ALGA Board member, Paul Bell is stepping down as the President of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ).

Mr Bell has represented the LGAQ on the ALGA Board since 2000 and has held the position of LGAQ President for eight years.  He has also served two terms as President of ALGA.

A new leader will be elected at the LGAQ's annual conference next month but Cr Bell will continue his role on the ALGA Board.

He says his retirement from the LGAQ Presidency will allow him to focus on the Central Highlands Regional Council, which is facing pressures from the coal and gas industries.

Mr Bell says the introduction of local government amalgamations was a difficult period.

"In 2004 when I started there was 154 local governments, there are now 73," he said.

"We were always pushing to reform and to move local government into a different size and shape.

"Probably not happy with the process, but certainly what we've got now is something that communities need to work with and to get in and make work."

Meanwhile, Fraser Coast Mayor Gerard O'Connell and Brisbane Councillor Margaret de Wit have nominated for the president's job.

An agreement was signed at Whyalla, committing the three levels of government to working together on promotion of the upper Spencer Gulf region.

The Federal Minister for Regional Australia, Simon Crean, and president of the Local Government Association of South Australia Kym McHugh were in attendance.

Mr McHugh says it is the first such agreement in South Australia, but others are likely to follow for more regions.

He says an example of why it is needed is the mining development of the region.

"It's a bit ad hoc up to this point I think the way we work together," he said.

"Sometimes we see mining companies going alone without talking to local government, other times we see the state and mining companies working together - there's a real need to co-ordinate.

"The upper Spencer Gulf region has great potential - there's a lot of mining in the pipeline, they're also growing agriculturally and for tourism."

The Civil Contractors Federation says economic zones need to be introduced across South Australia to boost private sector investment.

It is urging incentives such as payroll tax exemptions, subsidies and guarantees.

Earlier this week Treasurer Wayne Swan released a Budget update, showing that the deficit projected for 2011-12 was going to be almost $700 million lower than expected. On the surface that should suggest that the Government's $1.5 billion surplus projected for 2012-13 would be a lot easier to achieve than it appeared earlier in the year.  However, the Budget is facing considerable pressure from continued revenue write-downs.

It is estimated the almost $20 billion in revenues will be lost from the bottom line since the Budget was handed down in May.  This is a combination of the continued strength of the Australian dollar and the slow-down in demand for Australian resources in China, as well as instability across the world. 

The Treasurer has stated that the 2012-13 Budget surplus will be achieved and will be looking into further savings in order to ensure it happens. 

However, international credit agency Standard & Poors argues that it is not necessary for Australia to return to surplus this financial year and sees the Australian economic outlook as being strong enough to manage an additional deficit year. 

North Queensland is pushing for its own economic zone but the move is not being framed as a push for autonomy or a separate state.

Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton will unite north of the Tropic of Capricorn under a new economic cooperation plan being considered by state and federal governments.

Mayors, business leaders and officials from the four regions are leading the campaign.  They met with Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean earlier this month to discuss the proposal.

Under the plan, the four regions would lobby governments and foreign investors as a bloc, demanding more big-ticket investment in transport, roads, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and energy.

Local Government Association of Queensland President Paul Bell said the regions would also work as one to cut red tape:  "It will collectively exert a far greater amount of political power and influence on Brisbane and Canberra," Cr Bell said.

"They will be able to deal with half of Queensland as one group and in one hit. We will be getting the strengths of the region to full potential, rather than waiting for what falls off the back of a truck out of Brisbane."

North Queensland federal MP Bob Katter said he supported taking the next step to autonomy:
"Up north contains all the state's iron ore, base metals and water," he said.

"And yet we have no control over our destiny. We sit up there, watch Campbell Newman take all our money to build tunnels, whirligigs, and pleasure-domes, and shake our heads."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the September Australian Social Trends which revealed Australian households are using 25 per cent more electricity and 22 per cent more gas, than they were ten years ago.

The Australian Social Trends is released quarterly and draws on a range of data to present a picture of Australian society.  It covers social issues of current and ongoing concern, population groups of interest, and changes over time.

ABS Director of Social and Progress Reporting Sue Taylor said: “Households generally account for a quarter of Australia’s overall energy consumption, with industry responsible for the remainder."

“We found that the types of energy most commonly used by households were petrol and electricity, followed by natural gas," she said.

The ABS found that cost price and energy star rating were almost equally important to householders when they were purchasing new appliances.

The publication shows that in 2011 around 1.1 million students were enrolled in higher education with over half of the students being women (57 per cent).

An additional 1.9 million students were undertaking Vocational Education and Training with slightly more men (52 per cent) than women (48 per cent) enrolled. 

Australia's Net Overseas Migration has reached its highest point in two years, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

The net overseas migration estimate for the year ending 31 March 2012 was 197,200 people - 18 per cent higher than that for March 2011 (166,800 people), when net overseas migration reached a four year low.

Australia's population increased by 331,200 people to reach 22.6 million people with a growth rate of 1.5 per cent.  Net overseas migration accounted for 57 per cent of growth, with the remaining 43 per cent due to natural increase (births minus deaths). 

There were 295,400 births registered in the year ending March 2012, 1.2 per cent more than the previous year.  The number of deaths registered over the same period was 145,800, 0.5 per cent less than the previous year.

Western Australia continues to have the fastest growing population in the country, increasing by 3.1 per cent (73,300 people).

The Queensland Government announced it was extending the life of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), because only about two-thirds of the State's multi-billion-dollar rebuild has been completed.

The reconstruction effort was due to wrap up by February next year, but the Queensland Government says the job is not done.

Over the past three years cyclones and floods have destroyed road networks and flattened buildings across Queensland.

They have been some of the worst natural disasters in Australian history and the QRA has a $12 billion budget to make repairs.

The Federal Government is funding 75 per cent of the rebuilding effort and the Queensland Government is providing the rest.

However, the State Government has accused the QRA of being too slow.

Cassowary Coast Mayor Bill Shannon says natural disasters are a permanent part of life in some regions and the QRA may be needed beyond 2014.

"It'd be good if it didn't get completely disbanded," he said.

"My own personal view is that it should be shrunk down and perhaps embedded within another Government department, so that it can be ramped up again in the event of there being a major cyclone or a major disaster or series of disasters."

The 2012 ALGWA National Conference Organising Committee has been hard to put together an exciting program of speakers and workshops for the ALGWA National Conference being held in Ipswich, Queensland,  8- 10 November.

With Ms Thérèse Rein, founder & Managing Director - Ingeus, Hon Margaret Reynolds Chair, Australian Centre of Excellence in Local Government, Mayor Lynette De Santis Tiwi Island, Tim Eltham, Strategic Community Planner and many more, the ALGWA conference is a "must do" for all women and men  in Local Government - whether elected officials or Council staff.

To register for the conference please go to http://www.discoveripswich.com.au/pages/2012-algwa-national-conference/

To view a copy of the draft program click here.

The 2012 Local Government Association of South Australia’s Conference and Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 October at the Westpac Centre, AAMI Stadium, West Lakes.

Vibrant Communities is the theme of this two day conference and the program will include a high calibre of speakers commencing with internationally renowned futurist, Tim Longhurst.

A panel, led by Steven Trigg, Adelaide Crows CEO, will focus on the tension between expenditure on elite sport and community sport and recreation.  The program will also feature a Local Government Research and Development Scheme Expo, and a humorous debate.  Thursday will conclude with a light-hearted and entertaining networking dinner.

Friday starts with a breakfast focusing on an anti-corruption approach to procurement.  This will be followed by a presentation from the Hon Greg Crafter OAM, Chair of the Local Excellence Panel and then the LGA AGM.

For information on the event and to register online, click here.

The National Co-operatives Conference to be held at The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie, 24-25 October, offers a rare opportunity to hear  from more than 50 national and international business leaders about how co-operatives and mutuals businesses can play an expanding role in local economic development.

The event offers skills development opportunities for those working in regional and local economic planning and stimulus programs, community services and social enterprises.

Recent trends in co-operative ventures have seen co-operatives emerging as a way of value adding to domestic product including wholesale food co-operatives, growers' markets and Indigenous arts businesses.  Co-operative ventures are emerging in new areas including renewable energy and health services and may be a way of mitigating the large set-up costs of these new ventures.

The issue of devolving a greater part of public service delivery to communities and end-users is a key theme.  The role that co-operatives can play in a budgetary constrained environment will also be examined, particularly the areas of housing, health, aged care, education, renewable energy and food distribution networks.

How co-operatives can drive job creation, secure the transfer of community assets into the hands of locals, and prevent population and economic decline in regional centres will be debated and discussed over a packed two-day program: see www.iycconference.com.au