 | |  ALGA President Felicity-ann Lewis this week met with Local Government Minister Catherine King to discuss the referendum to include local government in the Constitution, which is expected to be held in conjunction with the 2013 federal election. Although the Federal Government is yet to announce a date for the federal election, Minister King has reassured the local government sector that the Federal Government is committed to holding a referendum. The referendum will provide Australians with the opportunity to vote to secure direct federal funding for vital community projects - like road and bridge upgrades and other important infrastructure improvements. Recent high court rulings have threatened the way many local government projects are funded. This means that funding for important community facilities like roads, libraries, sports grounds, recycling stations, child care facilities, community centres and parks may be withdrawn. To ensure direct federal funding for community projects continues, the local government sector is encouraging people to vote YES for communities on election day. The national YES campaign is well underway and councils across the country are playing a key role. The local media campaign for a YES vote is intended to be driven by local councils and is essential to garnering awareness and support. It's the local projects and initiatives that will resonate best within each community and it’s up to local councils to drive and create this awareness. The most effective advocacy comes from those people can relate to - that's why it’s not just the Mayors and councillors who will give this campaign real impact but members of each local community who benefit every day from the ongoing support of the local council. For more information, visit the campaign website: www.thefactssayyes.com.au | | | | |  This year marks the fifth anniversary of a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement adopted in 2008 to focus national action on issues of Indigenous disadvantage, leading to the implementation of a national strategy known as "Closing the Gap". At the time of the agreement, evidence confirmed that in areas of life expectancy, education outcomes, employment prospects, infant mortality and literacy, Indigenous Australians were falling behind non-Indigenous Australians. In order to make sure there is a clear structure for these activities, there are five 'building blocks' including: - Early Childhood;
- Schooling;
- Health;
- Economic Participation;
- Healthy Homes;
- Safe Communities; and
- Governance and Leadership.
Each 'block' has a series of milestones to achieve. While the intergovernmental agreement that established 'Closing the Gap' does not contain a five-year review period, it still is important to see what progress has been made in order to best focus future activity. ALGA will be participating in a workshop to assess work undertaken against these building blocks, what progress has been made and what lies ahead. It is important for local government to have a voice at these events and highlight the invaluable role local government plays in service delivery, community cohesion and facilitation with other levels of government. | | | | |  According to the Australian Electoral Commission, 1.4 million people are not enrolled to vote and more than 500,000 of them are aged 18-24. The AEC warned that declining enrolments, particularly among young people, would start to raise questions about the legitimacy of election results. As of June 30, one in five people aged 18-24 were not registered to vote and only half of all 18-year-olds were enrolled and two-thirds of 19-year-olds. Of all people not enrolled to vote, 70 per cent were 18-39. "The AEC views declining enrolment participation rates as the most serious threat to Australia's democratic model," the AEC said. The AEC said one of the reasons for declining enrolments was the evolution of a more mobile culture among the young which had led to people moving a lot and forgetting to register changes of address. To address the shortfall, the AEC is going directly to sports fans at stadiums in every Australian capital city as part of a nationwide effort to help find the 1.4 million eligible Australians missing from the electoral roll. AEC teams will be at events such as the AFL, NRL, Super Rugby and the V8 Supercars encouraging fans to check their enrolment online. This year's federal election is extremely important to ALGA, as the referendum to include local government in the Constitution is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the 2013 election. Voting YES will simply mean that the Constitution will recognise that local and Commonwealth governments should keep working together to deliver important services for local communities. | | |
| |  I am delighted to be in Hobart this week, where I will be addressing the Local Government Association of Tasmania's (LGAT) Annual Conference on the issue of constitutional recognition of local government and the referendum to include local government in the Constitution. Today I will be talking about the national referendum campaign and what councils can do to win the YES campaign in their local communities. At the heart of our campaign are THE FACTS. Our research has shown that when presented with the facts, simply and without spin, voters quickly understand the need for this important constitutional change. But the majority of Australians still don't know there is going to be a referendum, are still unsure of the facts and undecided about how they will vote. It is our job to get voters to sit up and take notice of the referendum campaign, share the facts about why it is critical that they vote YES and encourage them to pass on our messaging and get involved on polling day. Until the Federal Government announces the date of the federal election, we will not know the date of the referendum. But the Australian Government has given every indication that the referendum will proceed and the Parliament has determined that the referendum will go ahead. We only have to look at the number of Members and Senators who voted for the referendum on the floor of Parliament for confirmation of the overwhelming level of support for the referendum. The Constitution Alteration Bill passed the House of Representatives with 133 members voting yes and only two members voting against. In the Senate, the Bill passed with a vote of 46 to 8. This means that 94 per cent of those parliamentarians who voted on the bill supported it, including a majority of the Government, the Opposition the Greens and the independents. We know that achieving constitutional change will not be easy but of course this is nothing that the local government sector cannot manage! One only needs to look at how far we have come on the journey towards a referendum to know that we are capable of success, regardless of the circumstances. It is imperative that we get THE FACTS out there and share with Australia what we already know - that local governments are a critical part of every community, and without federal funding, the local infrastructure and services that we enjoy are under threat. The message we need to spread is a simple one: A YES vote in the upcoming referendum is a vote for our community.
Mayor Felicity-ann Lewis
ALGA President | | |
| | Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi has been appointed as the new Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) and took up her post on 1 July 2013. With fifteen years experience in urban development and related fields, she has a strong portfolio of experience in local governance and development goals as well as capacity building for local governments. "I hope UCLG ASPAC can produce many tangible results especially in its advocacy efforts in which local governments are the most effective players in bringing changes to their citizens and the community," said Tjandradewi. "During my term, I plan to enhance our cooperation with the regional associations, ASEAN, SAARC and UNESCAP, as well as with many other prominent institutions to create more prosperity and happiness in the Asia Pacific region." Tjandradewi received her Masters degree in Atmospheric Physics from Nagoya University, Japan, a second Masters degree in Public Policy from National University of Singapore, and a Ph.D in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. UCLG ASPAC's Ambassador Peter Woods has been assisting in the transitional period and said: "Bernadia exudes professionalism and hard work. We look forward to the further development of the organisation under her wise counsel and trust she will be a positive inspiration for women within our region." | | | | | A national survey of young first-time voters to ask about the issues that are important to them when they vote is now available, Youth Minister Kate Ellis has announced. The Federal Government is providing $150,000 to the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) to run a range of activities to engage young Australians in the election process, including a first-of-its-kind survey to provide insight into their top 10 issues. "I strongly urge any young Australian who is thinking of not voting at the forthcoming federal election to check out this project on the AYAC's website and to find out how they can make Australian politics work for them," Ms Ellis said. To access the survey, click here. | | | | | New national guidelines will help emergency managers and emergency service personnel better communicate with Australians with disability. Communicating with People with Disability: National Guidelines for Emergency Managers has been published as part of the Australian Emergency Management Handbook and Manual Series. "More than four million Australians are reported as having disability and these guidelines show how important effective planning, resources and technologies can be during emergencies and in a crisis," Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General Shayne Neumann said. "These guidelines will help emergency managers and organisations who support our communities to make sure emergency messaging is effective and clear." The guidelines include recommended communication methods and resources and incorporate the emergency management principles of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The guidelines were developed by the Attorney-General's Department in collaboration with Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, Australian Communications Exchange, Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies, emergency service agencies and other key stakeholders, in response to the National Forum on Emergency Warnings to the Community. The guidelines align with a key tenet of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience, which requires risk messaging to be tailored to meet the needs of diverse communities. They also recognise the Australian Government’s commitment to the National Disability Agreement, the National Disability Strategy and the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A copy of the guidelines is available at www.em.gov.au | | | | | The City of Sydney has unveiled a multimillion dollar plan to make it the public toilet capital of Australia. A survey conducted by the council last year revealed that many people found it difficult to locate public toilets and that more were needed. The city has responded with an $8.3 million draft strategy that aims to have a toilet available every 400 metres. Among the proposals are for more frequent cleaning, upgrading existing facilities that are rundown and encouraging businesses to give the public access to their toilets. In addition, another 15 new public toilets will be installed in the city's streets and parks. The council's director of city operations, Garry Harding, says pop-up urinals are also part of the strategy. "We have got portable urinals that we're using on the weekends now in Kings Cross and that's been very successful, but in some of those other precincts we are looking at pop up urinals," he said. "They do exist in some parts of Europe. I'm not aware of any in Australia but that's something we've got to do some more work on." | | | | | Children from affluent families are almost twice as likely to play sport at the weekend, while those from poorer families miss out and also get less physical activity each day. The research by South Australian academic, Carol Maher, showed children from low-income families got about 25 minutes less physical activity a day compared with children from better-off families. Dr Maher said results had shown factors such as club fees, supervision and uniforms were stifling access to sport opportunities for poorer children outside of school. | | | | | Newcastle Council is hoping to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders working at the organisation with a new employment strategy. The plan aims to redress employment disadvantage for Aboriginal people and boost employment numbers within council over the next five years. A dedicated employment portal will be set up on the council's website and positions will be targeted to Aboriginal people. City engagement director Martin Coates says working with the local Aboriginal community council has boosted awareness that the number of Aboriginals within the organisation is too low. "We're only aware of obviously of the people who've voluntarily told us, we believe it's something in the order of around 1.5 per cent of council's workforce and we'd like to bump that up," he said. "Our initial target would be to get it to 2.6 per cent which is the state government's commitment and go beyond if possible." Mr Coates says council has identified several ways to boost the number of Aboriginal people employed within the organisation. "It's about actually establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island recruitment portal off our website," he said. "It's about identifying some positions that we would target as Aboriginal positions, so if we could get Aboriginal people into those roles that would be our aim. "It's about identifying two of our apprenticeships next year being targeted at Aboriginal people as well." | | | | | The WA Local Government Minister Tony Simpson says he is confident the government has "got it right" with its decision on council amalgamations. The decision will be announced by mid-next week. Some council mayors and CEOs have criticised the government, saying it has taking too long to announce where the new boundaries will fall. But Mr Simpson says the government has to make sure everything is finalised before details of the plan are released. "I do apologise for that, but it's a long process to get through," he said. "So we have got to make sure we get through all the right checks and measures in place before we get to that point." | | | | | Families and businesses in Wollongong will be able to speak face-to-face with Council from their living room or office, thanks to a new online community engagement project to be delivered via the Rudd Government’s National Broadband Network. Wollongong City Council will receive $374,342 in Rudd Government funding to deliver this initiative, with Council contributing around $774,000. Minister for Regional Communications, Sharon Bird, announced the project which is funded as part of the Rudd Government’s Digital Local Government program. "This means residents can interact with Wollongong Council's customer services from one of seven local libraries, as well as their home or business via videoconferencing," Ms Bird said. "All of this is only possible with high speed broadband delivered by the NBN, which is already showing that it has the capacity to revolutionise the way local governments provide services. "Ultimately, this means better, more accessible and more convenient services, delivered more efficiently and with less hassle." Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery OAM threw his support behind the program. "This project will deliver a range of enhanced online services and will enable community members to interact more easily with Council's customer service staff saving time and money for both the Council and our customers," Mr Bradbery said. For more details on the Digital Local Government program visit www.dbcde.gov.au/digitallocalgov | | | | | Motor cycle registrations grew at a faster rate than any other type of vehicle over the past five years, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). "From 2008 to 2013, motor cycle registrations - including scooters - went up by over 30 per cent", said Sybille McKeown, ABS Director of Transport Statistics, "while cars only saw an increase of 10 per cent." "WA's riders literally got on their bikes when it came to motor cycle numbers, with bike registrations in that state growing nearly 50 per cent in five years." In 2013 alone, motor cycle registrations went up by five per cent nationally. "There are now about three-quarters of a million motor cycles on the road, and just on 13 million cars. Once you add in trucks, campervans, buses and so on, there are over 17 million registered motor vehicles in Australia; up nearly three per cent since last year." said Ms McKeown. Diesel numbers have been increasing too; diesel vehicles increased by 61 per cent between 2008 and 2013 and diesel passenger vehicle numbers have more than doubled. Diesel powered vehicles now make up nearly eight per cent of the passenger fleet, while the petrol passenger vehicle proportion of the fleet has fallen four percentage points in the past five years. For further information see Motor Vehicle Census (cat. no 9309.0), available for free download from the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au). | | | | | 2013 marks 50 years since the signing of the sister city relationship between Yamatotakada in Nara prefecture and Lismore in NSW. Established in 1963, this is the very first sister city link between Japan and Australia. There are now 108 sister city and state relationships between Japan and Australia. These sister cities and states are actively engaged in cultural exchange activities. At this year’s CLAIR Forum, the focus will be on the history of sister cities and the development of sister cities in the future. 2013 has also been designated as 'The Year of Australia-Japan Partner for Tourism Exchange' and as such work will be done to publicise tourism for Japanese local governments. ACELG and Program Partner the UTS Centre for Local Government (UTS:CLG) and the Consulate-General of Japan, Sydney, are co-sponsoring the 2013 Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR) Forum to be held at the Westin Sydney Heritage Ballroom in Sydney, Monday 5 August between 1.30 and 6.30pm. | | |
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