The days from 27 May to 3 June 2013 mark National Reconciliation Week.  This Week marks two significant events in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the anniversaries of the referendum to count Indigenous people in the census on 27 May 1967 and the landmark Mabo land rights High Court decision on 3 June 1992. This the 17th National Reconciliation Week.

During this Week, events have been held across the country to celebrate the spirit of reconciliation. Local councils have always been a strong supporter of Reconciliation Week and this year’s range of events shows that commitment continues to grow.

Some of the events held included:

• Free screenings of films
• BBQs
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural displays
• Flag-raising ceremonies
• Fundraising morning teas
• Dreamtime story telling

These events were held in capital cities, regional centres and small towns.  This reinforces the importance the community places on this important week and the central role local government continues to play in acknowledging Australia's past and celebrating the future. 

Australia is still the world's happiest nation based on criteria including income, jobs, housing and health, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Despite some signs of a slowing economy, Australia kept the top spot for the third consecutive year, leading Sweden and Canada, the Paris-based group's Better Life Index showed, when each of 11 categories surveyed in 36 nations is given equal weight.

More than 73 per cent of people aged 15 to 64 in Australia have a paid job, above the OECD average of 66 per cent, while life expectancy at birth in Australia is almost 82 years, two years higher than the OECD average, the survey showed.

Australia, the only major developed nation to avoid the 2009 worldwide recession, remains at the top of the OECD index even as the mining boom powering economic growth crests and the government forecasts unemployment will rise to 5.75 per cent by June 2014, from 5.5 per cent last month.

"Australia performs exceptionally well in measures of well-being, as shown by the fact that it ranks among the top countries in a large number of topics in the Better Life Index," the OECD said.

The average household net-adjusted disposable income was $US28,884 a year, well above the OECD average of $US23,047. "Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards," the OECD noted.

But the organisation also pointed out that there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest - the top 20 per cent of the population earn six times as much as the bottom 20 per cent.

The data also showed Australians work fewer hours a year than their OECD peers.  The average Australian works 1693 hours, compared with most people in the OECD who work 1776 hours a year.

Difficult conditions continue to hamper Australia's residential construction industry, which is oversupplied with skilled labour, according to the Housing Industry Association’s Trades Report for the March 2013 quarter.

The report, a quarterly survey of builders and sub-contractors, indicates that a relatively high availability of skilled labour continued into the first quarter of 2013, while developments in trade rates were benign.

The HIA says that while there are signs of recovery in 2013, it is from a very low starting point, and adequate provision of skilled labour will be a crucial ingredient to recovery in the building of new homes.

"A prolonged period of inadequate residential construction activity is not conducive to attracting new skilled labour into the industry, and this may undermine the longer term capacity of the industry to meet recovering demand," says HIA economist Diwa Hopkins. "Improved support now for training will play an important role in mitigating this risk."

The HIA Trade Availability Index eased slightly from +0.22 at the end of 2012 to +0.19 in the March quarter this year, meaning trades are still in moderate oversupply (readings greater than 0.0 indicate oversupply).

One positive message from the figures, says the HIA, is that consumers considering building new homes or renovating should make the most of the fact that skilled trades people are readily available.

Lake Macquarie has weighed into a contentious debate around a proposed fly-in fly-out mining camp in Singleton.

The local council this week voted to call on the NSW Government to stop the approval of temporary worker accommodation villages until better policies are put in place.

The local government body will also ask other Hunter councils to work with the state to amend planning laws and give them greater say in the operation of the camps.

Councillor Chad Griffith says there needs to be a regional approach to the issue.

"Small towns or where there are no towns they build these camps, I accept that's where FIFO should be used," he said.

"But talking about a major regional population in Singleton, there is still a high level of unemployment in Singleton and mines have been laying people off.

"What we're seeing here is mines then wanting to use outside labour from other states, bringing them in.

"What we're saying is that locals should have the first opportunity."

Councillor Griffith says a Singleton camp could eventually impact the hundreds of workers that travel from Lake Macquarie to the mines.

"What we've seen from experiences of other councils is once the camp is built and we're in a downturn of the mining industry, starting to flatten out, as it picks up again, the only form of employment offered is fly in fly out," he said.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has taken his strongest stance yet on forced local government amalgamations, warning the restructuring of some Perth councils will happen "one way or another".

There has been uncertainty about the State Government's plans for forced mergers since 2009, when it introduced voluntary reforms to encourage council amalgamations.

While the government has made no secret of its desire for council reform, it has always stopped short of committing to forced mergers.

Mr Barnett has told the ABC that there will be changes to council structures in parts of Perth.

"There's going to be a reorganisation of local government, one way or the other," he said.

"The State Government is concentrating on Perth, that's where three quarters of the population live, and that program will go ahead."

Mr Barnett also says amalgamation in Perth's western suburbs is inevitable. 

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) says many methods to improve road safety are out of reach for rural councils.

In a submission to Victoria's parliamentary inquiry into serious injury caused by road accidents, the MAV says reducing speed limits and introducing new infrastructure like roundabouts and speed humps are the most effective ways to improve road safety.

However, it says these options are expensive and are not available to many councils, particularly those in rural areas.

The Association says councils believe speed limit enforcement is focused on arterial roads and they would appreciate better support from the State Government to reduce speeding on local roads.

The MAV says many councils face significant challenges when it comes to funding road maintenance and funding for local government road safety is limited.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, this week released the National Strategy for Cloud Computing, which outlines the government's vision for using the cloud to boost innovation and productivity across Australia's digital economy.

"Cloud computing is fundamentally changing the way we think about technology - it allows software and data storage to be delivered online and be consumed as services, on demand, across your computer, tablet and smart phone," Senator Conroy said.

The government's National Strategy for Cloud Computing, released at the CeBIT Conference in Sydney, will ensure that governments, businesses, organisations and consumers have the tools and information they need to adopt cloud services.

The Strategy will:

• Open up the Australian Government's annual $5 billion a year spend on ICT to cloud computing by requiring federal government agencies to consider cloud services for new information technology purchases.
• Promote the benefits of cloud computing to small businesses, not-for-profit organisations and local government.
• Support a vibrant cloud services sector through competition, a highly capable technology workforce, and regulatory settings that promote growth and foster innovation.

"Cloud computing gives us the anywhere, anytime technology that will help Australia to foster innovation and boost productivity.

"Labor's National Broadband Network will revolutionise access to the cloud. The NBN's fast download, and most importantly, upload capacity mean Australians can use applications in the cloud quickly and reliably.

"Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull are planning to borrow $29.5 billion dollars for a broadband plan that doesn't even provide a guaranteed upload speed and won't support Australia's current and future broadband needs.

"Without Labor's NBN, cloud computing cannot reach its full potential in Australia, which would leave us behind the rest of the world."

The National Cloud Computing Strategy is available at: www.dbcde.gov.au/cloud

Information about the National Standing Committee on Cloud Computing is available at: www.globalaccesspartners.org/joint-ventures/nsccc

An updated model that builds on the accuracy of the Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM) three-month outlooks for temperature and rainfall across Australia has been used to develop the latest Seasonal Climate Outlook.

Updated each month, Seasonal Climate Outlooks provide a key service to many Australian sectors that need to look at the season ahead for their planning, such as the resources, agriculture and rural sectors, as well as emergency managers. 

Manager of Climate Prediction Services at the BoM, Andrew Watkins said the Seasonal Climate Outlook was now based on a dynamical climate model, which combined the physics of the atmosphere, oceans, land and ice to calculate the likely climate conditions across Australia over the next three months. 

"Previously the Seasonal Climate Outlook used a statistical climate model, which uses past history as a guide to the future climate outlook," Dr Watkins said. 

"The new dynamical climate model is not limited to assumptions of how climate behaved in the past, and can better handle extremes.

"Testing carried out has already shown some improvements in the accuracy of the new dynamical model over the traditional statistical model.

"The transition to dynamical modelling is part of the Bureau's process of continuous, incremental improvement in all of its weather and climate modelling systems."

NSW is one step closer to having community-owned wind and solar farms following funding announced this week by Environment Minister Robyn Parker.

Ms Parker said that nine community groups across the state have been awarded a total of $411,000 to set up projects that will generate clean energy jobs, return profits to local communities and provide environmental benefits.

"The seven solar and two wind farm projects are located across the state and showcase innovation, leadership and commitment to renewable energy," Ms Parker said.

"One of the biggest barriers facing groups setting up a community-owned renewable energy project is a lack of finance for planning and feasibility studies.

"The NSW Government’s investment means that these community groups can develop their ideas for projects that will help to make their communities more environmentally sustainable and energy self-sufficient.

"Funding these projects will help NSW reach the goal of sourcing 20 per cent of our electricity from renewable resources by 2020."

Ms Parker announced the funding at the launch of the Clean Energy Council's community engagement guidelines.

"Community support is important to the success of any major project. Communityowned and developed projects offer clear lessons for the renewable energy industry."

One of the projects to receive funding, Switched On Solar, will use their $50,000 to research the best way to turn the de-commissioned solar power station at White Cliffs into a modern community asset.

In planning for the challenges and opportunities presented by an ageing population, the Australian Capital Territory's Office for Ageing is hosting the first Australian Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Conference.   Coming of Age - Challenges and Opportunities for Communities in Australia will be held at the Ann Harding Centre, University of Canberra, on 9 October 2013.  All Australian local governments are invited to attend and speak.

As a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, the City of Canberra wishes to establish links with other Australian municipalities that have joined this Network, and with all local governments interested in advancing their age-friendliness.

The Conference will be an opportunity to share initiatives and innovations with local government colleagues on the work being done around the country with regard to infrastructure, community programs and age-friendly tourism.  The focus will be on work that promotes and supports positive ageing and the maintenance of physical and mental wellbeing.  This work may include partnerships with community organisations and the business sector, and retirees are presented with meaningful community volunteering opportunities.

Approximately 100 places will be available for local government representatives. The conference program will be chiefly made up of topic-specific sessions based on the key issues reported by local governments. There will also be an interactive question/discussion panel after each session to ensure that all representatives will have an opportunity to ask speakers to expand on, or clarify, issues that may be of specific interest.

The conference will also be used to inform the Australian Capital Territory's next Older Persons Assembly through the invitation of some local Canberra seniors and community organisations.

The registration fee is $50.  If your council would like to attend this conference, please contact Gerry McKeon, ACT Office for Ageing, before Wednesday 31 July 2013, at gerry.mckeon@act.gov.au or call him on (02) 6205 0749.

Councils that have already submitted an expression of interest will automatically be sent a request to confirm their registration in June.

The Office for Ageing plans to update delegates on the program late June and August 2013.

For information on the work of the Office for Ageing go to www.ageing.act.gov.au.