 | |  ALGA has written to the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Anthony Albanese to seek assurances from them on the continuation of the Roads to Recovery program. The legislation for the program is included in the Land Transport Amendment Bill 2014 which was to be considered by the Senate last week. The legislation is now expected to be considered after the Winter break when the Senate sits again from 26 August. ALGA has expressed the disappointment and frustration of councils, that given both the Government and Opposition support the continuation of R2R to at least 2019, that the legislation hasn't been passed. ALGA has sought meetings with both the Minister and Shadow Minister to seek further clarification on the current situation and the continuation of the road funding program, and to ensure September payments to councils are not disrupted. On Wednesday Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese issued a media release advising he will move a private members bill to support continued funding for R2R when Parliament returns. | | | | |  The ALGA board yesterday considered the resolutions from the National General Assembly to determine the most appropriate action to take on all the policy positions expressed by the delegates attending this year's Assembly. The resolutions from the NGA can be viewed on the ALGA website. The board also confirmed the dates for the 2015 NGA. It will be held in Canberra from 14 to 17 June, 2015. | | | | |  The Productivity Commission (PC) released its draft inquiry report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning earlier this week. Its recommendations seek to make childcare more affordable, flexible and accessible and to provide a more financially sustainable childcare system for taxpayers into the future. The draft report concludes that the current system does not meet the needs of all families and the cost of the system is increasing at an unsustainable rate. One of the key recommendations is to combine the current multiple care subsidies into a single subsidy - called the Early Care and Learning Subsidy - which would be means tested and activity tested. Means testing a single childcare rebate would mean that all eligible families would receive a minimum of 30% of their reasonable (the subsidy is based on a set reasonable cost of care and cover up to 100 hours per fortnight) childcare fees reimbursed by taxpayer and that greater number of families on very low incomes would pay less for childcare than they currently pay now. Children with additional needs should have access to a "top up" subsidy. Low income families would see around 90% of their reasonable childcare fees paid by Government, according to the PC's Presiding Commissioner Dr Wendy Craik. The recommendation would see the government pay 90% of costs for families earning less than $60,000 a year and tapering down to 30% for families earning over $300,000. Other key recommendations from the draft childcare report include: - Nannies being eligible for childcare subsidies subject to appropriate qualifications (au pairs would not be eligible).
- Removing restrictions on the number of child care places for occasional care and the hours that centres have to be open in order to receive Government subsidies.
- School principals being responsible for ensuring schools offer before and after school care, including care for preschoolers.
- A continuation of Government support for access to preschool for all children in the year before starting school.
- Increasing funding and subsidies for children with disabilities and additional needs.
- The National Quality Framework (NQF) ) be retained, modified and extended to all Government funded services, but that it needs to be more flexible and targeted for the types of services provided.
The PC's economic modelling found that the economy-wide impacts of its recommendations would be relatively small, resulting in about 47,000 more people entering the workforce, and a maximum GDP impact of an additional $5.5 billion, but stresses that the social significance of these changes should not be underestimated. The full draft report is available here. The PC is seeking submissions on the draft report by 5 September 2014. Public hearings will be held in various locations during the period 7-26 August. The final report will be presented to government by 31 October. | | |
| |  As Disability Champion for local government, it is rewarding to see the actions being taken in communities to raise awareness of disability issues and promoting engagement and participation of Australians with disabilities in communities. ALGA News has previously promoted the work of the Touched by Olivia Foundation which works with councils, communities and corporations to upgrade or build inclusive play spaces, giving children regardless of ability, the opportunity to play side by side. The Foundation has taken their work one step further and this month launched Livvi's Cafe. The cafe, is Touched by Olivia's first social enterprise and will provide program space, sustainable funding and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The cafe is located at Timbrell Park in Five Dock in NSW. Timbrell Park is home to the first Livvi's Place play space which opened in November 2009. Since then, communities around Australia have embraced the all-abilities playspace concept with playgroups re-developed to cater for the needs of all children. Also in NSW, Local Government NSW and NSW Family and Community Services are hosting a free one-day forum for NSW Councils to address the issues of access and inclusion of people with a disability, older people and carers. The forum, to be held in September will provide a range of information to help councils undertake access and inclusion planning. More information is available from LGNSW. Earlier this month Age Discrimination Commission Susan Ryan was appointed acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner. She will retain her current role as Age Discrimination Commissioner, a position she has held since 2011. Ms Ryan replaces Former Disability Commissioner Graeme Innes who spent nine years in the position and consistently and effectively advocated for the rights of people with disability. Prior to that he held the position of Human Rights Commissioner for four years and Race Discrimination Commissioner for two years. Mr Innes spoke passionately about his role as Disability Commissioner in an address to the National Press Club as he stepped down from the role. He urged government, the community and the disability sector to commit to more jobs, more equal justice and a community attitude which celebrates and enhances the contribution of people with disabilities. Read his address here. The opening of Livvi's Cafe is one small step towards achieving this. Mayor Felicity-ann Lewis
President | | |
| | Last week the Senate Education and Employment References Committee released reports on its two childcare inquiries. Delivery of quality and affordable early childhood education and care services recommended that the government continue with implementation of the National Quality Framework (NQF); provide additional resources to small rural and regional early childhood services; reinstate the Early Years Quality Fund; and for the government to initiate an immediate review of the low wages in the early childhood and education sector. Immediate future of the childcare sector in Australia recommended that the government rescind the proposed changes to Early Childhood Education and Care funding, particularly the Child Care Benefit; restore the Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance (JETCCFA) to a maximum 50 hours; and maintain the National Partnership agreements to guarantee universal access for 4 year olds. | | | | | Following the repeal of the Carbon Tax in the Senate last week, ALGA has sought advice from the ACCC and the Environment Department regarding the implications of the repeal of the Carbon price for local government. ALGA has sought clarification in three areas in particular, on rates, landfills which are council owned and managed and landfills which council outsources. ALGA is also seeking legal advice that will be provided to state local government associations and councils once it has been received. | | | | | As part of Budget 2014-15 the Australian Government is providing $15 million over three years to states and territories through the National Bushfire Mitigation Programme (NBMP). This funding is intended to support bushfire mitigation activities that reduce the impact of bushfires, strengthen existing fire management practices and build strategies that address bushfire risks. The Attorney-General's Department will be consulting with state and territory representatives and operational agencies on the new program . AGD will commence discussions in the week beginning 4 August 2014 with a view to determining eligible projects and negotiating a finalised project agreement with jurisdictional representatives by early September 2014. | | | | | The most extensive network of pedestrian braille signs in Australia will soon be rolled-out, linking the entire City of Sydney through prominent, interactive and easy-to-follow signs and messages. The roll out of the new-look signs follows a trial at Circular Quay, where elements such as text, font size, colours, legibility and layout were tested. As part of the first stage of the project, some 38 prototypes of the new tactile signs will be installed along one of the city's busy pedestrian routes in the city centre. Results of this first stage will be used to refine the design before the full roll-out of an estimated 2,000 signs at all signalised pedestrian crossings across the City of Sydney's 26 square kilometre local government area. Vision Australia and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT were consulted during the design phase to create suitable tactile elements. The designs were also reviewed by the City's own access and disability panel. | | | | | The Australian Government will hit the road in August to talk to Australian communities about getting involved in the National Landcare Programme. Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, and Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said from 4 August, community information sessions would be held in capital cities and regional centres across the country telling people about the opportunities on offer in the National Landcare Programme and how to get involved in local projects. Minister Hunt said the information sessions would be held in every capital city as well as ten regional centres, so that farmers, environmental groups, local Landcare bodies and natural resource management organisations could have a say about how the National Landcare Programme could benefit their local area. "We're keen to get as many views as we can so a consultation survey will also be available online for all Australians to have their say on the National Landcare Programme," Minister Hunt said. "We want to work with regional natural resource management organisations, Landcare groups, community organisations and individuals to deliver simple, local and long-term solutions to environmental challenges." Minister Joyce said the online consultation would make it easier for those in regional and remote Australia to have their voices heard. "The Government is committed to empowering local communities to undertake projects with longterm benefits, based on local and regional priorities." "The consultation survey is a great opportunity for communities to help shape the programme in their region and I encourage people to participate in this process," Minister Joyce said. The Government will also shortly announce details of funding for future small projects and a oneoff grants programme to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Landcare. Information on the consultation survey and community sessions is available here. | | | | | The Abbott Government is cracking down on dodgy child care claims with a new dedicated payment compliance taskforce unveiled on 21 July. Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley said the new Child Care Payments Compliance Branch would create an intelligence network seeking out non-compliant services through a combination of targeted investigations into suspicious claims, random checks, forensic data analysis and better education. She said the new taskforce was now in place and services were on notice. "This new dedicated child care payment taskforce is aimed at cracking down on dodgy practices and claims whilst also deterring them from occurring in the first place." Ms Ley said the Child Care Payments Compliance Branch was now in place and included three new teams with dedicated compliance resources: - Serious Non-compliance Task Force is a dedicated team of the Department of Education's top compliance case managers from across its National and State Networks that are working together to conduct a concerted compliance effort on services at high risk of serious noncompliance.
- Compliance Strategy and Intelligence Team is a dedicated internal team focussing on forensic data interrogation and analysis, business intelligence, stakeholder and risk management to increase proactive identification of suspicious claims and support major operations with evidence and intelligence; and
- Compliance Operations Team is focussed on reducing systemic non-compliance issues across the child care sector through deterrence measures such as active random checks and greater education around the rules.
Ms Ley said there would also be closer intelligence sharing between the Department of Education and other agencies and jurisdictions, such as the Australian Tax Office, the Department of Human Services - who issue child care payments to parents - and State and Territory regulators. Parents and services can report any suspect activities to Department of Education on 1800 664231 or at tipoffline@education.gov.au. | | | | | The Federal Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce launched the annual Heywire competition and called for all young regional Australians to share their story. Now in its 17th year, ABC Radio's Heywire initiative provides a platform for young Australians aged between 16-22 to submit stories about their life, and issues affecting their community. Winning stories are featured on the ABC, and each winner receives a trip to the Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra. 2013 Heywire winner Ben Galea, who wrote a story about floods in his town of Waterloo Qld, says the Heywire Summit was a life-changing experience. The winning entrants from Heywire 2014 will travel to Canberra in February 2015 for the week-long Heywire Regional Youth Summit, where they will share experiences, collaborate with peers, gain leadership skills and develop ideas for change. The Heywire Regional Youth Summit culminates in a public forum held at Parliament House, with the winners pitching their ideas to politicians, policy makers and funding bodies. More information on Heywire. Entries close September 16, 2014. | | | | | The Fair Play seminar, to be held at the State Library of Victoria on Monday, November 3rd, is about games, play, innovation, community-building, imagination and learning. Games and play have been part of human culture since before the written word, but despite those ancient roots are driving a Cambrian explosion of new technologies and cultural forms - both electronic (aka videogames) and non-electronic. They are also immensely powerful ways to engage the members of a community, both with an organisation and - just as importantly - with each other, as they are an inherently participatory artform. The seminar seeks to bring participants from across the cultural sector - schools, libraries, arts, academia, policy and funding bodies, etc - to discuss and plan how shift our thinking and our systems to make the most of the unprecedented opportunities Australian communities are offered by the recent resurgence in games and play. Councils interested in attending the seminar should register their interest here. | | | | | The International Water Centre is currently offering a range of scholarships for Australian water professionals interested in joining either the Water Leadership Program or Master of Integrated Water Management next year. IWC is currently offering several scholarships for the Master of Integrated Water Management next year. The program is designed to equip future water leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to create innovative, 'whole-of-water-cycle' solutions to local and global water challenges. The degree is co-badged and co-taught by IWC's four founding member universities: The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Monash University and The University of Western Australia. The next intake will be Semester 1, 2015. IWC is also offering a number of Water Leadership Program (WLP) Scholarships. Designed for emerging water leaders at the project to middle management level, the IWC Water Leadership Program helps participants to develop the abilities they need to exert influence, drive change and advance challenging integrated water management projects. The 2014/15 program will start in December and run for nine months with two face-to-face intensive sessions in Brisbane and various distance/online elements including coaching. For more information click here. | | | | | COTA, the Council on the Ageing held a one day national policy forum in Canberra on Tuesday, 22 July to look at planning for Australia's ageing population. The forum brought together older people, carers, policymakers, academics, consumer advocates, aged care service providers and other stakeholders to discuss how the nation can better plan for the changes needed for building an Australia that really is for all ages. ALGA also attended the forum. By 2056 one in four people living in Australia will be over the age of 65 and 1.8 million of them will be over 85. COTA chief executive Ian Yates said the COTA National Policy Forum focused on how ready Australia is to harness the potential of older people and meet the challenge of our rapidly ageing society. For more information click here. | | |
| | |  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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