 | |  Leader of the National Party, Warren Truss has announced that a national Coalition Government would dedicate $200 million a year to building local infrastructure in regional areas. Under a Coalition Government, the National Stronger Regions Fund would be established with the aim to boost regional economies and populations. As part of the initiative, annual funding of $200 million would be targeted at regions where unemployment is high and socio-economic standards are low. "The National Stronger Regions Fund will help communities with poor socio-economic circumstances and higher than average unemployment, by improving local facilities, creating local jobs and building needed infrastructure," Mr Truss said. "This federal fund is long overdue and is recognition that when our regions are strong, so is our country." From 2015, councils and community groups will be able to apply for grants between $20,000 and $10 million, to meet half the cost of community building projects. Disadvantaged regions with a higher than average unemployment rate will receive priority for funds. "We will work with local communities by backing successful projects and contributing up to 50 per cent of the funds needed to construct them," Mr Truss said. "The remaining funds for the projects will come from local government, state governments, the community and the private sector." Annual funding of $200 million will support projects with the highest community benefit and value for money. Applications will need to set out how the project is: - meeting an identified and pressing community need;
- improving community connections;
- supported broadly within the community;
- representing value for money investment;
- managed and delivered within the organisation’s or the communities resources; and
- leveraging funding from additional sources including state governments, local councils and local businesses.
The programme will be subject to the current Commonwealth Grant Guidelines. The Stronger Regions Fund would replace the Regional Development Australia Fund, which is administered by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport, and funds capital infrastructure projects which are identified as priorities by local communities. Mr Truss also highlighted the National Party's Bridge to Renewal Program, which would receive $300 million a year to spend on fixing bridges across the country | | | | |  ALGA President, Felicity-ann Lewis has this week written to Mayors, Councillors and local government CEOs across the country to personally invite them to attend the 2013 National Local Roads and Transport Congress to be held in Alice Springs from 12-14 November. Given that the Congress will be held soon after the 2013 federal election, it is important that local government stakeholders present a united front when dealing with the new Government on road and transport issues. The Congress will focus on the state of local government roads, which make up more than 80 per cent of the national road system. A highlight of the Congress will be the release of the State of Local Road Assets Report, which is intended to measure the standard of community roads and infrastructure and give a clearer picture of the state of their condition, functionality and utilisation. The Report will provide a technical basis for continued advocacy for increased government funding for local roads into the future. The Congress will also have a strong focus on heavy vehicle reforms and their implications for councils. The program features updates and workshops from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and the national Heavy Vehicle Charging and Investment Board, both of which have immediate and significant implications for local government. To register, or access the program, click here. | | | | |  The final two weeks of a federal election campaign generally involve grand announcements. But in the current economic climate, with political parties focused on savings, the public is seeing a large amount of small funding promises. Health was highlighted this week, however from different perspectives. The Government announced $40 million for the development of the Palmerston Hospital in the Northern Territory, a funding pledge that was matched by the Coalition. The Coalition's major announcement on this front was a $200 million package for dementia care and changes to existing health programs worth nearly $450 million. The Coalition outlined a $300 million policy to re-instate the Howard Government's Green-Corps, which has the young unemployed working on environmental improvement projects. This week's largest announcement from the Government was in relation to the long-considered East-Coast High Speed Rail link from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra, with $52 million being set aside to ensure that the land corridor required will be protected from development. In relation to local government, the Coalition announced that it would reinstate funding for the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) at Griffith University in Brisbane. As referred to in our lead story, the Coalition also announced that a Coalition Government would dedicate $200 million a year to building local infrastructure in regional areas. Nationals Leader Warren Truss said: "The National Stronger Regions Fund will help communities with poor socio-economic circumstances and higher than average unemployment, by improving local facilities, creating local jobs and building needed infrastructure." | | |
| |  Next week I will be participating in the Municipal Association of Victoria's (MAV) Governance as Leadership in Local Government Conference, where I will join panellists to debate a range of issues central to the theme of the Conference: whether the governance model most common in Victoria is still working. The Conference will feature three highly experienced keynote speakers, who will interact with the panel in discussing issues such as the current electoral system; the role of councillors and their relationship with CEOs; council meetings; regulatory reforms; participative democracy; and challenges of the future in areas of change, transformation and sustainability. As the Mayor of the City of Marion, I have a lot of practical experience to draw on but as the President of ALGA, I will be commenting on the general issue of local government as a regulator. ALGA continues to work closely at the COAG level with other spheres of government to examine ways in which regulation involving local government, such as planning, building and development, can be improved and these areas were the subject of two major Productivity Commission reports in 2011 and 2012. Local government is in a unique position to help shape our built and natural environments to reflect the aspirations of local and regional communities. In this context, it is important to ensure that local government continues to have the capacity, through adequate resourcing and appropriate regulation, to meet community expectations. The key message of the Productivity Commission reports has been that councils are often not resourced properly for the regulatory task which state law requires them to fulfil. Similarly, the Productivity Commission has concluded that confusion in the regulatory scheme for planning and development can undermine good outcomes for the community. The planning and development regulations adhered to by councils are generally enacted by the state, territory and Commonwealth governments. But local governments are central to the planning process at the local level and play a critical role in achieving sustainable and resilient environments. Any evaluation of regulation must therefore consider the outcomes for communities. I look forward to building on these messages at next week's Conference, which is aimed at councillors, CEOs, directors, senior managers, governance and strategic planning officers, and anyone with an interest in a better future for local government.
Mayor Felicity-ann Lewis
ALGA President | | |
| | The Clean Energy Council says regional councils are in a strong position to increase their energy efficiency and use more renewables. The organisation has been holding information sessions on ways local governments can make their operations more efficient. Kane Thornton from the Clean Energy Council says regional councils have been able to use things like solar panels on council buildings and above public lighting to make a difference. He says there is a strong incentive for councils to make the switch to reduce power bills and to set an example for the community. "Well we are seeing councils look for ways to use less electricity and generate their own electricity on site," he said. "We know they're also really keen to help raise awareness amongst the residents, the households and the small businesses ... and provide that information on to residents." He says many councils try to promote energy efficiency to the community but there are more practical incentives as well. "Communities are definitely looking to local councils to set an example and use less electricity and also start to generate some of their own renewable electricity but I think the other thing that's happening is electricity prices are going up and there are now purely financial drivers for councils to look at using less electricity and use more renewables," he said. | | | | | The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) is undertaking its first independent performance evaluation. The RAI is informed by research and ongoing dialogue with the community. It develops policy and advocates for change to build a stronger economy and a better quality of life in regional Australia. As part of the evaluation, it is conducting an online survey to obtain as much feedback as possible. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and any input provided will be incorporated into the evaluation. To participate in the survey, click on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RAI_Evaluations The survey closes on 6 September, 2013. | | | | | Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) and the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) have welcomed the official release of the Future-Proofing Local Government: National Workforce Strategy 2013-202 by the Minister for Regional Australia, Local Government and Territories, Catherine King. "For the first time, we have a comprehensive, consistent national approach to local government workforce planning and development," said LGMA National President Mark Ferguson. "The importance of this strategy cannot be overstated, and we thank the Minister for recognising this, and formally releasing the Strategy today," he said. The Strategy is designed to address retention, development and attraction at a time when Australia is experiencing higher demand for skilled workers, and local government is taking on increasing responsibilities for service delivery at the local level. Funded by the Australian Government, the Strategy was prepared by the Local Government Practice Unit of LGMA as a consortium partner on behalf of ACELG's Workforce Development Program. "Local governments must have the workforce capability required for a productive, sustainable and inclusive future, and the capacity to utilise the skills in its workforce to meet the needs of the community," said ACELG Chair, the Hon. Margaret Reynolds, a former Minister for Local Government. The nation’s ageing population means one third of local government employees are over 50 years old and will soon retire, increasing the pressure on the development of a sustainable workforce. "The Strategy addresses this by providing long-term solutions for building diverse and flexible workplaces that draw on local resources to deliver local services. The strategy provides for increased investment in skills, improved productivity and the use of technology, maximising leadership and people management skills, and greater integration with the changing political and operational environment in all tiers of government," said Mark Ferguson. The Strategy is available for download here. | | | | | NSW Minister for Disability Services John Ajaka this week announced that the Ability Links program, which promotes community inclusion for people with disability, will roll out across the state by 1 July 2014. Mr Ajaka said the program will ensure people can find the support they need in their local area, outside of the traditional disability service system. "By 1 July 2014, families in every part of NSW will have access to an Ability Links co-ordinator, known as a linker, " he said. "Linkers work with people with a disability, their families and carers to help them plan their future, build on strengths and skills and develop local networks to plan their future. "As clients transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Linkers will work with local communities to provide practical assistance to determine which support services they need. "Linkers will also work with local communities to help them provide practical assistance to community groups and mainstream services as they interact with people with disabilities," he said. The NSW Government has committed $28.7 million per year for a total of 248 Ability Links NSW co-ordinators across the state, including 27 Aboriginal identified positions. Those interested in delivering Ability Links NSW have attended briefings across NSW and others who want to get involved are urged to contact facilitators of the briefings at KPMG on (02) 9346 5652 or emailing abilitylinks@kpmg.com.au. Ability Links NSW is an initiative of the Ageing, Disability and Home Care division of the Department of Family and Community Services. For more information about Ability Links visit www.adhc.nsw.gov.au/abilitylinksnsw. | | | | | A Victorian local council is looking to tap spatial and geographic data to improve services for its 90,000 residents. Tony Ljaskevic, Bayside City Council's manager of information services, said the council planned to use geographic information software tools to gather and display data from various sources, including its own maps and files, and other publicly available demographic, geographic and topographic maps to help with decision making. Spatial data would be overlaid on a map with information on public works, health inspections, nursing visits, and development proposals to help council employees find correlations between events happening in the area. In future the council intends to share some limited data with residents and businesses as well. ''We often talk about integrating information, but the GIS [geographic information system] is probably the only tool able to aggregate that information and do it well in a spatial view,'' Mr Ljaskevic said. The Bayside City Council GIS plan is part of a recently approved three-year IT strategy that also includes improving online services and the security of information systems. The approval of that strategy comes shortly after the council started to digitise many of the paperwork-heavy processes employees undertake regularly such as restaurant health inspections and nurses' visits to new babies. Mr Ljaskevic said health inspection workers, for example, usually conducted a restaurant health inspection with pen and paper. The observations then needed to be manually entered into the application back at the office, with the results not provided to the restaurateur for several days. However, now they can conduct the inspection using their existing desktop application viewed on the mobile device of choice. They can issue notices on site and explain actions immediately. About 100 staff so far have access to the new mobile solution and Mr Ljaskevic intends to extend its availability to another 400 employees. | | | | | More micro businesses are using the internet to let people work from home or other locations, according to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS classifies micro businesses as businesses with up to four employees and large businesses as businesses with 200 or more employees.
Director of the Innovation and Technology Statistics Branch at the ABS, Andrew Puljic said more than a third of micro businesses now used the internet to enable staff to work from home. "That's an eight percentage point increase in two years," Mr Puljic said.
"For larger businesses, more than three quarters have the facility for staff to use the internet to work from home."
He said one in five Australian businesses had a social media presence as at 30 June 2012:
"Just over half, or 52 per cent of large businesses use social media, but when you get to micro business that drops to only 13 per cent," he said.
"Businesses in the arts and recreation services industry were the biggest users of social media, with nearly half having a presence on social media, followed by the information media and telecommunications industry."
Mr Puljic said four in five Australian businesses with internet access used it for financial activities including online banking, invoicing and payments, however not all businesses with internet access had a website or other web presence.
He said nearly two thirds of those businesses said they did not see the need to have a website, and one quarter reported they lacked the technical expertise to set one up. | | | | | Newcastle Council is set to offer a second round of funding under its facade improvement program after the success of the first round in sprucing up buildings throughout the city. Under the program business owners can apply for a grant with the money to be used for cleaning and painting facades, the removal of redundant signage and minor repairs. In the first round Council received 50 submissions, of which 37 were successful. Council's director of future city Judy Jaeger says $120,000 will be available under the next round of funding. "And that's about people doing repairs and painting and doing the facades of their building," she said. "Because it was so popular we've decided round one will be finished before the end of the year, so we will actually now start calling for applications under round two, so that can start following. "That's something we are contributing $60,000 to and Newcastle Now are contributing $60,000 as well. "It's a three-way partnership because certainly the property owners have to invest as well, and some of them in round one are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars." | | | | | More micro businesses are using the internet to let people work from home or other locations, according to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS classifies micro businesses as businesses with up to four employees and large businesses as businesses with 200 or more employees.
Director of the Innovation and Technology Statistics Branch at the ABS, Andrew Puljic said more than a third of micro businesses now used the internet to enable staff to work from home. "That's an eight percentage point increase in two years," Mr Puljic said.
"For larger businesses, more than three quarters have the facility for staff to use the internet to work from home."
He said one in five Australian businesses had a social media presence as at 30 June 2012:
"Just over half, or 52 per cent of large businesses use social media, but when you get to micro business that drops to only 13 per cent," he said.
"Businesses in the arts and recreation services industry were the biggest users of social media, with nearly half having a presence on social media, followed by the information media and telecommunications industry."
Mr Puljic said four in five Australian businesses with internet access used it for financial activities including online banking, invoicing and payments, however not all businesses with internet access had a website or other web presence.
He said nearly two thirds of those businesses said they did not see the need to have a website, and one quarter reported they lacked the technical expertise to set one up. | | | | | People power is being credited for Orange Council's refusal to a second McDonald's restaurant in the city. Around 50 people packed into the public gallery at the council chambers last week, with several residents speaking about their concerns with proposed development on Farrell Road. Deputy Mayor Jeff Whitton says the application was rejected eight votes to three. He says he didn't agree with council's planning department recommendation that the fast food restaurant should be built. "At the end of the day the council have a role to play to develop the city but they also have a role to listen to those residents who will be directly impacted on a development going nearby," he said. "The people of that area didn't want that particular development application to go through from a safety aspect, a traffic aspect. Councillor Whitton says McDonald's now has an application before the Land and Environment Court. | | | | | A western Queensland councillor says weed infestations can be more devastating to property owners in the long-term than floods and fires. The Flinders Shire is holding workshops to discuss a new weed management policy, which includes property buffer zones and ways to stop travelling stock from spreading seeds. Deputy Mayor Ninian Stewart-Moore says weeds like prickly acacia have been allowed to overtake some grazing land, while others landholders are spending thousands to eradicate it. "It becomes a little bit unnoticed and until you sort of start comparing with what the countryside looked like 20 years ago to today - it's only then that you realise how much difference has actually happened," he said. "The devastation that weeds cause is obviously in the productivity of the land and it takes a lot to reverse it. "Unless you have a good memory and remember what that country was like two or three decades ago, it's only then that you realise that we have an environmental disaster sort of looming and it's side by side with land that's being well looked after." | | |
| | |  As the single largest cross-sectoral event for the affordable housing industry in Australia, the National Housing Conference 2013 is a must-attend conference for local government professionals. If you want to have a say on future public, community and private affordable housing in your municipality then join the key decision-makers from all levels of government, private and the not-for-profit sectors in Adelaide. For the housing industry’s many sectors, 2013 is a landmark year. Key issues including housing affordability, undersupply, homelessness and indigenous housing continue to dominate the national conversation, marking this year as a particularly critical moment in time. Convened by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute in partnership with Housing SA, the National Housing Conference 2013 - a new way home is about new ways of solving contemporary housing problems. View our comprehensive program now and register before 30 September to take advantage of our standard registration fee. For more information visit: www.nhc.edu.au/adelaide2013. |
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