 | |  In just over five weeks, local government meets for the 14th National Local Roads and Transport Congress. Over the years, delegates of each annual Congress have expanded our horizons and discussed the importance of, and synergies between, roads and rail networks. Discussion has looked at efficient and effective freight and passenger transport, public transport needs and the needs of rural, remote, regional and urban communities, transport infrastructure, road safety and many other related issues. In 2010 ALGA adopted the National Local Roads and Transport Policy Agenda 2010-2020, providing a framework that ALGA can use to respond to emerging Federal Government policies in the transport field. Local government's transport vision is: "An integrated and safe transport system that enhances the social, environmental and economic well being of local communities." The Transport Agenda sets out key outcomes of: - Ensuring local government has the financial and technical capability to effectively manage its transport infrastructure, which includes 80 per cent of Australia's roads
- Better integrating transport and land use planning on a national basis, including encouraging alternatives to the car
- Providing mobility for all Australians, both in urban and non urban areas
- Improving road safety
- Ensuring effective freight systems that recognise both efficiency and community amenity
The recent change in Federal Government brings opportunities. It presents opportunities to advocate local government policies to a new audience, for ALGA to explain the sector's needs, and to propose sensible solutions to the problems communities face. This change of Government also offers the opportunity to review what we have been doing, and think about better ways of doing things and working together. This year's Congress, themed Sustaining our Roads, is our opportunity to work through how we can sustain our roads, how the Australian Government can support us in this, and how we think we can get there. Ensure your council and community is represented at this important event by registering your attendance at www.alga.asn.au | | | | |  The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has prepared an information pack to assist councils in meeting new responsibilities and arrangements under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), which will soon come into effect to ensure national consistency in heavy vehicle law and regulations. The information kit will soon be sent to local government road managers and follows the distribution of materials to councils by the NHVR in June and August. It contains details about the extent of new obligations for councils under the national law, decision-making advice regarding the provision of access to roads by heavy vehicles, guidance regarding time limits for decisions, and general tips on how to manage access applications. When the HVNL comes into effect, the NHVR will be the key coordination point for heavy vehicle operators to contact to apply for road access permits. Councils will work directly with the NHVR to consider these applications to determine whether and how heavy vehicles can travel on local roads. Councils will have a statutory role as road managers in approving access to their road network, including setting certain conditions for access. Unlike current legislation, the new national law introduces concepts of vehicle, road and travel conditions and distinguishes between the different types of condition. Applying road and travel conditions are the responsibility of councils managing local roads and relate to conditions that limit access to a road, for example to particular days or hours or specify the direction of travel. Road conditions are intended to ensure that the use of restricted access vehicles on local roads do not endanger the road infrastructure, impose adverse effects on the community or expose significant risks to public safety. As with other road managers, the new national law also imposes time limits on councils for making decisions on applications relating to restricted vehicles using local roads. The NHVR expects that most heavy vehicle access applications will be reasonably straight forward and councils should be able to respond within the given time limit. If a council decides to refuse access or to impose road or travel conditions, the council is required under the national law to provide a written statement of reasons to the NHVR to explain its decision. Permit applicants can appeal such decisions to the NHVR for internal review by the local council concerned. The NVHR has assured councils that it will provide as much support as necessary to councils in assist them to meet the requirements of the national law. Local government obligations under the law will be the focus of discussions at ALGA's National Local Roads and Transport Congress to be held from 12-14 November in Alice Springs, where the NVHR's CEO Richard Hancock will host sessions to outline the implications of the implementation of the law for councils across the country. | | | | |  The first Age Friendly Cities conference to be held in Australia, organised by the ACT Government's Office for Ageing, was held in Canberra on 8 October, drawing delegates from around Australia, including staff from about 40 councils. Keynote speaker, Dr Alexandre Kalache was responsible for launching the WHO Active Ageing Framework and the Global Movement for Age-Friendly Cities as head of the Ageing and Life Course Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1995 to 2007. More than 180 cities are now involved formally in Age Friendly Cities and approximately 1100 cities worldwide are participating informally. The WHO believes that making cities and communities age-friendly is one of the most effective local policy approaches for responding to demographic ageing; and that the physical and social environments are key determinants of whether residents remain healthy, independent and autonomous into old age. Dr Kalache said that society needs to provide opportunities throughout life to enable its citizens to age well and that communities need to go beyond a culture of "prevention" to a culture of "care", for older people. He spoke passionately about the need for a better response to the longevity revolution and the "quality of life" of older, frail people. There are four components for the WHO vision for active ageing: health; life-long learning; participation; and security, which are required to enhance quality of life as individuals age. The approach stresses a rights based ideology - which says that older people have needs, but they also have rights, including the right to a dignified end to their lives. Another keynote address was given by Mr Paul McGarry, who has led Manchester's multi-agency Valuing Older People partnership for the past ten years. Manchester has the lowest level of male life expectancy in the United Kingdom. Mr McGarry told the conference that he believed local government was the axis from where positive ageing developments should be promoted. He outlined research showing links between wealth, positive ageing and levels of depression. For example, wealthier older people walk faster, approximately four times faster, than poorer older people, and have a much lower level of depression than poorer elderly. Many councils provided presentations on their work on positive and active ageing. Proceedings of the conference Coming of age-Challenges and Opportunities for Communities in Australia, were live streamed on the day. All sessions were recorded on video by the ACT Office on Ageing and are expected to be uploaded within 2 weeks of the conference to: http://www.dhcs.act.gov.au/wac/ageing/aafccc. More details on making your community more age-friendly are available by downloading WHO's Global Age-Friendly Cities: A Guide (download the publication in English here). | | |
| |  As Australians, we love our sport. We only have to look to the last two weekends for examples of the contagious effect that football grand final fever has in this country. Undoubtedly, the next big event on the sporting calendar is the Melbourne Cup, when the nation will stop, once again, to admire and cheer on the most agile of thoroughbreds. Australia's interest in elite sports is obvious but we shouldn't overlook the many thousands of people who actively participate in recreational pursuits every day. Many, if not most of the nation's sporting facilities, sports ovals and recreation facilities are local government owned and managed. Every elite sports person has a story to tell about starting their career on a local sports ground. Sporting facilities are vital to local communities. They are critical to our health and wellbeing, which is why sport and recreation should be the focus of a partnership between all three levels of government. I acknowledge that the Australian Government has a proud history of supporting participation in community-based and competitive sporting activities. For many years, the Government has provided funding assistance to a number of infrastructure projects ranging from small community facilities in regional and urban areas to major sporting venues. This is welcome but more needs to be done. In the lead up to the September federal election, ALGA called for community infrastructure funding for bike paths, walking tracks, swimming pools and sports facilities. These are important community facilities that enrich citizens' lives. Local government wants to work with federal, state and territory governments to encourage an active Australia and ensure that community facilities and local recreation spaces are fit for purpose and safe. I would like to see a broad approach taken to sport and recreation, with governments working together toward a more consistent approach to the development of polices that support increased participation in sport and active recreation and enhanced social inclusion and community development. Getting people active provides multiple outcomes. Fitter, more active people are healthier people. Healthier people place less stress on our medical and health systems. This has benefits for everyone and should be encouraged. These are ideas that I look forward to discussing with the new Federal Government on behalf of local government. Mayor Felicity-ann Lewis ALGA President | | |
| | ALGA attended a workshop in Canberra this week to work with the CSIRO, as well other stakeholders and researchers, to discuss how best to frame climate science to ensure that it is not lost on those who need to understand the concepts as well as use the products that are emerging from years of research. Climate science is a complex issue, involving significant amounts of complicated data, terms and concepts, which many are unfamiliar with. Researchers acknowledge the benefits of making the science more readily accessible to those who need to make serious decisions on policy and expenditure priorities, in a format they can understand. While ALGA is focusing on practical impacts and activities that can be adopted to adapt to a changing environment, there are impediments that prevent the most effective measures being taken. A lot of effort and research has gone into the issue of climate change adaptation, especially in trying to assist local government in managing those issues. But there is a disconnect between the valuable work being undertaken by research bodies like the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facilities (NCCARF) and how that relates to the day to running of councils and determining priorities in the face of budget constraints. ALGA will be continuing to focus on climate change and the risk it poses to communities, industries and infrastructure and believes that a strong relationship with researchers is vital to ensure local government is operating with the best possible evidence base. | | | | | The Australian Logistics Council (ALC), the peak national body for the freight logistics industry, is encouraging jurisdictions to work together to achieve nationally consistent requirements for bid processes for the financing of major infrastructure projects by the private sector. "One of the greatest obstacles facing potential private sector investors in infrastructure is a lack of national consistency between state and territory jurisdictions regarding bid processes," ALC Managing Director, Michael Kilgariff said. "These inconsistent processes and procedures across state borders add to costs and complexity and act as a disincentive for potential private sector investors, which is a concern considering the significant infrastructure backlog Australia is experiencing. "ALC is calling on governments to work together to reduce the red tape barriers getting in the way of potential private investors such as industry super funds, which are on the public record as saying they want to invest more in major infrastructure projects. "Specifically, ALC would like to see greater national consistency and transparency surrounding bid documentation, which needs to be spearheaded by the Commonwealth. "ALC believes this issue needs to be addressed at the COAG level, with the Federal Government taking the lead to drive reforms to achieve a more integrated approach between all levels of government. ALC would also like to see a stronger focus by governments on adhering to the agreed conditions and parameters of packaged projects so as to provide greater certainty to potential investors. "There is also scope for further work being undertaken at the federal level, spearheaded by the new Funding and Finance Advisory Unit within Infrastructure Australia, to review tax incentives and mechanisms to encourage greater focus on greenfields investment". | | | | | In welcoming the launch of the new 40-year planning blueprint Plan Melbourne, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has called for a coordinated and funded implementation approach to deliver on the vision. Cr Bill McArthur, MAV President said that councils had been working closely with the Victorian Government on Plan Melbourne and it's release would be welcomed by the sector. "We are pleased that Minister Guy has acted on local government requests to introduce a hard urban growth boundary around Melbourne to stop the sprawl and protect valuable agricultural land. "With our population projected to rise to 8.5 million by 2050, a permanent boundary sends a strong signal to the market, and encourages a greater share of future growth and development in regional cities and towns. "The success of Plan Melbourne will hinge on a whole-of-Government approach to drive infrastructure, service delivery, investment and job creation. As we saw with the previous Melbourne 2030 strategy, inadequate leadership contributed to ongoing implementation problems. "The new planning strategy's decentralised model in particular will require stronger leadership to ensure growth in regional areas. Mechanisms will be needed outside of planning to see the creation of higher order jobs that influence people’s investment decisions to set up shop in prioritised regional towns. "It will be critical for the Government to meaningfully engage and work with councils to ensure both new communities and existing metropolitan, regional and rural communities are sustainable. "Strategic planning can be both costly and time consuming. As a planning partner with more than 100 actions to implement under Plan Melbourne, councils will require funding and support to give effect to the State's vision in a timely and coordinated way. "We will also seek a formal State-local government protocol to guide delivery of the strategy including the criteria, thresholds and rules governing matters dealt with by the Minister, the new Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) and local government. "It is pleasing that the MPA will be an independent statutory body, and it must include broad representation from local government. "We look forward to it playing a vital role integrating Victoria's land, transport and economic strategy, including the coordination and delivery of city-shaping infrastructure and services. This is to be commended." | | | | | Councils will benefit from a new rating tool designed to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of Australia's existing buildings. After more than two years of working with the property and facility management industries, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has launched the Green Star - Performance rating tool; a tool it describes as a "consistent, holistic method of measuring existing buildings". Green Star - Performance will enable building owners and managers - including councils - to identify pathways to improve the environmental and financial sustainability of their assets over time. It will help them measure and monitor the environmental impacts of the buildings and take practical action to improve operational performance. Green Star - Performance is able to rate every type of building, with the exception of single detached homes. GBCA's Chief Executive, Romilly Madew, said most of Australia's buildings were built at a time when little thought was given to issues such as energy efficiency, water use or indoor environment quality. "Green Star - Performance will enable us to transform these 'brown' buildings into the green buildings we need, and reduce their operating costs," Ms Madew said. For more information, visit: www.gbca.org.au/performance | | | | | Local government open data is highly sought after by industry, researchers and the public to innovate and support their local communities. But often there are barriers to making local government data accessible to the community - such as costs and training, finding the right IT platform, restrictive copyright issues, and establishing policies and procedures to make open data "business-as-usual". A group of councils is hoping to address these issues by working together to pilot an open data solution tailored for local governments. The pilot is a national initiative designed specifically for local government. It is branded - localdata.net.au - and can be customised by councils. The pilot provides comprehensive support to participants for both pre and post publishing aspects of open data. It is more than just a portal. The councils on the pilot will be supported by the Open Technology Foundation (OTF), University of South Australia (UniSA), and the Australian Governments' Open Access and Licensing Programme (AusGOAL). AusGOAL will provide support for pre-publishing aspects such as open access training, establishment of organisational open data policies and procedures, and copyright and licensing guidance. UniSA have implemented a CKAN software platform (localdata.net.au) to publish the data provided under the pilot. CKAN is the world's best open source, open data platform. There is no cost to participate in the pilot - councils are asked to simply bring some interesting data and a commitment to participate in the pilot to make it a success. PlanningAlerts.org.au is an example of data sharing at local level by the City of Salisbury. When setting up the City of Salisbury site under a Creative Commons license in 2010, adding a feed of City of Salisbury planning information to PlanningAlerts.org.au only required a simple bit of code added to the site which has required no intervention for two years. Now the data is in the mix with datasets from all over Australia. Adelaide City Council is opening up and sharing data with industry to foster community engagement with Unleashed, the Adelaide node of the national Govhack open data competition. Another social engagement initiative has combined Adelaide's geographical based datasets with state government-held datasets to develop a web-based application concept called Social Active which won the Premier's Award and the national prize for "Best Benefit to the SA Community". Creative Commons licences are the preferred licences for opening access to publicly funded information. Of the six Creative Commons licenses, the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) is the most popular, and provides the greatest opportunities for re-use of information and promotes a common standard of licensing. An example is a recent request by the Bureau of Meteorology to all providers of water data to release the data to them under Creative Commons. So if your council has water data, and they have provided it to the BOM, then it is already open data under Creative Commons. These are just a few examples of the potential of open data. You can read the case studies of Adelaide and Salisbury City Councils in more detail here. Councils and universities from all states and territories are encouraged to participate in the localdata.net.au pilot. Please contact office@localdata.net.au for further information. | | | | | World Mental Health Day was recognised in Australian this week, with statistics released showing that nine per cent of the Australian population (or 1.9 million Australians) received mental health services in 2010-11. According to a report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Mental health services in Australia-in brief 2013, an estimated 7.3 million Australians aged between 16 and 85 (45 per cent) will experience a mental health-related disorder in their lifetime. "Mental health is an important health issue in Australia," AIHW spokesperson, Dr Pamela Kinnear said. "One in five Australians in this age range experience symptoms of a mental disorder each year." The report provides an overview of how the health and welfare system responds to the needs of Australians affected by mental illness. The publication summarises the key findings from the AIHW's Mental health services in Australia website (http://mhsa.aihw.gov.au) which is updated regularly as new data become available. "Mental health services in Australia are provided through hospitals and other residential care facilities, hospital-based outpatient care services, community mental health services, and consultations with GPs and specialists," Dr Kinnear said. Almost $6.9 billion was spent on mental health-related services in Australia during 2010-11, equating to $309 per person. "Spending on mental health services increased by almost 6 per cent per Australian per year over the five years to 2010-11," Dr Kinnear said. | | | | | The National Retail Association (NRA) has welcomed Treasurer Joe Hockey's commitment to close international tax loopholes, and called on the Federal Government to address the "biggest loophole of all" - the tax exemption for overseas online businesses. NRA chief executive Trevor Evans said the Government's upcoming commission of audit should examine the existing rules that provide an exemption from goods and services tax, import duty and customs charges for purchases of up to $1000 from overseas-based businesses. He said the low value threshold (LVT) exemption from GST and other charges gave overseas businesses a price advantage of up to 25 per cent, and would cost Australia more than $1 billion in the next year. "While the Treasurer wants international cooperation to fix the problem, the LVT for GST on imported goods is a loophole that can be closed by the new Federal Government, without any need for international cooperation," Mr Evans said. "This outdated measure - a legacy from the introduction of the GST in 2000 - means Australia's tax regime actively discriminates against local businesses, and provides an unfair advantage to overseas retailers. It reduces Australian business profit, which means less tax revenue for the Commonwealth and reduced employment opportunities for locals." | | | | | The NSW/ACT Alcohol Policy Alliance (NAAPA), in conjunction with the National Local Government Drug and Alcohol Committee, is conducting a community forum in Sydney on 24 October. The forum will provide an opportunity for community members, along with state and local government representatives, to engage in a discussion about barriers facing communities in influencing the liquor licensing and planning systems and ways to better facilitate this engagement. The Forum follows the NAAPA Alcohol Summit held in March this year where attendees called for greater opportunities for all people to engage with consultation processes for new liquor licences or variations to licences. Breaking down the barriers: Community involvement in liquor licensing decisions in NSW a paper prepared by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) will be launched at the Forum. Further information is available here. Event details: Date: Thursday 24 October 2013
Time: 10am - 12 noon
Location: Theatrette, NSW Parliament House, Sydney
RSVP: glenis.thomas@fare.org.au or call
(02) 6122 8600 by 22 October 2013 | | | | | The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), with support from the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (DTPLI), will be holding the next Rural and Regional Planning Forum at the RACV Club in Melbourne on 8 November. The event is open to all planners and councillors. The agenda will cover a range of topics relevant to rural and regional councils, including the revised rural zones, the case for an agricultural overlay, the revised native vegetation regulations and the CFA's Bushfire Management Overlay schedules. Six councils will discuss projects they are working on, from major agricultural developments and flood studies to tourism and salinity management. An update on regulatory changes to the Planning and Environment Act will also be delivered by DTPLI. The Forum is held in conjunction with the annual Rural and Regional Planners Conference and provides a great networking opportunity, typically attracting about 100 attendees. For further information contact MAV's Stuart Grigg on 03 9667 5595. | | | | | Many organisations, public and private, are now required to negotiate around sustainability issues as part of their decision-making processes, and none more so than local government. Sustainability issues are complex and daunting because we have to think of them in global terms even though they stem from decisions that people take at the local level. Negotiations are an invaluable process for allowing stakeholders with very different viewpoints to jointly look for solutions to problems in an integrated way, and consider equally the economic, social and environmental aspects of an issue to ensure 'triple-bottom-line' accountability. However, attempts by stakeholders with widely differing agendas to find consensus often needlessly end in stalemate because of a lack of negotiation skills, particularly the crucial mix of skills required to negotiate through sustainability issues. These scenarios can result in high and counter-productive costs in terms of time, money, reputation and trust. Negotiations that can't deliver mutually satisfactory outcomes can leave communities, organisations and businesses cynical and unconvinced about the possibility of working together when sustainable solutions are needed. The nationally accredited course "Certificate IV in Understanding and Negotiating Sustainability Issues" has been developed by Dr Judith Morrison to improve capacity to appreciate and respond to both the benefits and the pitfalls of negotiation. Training can be delivered online and delivery is flexible to allow working people to take the course as part of professional development. To know more, contact Lesley at Sustainable Advantage Group Australia (RTO 40586) on (02) 9362 8840 or go to the website: http://www.sustainableadvantage.com.au | | |
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