 | |  ALGA and representatives from several state local government associations from WA, SA, Vic, NSW and Queensland attended a Productivity Commission roundtable meeting in Melbourne last week. The roundtable, chaired by the Commissioners, was specifically examining the roles of state and local governments in effective natural disaster risk assessment. Local government officers in attendance took this opportunity to further argue that councils across the nation are active in this space but that the capacity and capability of the sector continues to be under strain when it comes to dealing with the myriad of challenges communities face. Not only responding to threats, but also dealing with recovery and minimising the impacts that may arise from a range of natural disasters, including heat waves. The Commissioners were briefed on the variability of roles and responsibilities of councils across the jurisdictions and the urgent need for greater resources to be made available for mitigation purposes. Concerns were highlighted in the area of betterment funding, the intervention by states in the land use planning process and impacts of the Commonwealth funding arrangements in areas dealing with post disasters. The Commission is currently undertaking numerous roundtable discussions with key stakeholders around the country and continues to receive submissions from organisations and individuals as it completes a review into the efficacy of current national disaster funding arrangements. A draft report is expected to be released in late September. More information on the inquiry is available here. | | | | |  Applications for Round 1 of the Australian Government's five year, $300 million Bridges Renewal Programme (BRP) are now open. The funding programme is aimed at bridge projects that contribute to improved productivity and/or community access. Up to $100 million is available Round 1, with applications closing on 28 August. The Government has outlined that projects being considered for Round 1 funding should be well developed, with appropriate levels of scope, planning and approvals already underway so construction can commence in the 2014-15 financial year. State, Territory and local governments are eligible to apply for funding, and all eligible projects will be prioritised by State and Territory governments in their jurisdictions. The projects will then be assessed by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development on four criteria: improved productivity and access; quantified benefits; State/Territory priority; and construction readiness. Round one of the BRP will run concurrently with Round four of the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme (HVSPP). The process and criteria for both programmes have been aligned. The Australian Government has committed $200 million over five years from 2014-15 under the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme (HVSPP)to contribute to productivity and safety outcomes of heavy vehicle operations across Australia. Round Four of the HVSPP will provide up to $80 million over two years from 2014-15. For more information on either programme click here. | | | | |  This week marks National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week 2014 (6-13 July). This week Australians have the opportunity to share and acknowledge the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the nation. Every year, the Committee focuses on an issue of national importance. As the nation heads toward the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of World War I, the National theme for this year's NAIDOC commemorations is Serving Country: Centenary & Beyond, celebrating the role of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders who served in Australia's armed forces from 1914 to the present day. Hundreds of events have been held across the country from a community fun day in Gawler, SA to an Indigenous art tour of the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth, WA. The week will conclude with the presentation of the National NAIDOC Awards at a ceremony and ball event on the Gold Coast this evening, on Friday 11 July. The awards recognise the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Indigenous artists, scholars, sportspeople, Elders and community members across the country. There are 10 award categories, including the Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award. For more information on NAIDOC Week click here. | | |
| |  As you know, I have recently returned from a United Cities & LG-ASPAC congress. After events like these I often ask myself, what can we do to promote women in leadership roles across all levels of government, particularly for our nearby neighbours overseas? A UN Women initiative (United Nations for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - National Committee Australia) is doing just that. As you may be aware, there are five elections taking place in the Pacific this year, in Fiji, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and Tonga. Women are underrepresented in all levels of government in Pacific island countries and territories, with just 3% of members of Parliament, for example, being women. As a result of this imbalance, women's concerns, including safety from violence, stable jobs, clean water and education for girls are not being heard. To address this, UN Women is running leadership training to ensure women have access to political leadership opportunities in the Pacific. This offers a unique chance to support women who are considering running as candidates, to ensure women’s voices are heard in policy making. UN Women is providing strategic leadership training to prepare women to be candidates for elected office. The leadership training addresses how to engage in community consultation, campaign strategy, policy development and hands-on public speaking skills. Vital skill sets to help women stand and win elections. In conjunction with the candidate leadership training, UN Women is also delivering media training to key Pacific regional journalists to ensure any election coverage is balanced, inclusive and fair. This approach to preparing women to stand in elections has been tested in the region and around the world, with great results. Following UN Women leadership training in Kenya in 2013, the number of women legislators elected to office doubled. In Vanuatu, five women were elected to the Port Vila Council this January, all of them graduates of UN Women's leadership training. There are more training sessions planned for both candidates and members of the media across the region, but they can only be implemented with your support. You can give directly via http://www.givenow.com.au/auscommitteeUNwomen and indicate in the special message that you wish to support the women in leadership campaign in the Pacific. A little money goes a long way: - $1522 can empower one woman in the Pacific to complete comprehensive leadership training
- $610 can provide two Pacific regional journalists with gender-responsive media training to ensure election coverage is balanced, inclusive and fair
- $150 can provide candidates with a training manual toolkit detailing communications and campaign strategies so they can get elected to office
- $98 can organise young women in the Pacific to become leaders in their communities
Within Australia, the question of under-representation of women in local government at a senior level is being tackled by the 5050 Vision - Councils for Gender Equity Program. Currently around one quarter of councillors, one fifth of mayors, one tenth of senior managers and one twelfth of CEOs in local government are women. The 5050 Vision is designed to assist council to identify and address gender equity issues. Councils can apply for recognition through the 5050 Vision awards program, with accreditation at three levels, starting with Bronze, then Silver and working up to the Gold Award. For more information of the 5050 Vision click here. Mayor, Dr Felicity-ann Lewis
President ALGA | | |
| | The inaugural meeting of the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council (LCCSC) was held on 4 July 2014 in Melbourne, Victoria. The Victorian Attorney-General, the Hon Robert Clark MP and Minister for Police and Emergency Services, the Hon Kim Wells MP, chaired the meeting. Ministers from the Commonwealth, each state and territory and New Zealand with portfolio responsibility for law and justice, police and emergency management were in attendance as was a representative of the Australian Local Government Association. The Prime Minister, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, gave the opening address and highlighted the opportunity for the council, which brings law makers and law enforcers together, to progress reforms that will improve community safety and fight crime across Australia and New Zealand. The LCCSC was established by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to sharpen the nation’s focus on fighting crime. It replaces two previously separate councils - the Standing Council on Law and Justice (SCLJ) and the Standing Council on Police and Emergency Management (SCPEM). It will assist COAG by developing a national and Trans-Tasman focus on fighting crime and promoting best practice in law, criminal justice and community safety. The Communique issued by the council can be read here. | | | | | The 2014 National Local Roads and Transport Congress will be held in Tamworth from 12 to 14 November. The National Local Roads and Transport Congress has always been, and continues to be, critical in influencing the Federal Government and Opposition on road and infrastructure policies. The very first Congress resulted in the establishment of the Roads to Recovery program in 2000. Also, the 2011 Congress' campaign to renew the Roads to Recovery program was instrumental in securing the renewal of the program until 2019. A key aim of the upcoming Roads Congress during 12 - 14 November 2014, in the transport hub of Tamworth, is to highlight the importance of issues such as Federal funding in overcoming road and infrastructure challenges and reinforce the need for increased and permanent funding under the Roads to Recovery program beyond June 2019. A draft program of the Congress is available here. Please contact ALGA on 02 6122 9400 for more information on this year's Congress Registration for the 2014 National Local Roads and Transport Congress is now open. | | | | | The Government is now seeking feedback from organisations who may wish to be involved in the rollout on the 20 million trees program which will see large-scale revegation projects undertaken across the country. Projects will include re-establishing green corridors and urban forests, increasing and improving habitat to support our threatened species, and creating greener spaces to improve the liveability of cities and towns. $50 million has been committed over four years to the 20 Million Trees Programme with funding to commence from 2014-15. It’s part of the National Landcare Programme. 20 Million Trees will be implemented through a combination of competitive grants to land managers and local community groups, and a tender process for larger-scale service providers. The Government is now inviting submissions from interested parties on how best to deliver large-scale tree planting in a way that best utilises industry expertise, knowledge and capacity to achieve environmental conservation outcomes and community engagement. Submissions received through this Request for Information process will inform a subsequent Request for Tender (RFT) process that will invite potential delivery partners to apply to become a 20 Million Tree Service Provider. There will be opportunity for the community to be involved in consultation for the 20 Million Trees Programme as part of wider consultation for the National Landcare Programme in the coming months. For more information on 20 Million Trees, click here. For more information on how to make a submission, click here. | | | | | The Governor-General, His Excellency the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) and 2001 Australian of the Year Adam Gilchrist AM, have officially launched the call for nominations for the 2015 Awards program. "These Awards reflect who we are now, but perhaps more importantly, they are about what we want Australia to be...I ask Australians to share stories of people they know, or know of, by nominating them", said His Excellency. If you'd like to see someone you know or someone you admire from afar recognised for the work that they do, why not nominate them. One nomination is all it takes - visit onenomination.aoty.org.au to see how easy it is. Nominations close 1 August 2014. | | | | | Annual deaths from crashes involving a heavy vehicle have decreased by nearly a third in the last decade. The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics released the Road trauma involving heavy vehicles: crash statistics report on Friday 4 July, 2014which shows annual fatalities from crashes involving trucks and buses reduced over the last decade from 281 to 189. The report also reveals that for heavy vehicle crashes, drivers and vehicle passengers accounted for 75 per cent of fatalities; the remainder was pedestrians (14 per cent), motorcyclists (8 per cent) and pedal cyclists (3 per cent). Over two thirds of crashes involving a heavy vehicle happen outside capital cities, with too many articulated truck crashes occurring on national and state highways. BITRE Road trauma involving heavy vehicles: crash statistics is available here. | | | | | Australian supplier of ePlanning systems, ICON Software, has been selected by the Western Australia Local Government Association (WALGA) to provide an online lodgement system that will save time and money for WA Councils. The existing CouncilsOnline platform will be upgraded and delivered as a strategic partnership between WALGA and ICON. CouncilsOnline is a digital solution that supports the electronic lodgement of Building and Planning Applications with Local Governments. Since the system went live in 2012, more than 12,000 building and planning applications have been lodged and over 11,000 approvals issued. During late 2013, WALGA recognised the need to refresh the technology platform underpinning CouncilsOnline to improve the performance and user experience of the electronic lodgement system at the same time as reducing costs to Local Governments. Gold Coast based ICON was selected as the new technology partner for CouncilsOnline following a public tender process. WALGA Chief Executive Officer Ricky Burges said the partnership came about after a recent review of CouncilsOnline identified the need to redress system integration with Local Governments to provide a more seamless platform for users and convenience for Councils. Ms Burges said with the partnership agreement in place, work would commence to transition across all Western Australian Local Governments currently using the existing CouncilsOnline platform to the new locally hosted ICON Software system. | | | | | The leading edge think-tank for Australian local government has just turned five. Established in 2009, the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) is now a significant thought-leader and partner for a sector that has received uneven attention and support from federal and state governments about issues that impact local communities. ACELG is a unique consortium of universities and professional bodies based at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and includes the UTS Centre for Local Government, the University of Canberra, the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, Local Government Managers Australia, and the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia. Notable achievements from ACELG's five years of operation include more than 80 reports and other publications, with corresponding events undertaken in all states and territories of Australia. Key research produced to date include: a national workforce strategy for local government; guides and recommendations on local government finance (including long term financial planning and strengthening revenues); targeted resources for rural-remote and Indigenous local governments; and critical research on community engagement, governance, liveability, collaboration and innovation, metropolitan planning, the use of social media, among other themes. To find out more about ACELG or download its research, click here. | | | | | Paralympian and Young Australian of the Year 2014 Jacqueline Freney will be the official Patron of International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) and the National Disability Awards in 2014. Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield, said Ms Freney is an outstanding young Australian who will help raise awareness of the significant contribution made by people with disability to our community. "International Day of People with Disability is a day to celebrate the many contributions people with disability make to our community," Senator Fifield said. "As an elite athlete Ms Freney is one such example, having won eight medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games." Ms Freney said she was honoured to be chosen as Patron of IDPwD and the National Disability Awards. "I've always believed having a disability should not stop anyone capable from achieving greatness, whether in the sporting arena or any other area of life," Ms Freney said. IDPwD is a United Nations sanctioned day that occurs annually on 3 December that aims to break down barriers and open doors to ensure people with disability have the same opportunities to achieve their goals as any other Australian. To nominate for the National Disability Awards, click here or call 1800 672 682. TTY users please call 1800 555 677 and ask for 1800 672 682. Nominations for the National Disability Awards close on 18 July. | | | | | Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged young leaders to nominate for the Queen's Young Leader Award programme, launched in London this week. Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales launched the programme to celebrate and support young leaders from across the Commonwealth. This award scheme is now searching for the first 60 inspirational young people to receive a Queen's Young Leader Award. Recipients of the Award will be people aged 18-29 who have overcome adversity to show leadership and service in their community. Successful applicants will receive training and mentoring opportunities to further encourage and inspire them. For more information please click here. | | | | | Nominations are open for the inaugural National Growth Areas Alliance (NGAA) Awards. The awards will focus on achievements in Outer Metropolitan Growth areas and the contribution made to improving quality of life in these areas. The 2014 Inaugural NGAA Congress organising committee is inviting nominations for excellence in the areas of job generation, skills development and resilience. Nominations close on 31 July. To nominate an organisation or individual download the Nomination Form and return to Emma Craig, Event Co-ordinator by email ecraig@playford.sa.gov.au or post City of Playford, C:/ Emma Craig, 12 Bishopstone Road, DAVOREN PARK SA 5113 | | |
| | |  Nominations open for National Disability Awards Recognising outstanding achievements to improve the lives of people with disability Nominations for the 2014 National Disability Awards are now open. Help us celebrate people and organisations that are committed to enabling a more inclusive Australian society - through supporting people with disability to participate more fully in society and reach their goals. This year we want to reach out across Australia to change attitudes and break down barriers so that people with disability can enjoy equal access to what many others take for granted - a good start to life; a good education; a job and greater economic security; and better access to buildings and transport, the legal system, recreational and cultural activities, health services and achieving better health and wellbeing. Nominations are now open in eight categories: - Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement in Disability
- Emerging Leaders Award in Disability
- Improving Inclusive and Accessible Communities Award
- Improving Advocacy and Rights Promotion Award
- Improving Employment Opportunities Award
- Improving Personal and Community Support Award
- Improving Education Outcomes Award
- Improving Health and Wellbeing Outcomes Award.
Nominations close on 18 July. Head to the IDPWD website to connect with us via our e-newsletter to receive updates. Also, please join the #NationalDisabilityAwards and #ozemployability conversations on Twitter @IDPwD and like us at Facebook.com/IDPwD. |
| | | | | |  State of the Regions Report 2014-15 The 2014-15 State of the Regions report, Regional Development in a Globailised Economy, is now available. The report is prepared by National Economics and published annually by the Australian Local Government Association. The State of the Regions report provides an annual stock-take of the economic well being of Australia's regions and their prospects for economic development and employment growth. The Report divides Australia into 67 regions and provides specific data for each. To order your copy click here. Proudly supported by Jardine Lloyd Thompson  |
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