the Lung Foundation to distribute a joint media release to post on websites and send to local press to promote lung health in various regions
Include information in newsletters and bulletins – the Foundation can provide copy and images
Wear our Show Us Your Lungs badges and/or T-shirts to public events and/or meetings
Email campaign information to staff, members, customers and contacts
Put up posters and brochures
Contact the Foundation if there are local celebrities who may like to get involved
Use any other organisational mediums to spread the word.

To support this campaign, email Bridget Dixon at Bridget@lungfoundation.com.au or call 07 3251 3644 for more information.

National 12 week ‘Swapping’ Challenge

With just 12 weeks to go until the New Year, Australians can be part of a unique national challenge and become a ‘Swapper’ – as part of the Swap It, Don’t Stop It campaign.

A free online 12 week interactive planner to help Australians make changes towards a healthier lifestyle has been developed by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency. Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon is encouraging Australians to go online and join the challenge.

“Twelve weeks will give you time to start making easy, healthier lifestyle choices that will help you get in good shape to start the 2012 New Year,” Minister Roxon said.

“By making the interactive planner available online, people have the tools and tips to make healthy choices – literally at their fingertips. The unique online planner and iPhone app enable people to take the ‘Swap It’ message, personalise it and then put it into action.”

The online 12 week interactive planner features tools to help plan food and activity swaps, including alerts, checklists and a progress report. The activity planner uses GPS technology to identify local facilities such as swimming pools, parks and sporting fields, and includes a shopping list that can be sent directly to your iPhone.

Mobile: 0414 866 605

Mobile: 0414 866 605

Managing across the generations
- An interactive seminar

Maintain employee engagement with the baby boomers
Gen X empowerment to take over the reins
Attracting and retaining the best of Gen Y
Preparing for the arrival of Gen Z's into the workforce

This is a must attend Event for all interested in their own careers
as well as the health of the local government sector

Date: November 9th 2011
Location: 123 Queens street Melbourne City
Time: 9.30pm to 4.30pm (arrive at 9am for 9.30 start.)

Investment:
Standard investment: $560 per person
Your Investment: $500 per person
Multiple bookings from a council: $480 per person

For further information and electronic bookings please visit:
www.trainingrelief.com

Limited spaces are available as it is an interactive seminar. BOOK NOW !

Shire Photographer

If your shire needs a fresh, up to date library of high resolution still images and HD video, David Ireland can achieve the task at a very reasonable rate. David can stay 2 to 3 days and film everything from action activities to historic buildings and local wildlife. David has 35 years experience as a cameraman and only uses the latest professional still and video camera1s. Check out his website www.davidireland.com Email: direland@idx.com.au Mob: 0424 924 220