The Hon James Spigelman AC QC, who recently served as Chair of the Australian Government’s Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government, will be the new Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

With more than 40 years of service to the legal profession, Mr Spigelman brings a wealth of experience in the arts and culture, and will build on the work of the previous Chair, Maurice Newman AC, to ensure that the ABC remains at the forefront of the media in Australia.

His previous achievements include:

• Chair of the Government's Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government (2011);
• President of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (1995-1998);
• Member of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia (1995-1998); and
• Chairman of the Film Finance Corporation (1990-1992).

Mr Spigelman’s appointment has been made under the Government's merit-based appointment process for the ABC and SBS boards. The position was widely advertised and assessment and short-listing carried out by the independent Nomination Panel chaired by Mr Ric Smith AO PSM.

Councils are being asked to partner with one of Australia’s largest youth-run organisations: Repower Australia.

Repower Australia is bringing young people together to hold social fundraising events to help raise money for community venues to reduce their emissions through enhanced methods of energy efficiency.

 Venues being repowered by young people include local schools, cafes, supermarkets and community centres.  Already, students in Perth have got solar panels on their school roof, a group in Brisbane repowered their local bowls club and a group in Canberra raised $14,000 to make their local IGA more energy efficient. 

To become a partner, contact the Australian Youth Climate Association’s Campaign Manager, Kristy Albion at kristy@aycc.org.au.

More than 700 people from a range of government, community and private sector organisations have attended a series of information sessions held across the country to explain the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency’s Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP) and Low Income Energy Efficiency Program (LIEEP).

The roadshows, which wound up last Friday, attracted people from non-profit organisations, city councils, local clubs, community organisations, environmental groups, state governments, and both traditional and renewable energy companies.

Designed to explain the programs to funding recipients, roadshows were held throughout February in Perth, Hobart, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

The information sessions have been packaged into webinars and are now available on Clean Energy Future's YouTube channel.  They represent the Department's commitment to helping Australians become smarter with energy use.

The Victorian Government has rolled out a $3.5 million package that will aim to assist rural landfill operators transition to best practice standards.

The package consists of a $3 million funding program, Transition Support to Improve Rural Landfill Infrastructure, and $500,000 for the Environment Protection Authority Victoria to undertake a financial and environmental risk assessment of rural landfills.

Landfill operators can apply for one-off funding of up to $250,000 per site to cover the costs of protective geomembranes - the material used to line landfill sites to prevent leaks – and associated testing, installation and auditing of the lining.

The EPA will work closely with local governments and communities to better explain the environmental imperative to meet best practice landfill management requirements.

The $3m Transition Support to Improve Rural Landfill Infrastructure program will be administered by Sustainability Victoria. For more information on the application process, visit www.sustainability.vic.gov.au or call 1300 363 744.

 For more information on the waste policy review, visit www.dse.vic.gov.au/waste

NSW Local Government Minister, Don Page has announced that the NSW Government will seek to introduce legislation to ensure that a person can only serve in one elected position in either state Parliament or on a council.

Mr Page said the proposed legislation would bring NSW into line with other states including Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, where it is already prohibited to serve concurrently as a State MP and a councillor.

“This proposed legislation would ensure that one person would serve in one elected position in state or local government, dedicating their time and effort to one clear role in the NSW political system,” Mr Page said.

“The Bill ensures that state MPs are full-time Members of Parliament and representatives of the constituents in their electorates.  Being in state Parliament while council is meeting at the same time clearly means that ratepayers are not getting full value from their councillor and, similarly, if a councillor is absent from state Parliament because of council business, then that is not fair on the MP’s constituents. The NSW Government believes it is appropriate that state MPs should be devoting themselves entirely to being MPs.

Mr Page said the Bill would make it easier to determine the difference between local and state government responsibilities, further increasing the independence of councils, and honouring a NSW Government commitment to de-centralise decision making and give greater power to local councils. 

The NSW Attorney General, Greg Smith SC, has announced $800,000 in funding to help councils in Sydney, the Hunter region, the Central Coast and the South Coast to combat graffiti.

The seven councils selected for this year’s Graffiti Hotspot program are Bankstown, Leichhardt, Liverpool, Marrickville, Maitland, Shoalhaven and Wyong.

“Using Crime Prevention through Environmental Design techniques, the Graffiti Hotspot program will make vulnerable public areas safer, more attractive to the community and more resistant to graffiti,” Mr Smith said.

While each program will be tailored to meet the challenges of the local community, the anti-graffiti techniques used may include:

• Green Screening – using landscaping to act as a natural barrier to protect walls from graffiti;
• surface treatments – applying an anti-graffiti coating to walls to facilitate the fast removal of spray paint;
• signs to encourage the community to respect community facilities; and
• the installation of community-based art.

Mr Smith said members of the community would also play a key role in reducing graffiti.

“With the support of local councils, the government will also hold its annual day for community action against graffiti.

“I encourage the community to report graffiti to the government’s new Graffiti Hotline on 1800 707 125,” Mr Smith said.

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is holding an international conference on crime prevention and communities at the Sydney Convention Centre on 4 and 5 June 2012.

Speakers – Australian and International – will discuss social and environmental projects and programs; urban and community planning and safety; crime prevention and safety in indigenous communities; and the design development, implementation and evaluation of crime prevention programs.  A call for abstracts is now open.

Speakers include, Mark Burgess, CEO of the Police Federation of Australia (PFA), who will speak on the development of a national crime prevention program.  He is responsible for the coordination of national issues across the eight state, territory and federal police associations/unions on behalf of their 56,000 members. 

While crime prevention is a growing field within the disciplines of criminology, urban planning, sociology and evaluation, practitioners in these areas would benefit in exploring the following themes:

• How local government, policing and not for profit sector practitioners plan, build and sustain crime prevention projects
• The exchange of knowledge and skills development – including using research in practice and learning from the experience of others
• How project designers and local communities measure effectiveness – including designing, implementing, interpreting and applying the results of performance measurement and evaluation work
• Ensuring maximum benefit from working in partnerships and collaborative arrangements – including leading and participating in complex projects

Further information and registration details at: www.aic.gov.au or email events@aic.gov.au

The CSIRO has developed a website that will enable coastal councils and developers to find research at a national level, and then focus on regional and local research projects.

 CSIRO committed to creating the Coastal Research Webportal at last year's Australian Coastal Councils Conference, when it was realised local councils had a low awareness of the range of coastal research available.

 Dr Andy Steven, from CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship said, "By creating a central webportal to access the latest research data, decision makers will be able to better evaluate proposals for their communities."

 "The website will also allow scientists and decision makers to investigate possible collaborations, to promote scientific research, and to identify any research gaps,” Dr Steven said.

The webportal, which uses a Google Maps interface, was developed in cooperation with TERN – the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, which will now manage the website.

 The webportal can be found at: http://coastalresearch.csiro.au/

Councils are being encouraged to get behind a national campaign being waged by Cancer Council Australia to have the federal Government apply greater recognition to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the 2012-13 Federal Budget.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer affecting men and women in Australia after non-melanoma skin cancer, with more than 14,000 people diagnosed each year.

Ten Australians die of bowel cancer every day; 70 every week.  But the Cancer Council believes that up to a third of those deaths could be prevented if the National Bowel Screening Program was available to the recommended target group – everyone aged 50 and over, every two years.

Currently, the free home test provided by the program is only available to people turning 50, 55 and 65 as a one-off test. 

To get involved in the Cancer Council’s campaign to have the Government expand the Screening Program, go to www.getbehindbowelscreening.com.au and click on the “Support the Campaign” tab.

For more information regarding the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, call 1800 118 868 or visit www.cancerscreening.gov.au

The Second National Settlement Conference ‘Creating our Future’ will be held from 27 June at the Adelaide Festival Centre, bringing together the settlement sector, communities, service groups, academics and other interested organisations and individuals to build on current settlement knowledge, practice and community participation within a multicultural society.