 | |  ALGA President Mayor Troy Pickard raised local government's concerns about the cut to the indexation of the Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) in a meeting with Dr Peter Hendy, the Member for Eden-Monaro, at Parliament House this week. The meeting, which is part of an ongoing number of meetings Mayor Pickard is having with Federal MPs, focused on ALGA's priorities in the coming year, particularly on the impact of the 3-year freeze in the indexation of FAGs on councils. The freeze is estimated to cost councils $925 million over the period of 2017-18 and its impact will be felt most in rural and regional councils, which are most dependent on the grants. ALGA has called for the restoration of indexation as soon as possible. Mayor Pickard also met with Bennelong MP, Mr John Alexander, to discuss issues around the infrastructure challenge facing Local Government and the opportunities for a closer partnership between Local Government and the Australian Government in the provision of infrastructure. ALGA has called for a permanent doubling of Roads to Recovery funding, a program focusing on strategic regional freight roads to address first- and last-mile issues and a new Community Infrastructure Program to stimulate local economies and help councils address their infrastructure backlogs. | | | | |  ALGA highlighted the main taxation challenges facing Local Government this week during a taxation roundtable at the Commonwealth Treasury in Canberra on Tuesday. The roundtable, convened by officials developing the Taxation White Paper, was attended by a small number of peak organisations covering industry, the housing sector and the finance and superannuation industries. ALGA President Mayor Troy Pickard stressed the importance of property rates as Local Government’s only tax base and drew attention to key issues including the growing concerns over rate capping and exemptions and the encroachment onto the rates base by other levels of government through levies. The Taxation White Paper is being developed in parallel with the Reform of Federation White Paper; an Issue Paper was released by the Treasury on 1 May with submissions due by 1 June. ALGA is finalising its submission, which will provide more detail on concerns about the impact of rate capping and the growing level of rate exemption sought by organisations across the country. | | | | |  The 2015 National General Assembly of Local Government is just over two weeks away and it's looking like it will stimulate strong discussion about the place of local government, both in our community and the Federation, as well as provide an opportunity to think about the future. ALGA is pleased to confirm that the new leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Richard Di Natale will be addressing the NGA at noon on Tuesday 16 June. One of the most interesting and popular features at last year's NGA was the panel session featuring elected members from across the country. It was an opportunity for delegates to not only listen to the experiences from diverse regions, but to contribute their own views and knowledge. ALGA is pleased to continue the panel session this year, with speakers focusing on how local government deals with challenges, whether they be sudden natural disasters or the gradual changes in local industries. Being the level closest to the community, councils are often the first port of call for people in distress. This and the many other interesting sessions at the NGA are designed to inform and develop thinking across the sector and rely on delegates playing an active role in highlighting not only the common experiences of local government, but also how geography and other factors create differences. It's not too late to have your voices heard in these sessions and during debate on issues of national importance. Get more information on the program and speakers here. | | |
| |  The opportunity for tax reform has been a major focus for me this week as I attended a small roundtable on tax reform convened by the Treasury in Canberra on Tuesday and as ALGA put the finishing touches to its submission on the Treasury's Taxation Issues Paper. The discussions at the roundtable, and a small number of other roundtables, together with submissions received on the Issues Paper, will inform the development of a Green Paper on Taxation Reform which the Treasury expects to release towards the end of this year. I am keen to ensure that Local Government's concerns and interests are reflected as much as possible in any Tax Review. While there is a tendency in tax reform to focus on issues such as income and company tax cuts and possible changes to the GST, we must not forget that a key outcome of reform should be a greater alignment, where possible, between tax revenue raising and spending responsibilities. Local Government spends in excess of $32 billion annually on services and infrastructure for local communities but we raise just $14 billion in rate revenue. Our fiscal challenges are made that much harder because councils are responsible for more than $350 billion in non financial assets - about a third of all such assets across government, and yet we raise just 3.4% of taxes. We are constantly fighting to maintain the integrity of our rates base against State Government rate capping, the imposition of state levies through rates notices and against increasing demands for rate exemptions from not for profit organisations. In addition, some councils also face special issues such as the refusal of lessees of Commonwealth land to make appropriate rate equivalent payments. All of these are issues we must put on the agenda in any tax discussion. Our objective must be an outcome which improves Local Government’s access to the revenue we need to meet the needs of local communities, either through reform to the way we raise taxes or reform to the way tax revenue is allocated between the three levels of government. Mayor Troy Pickard President | | |
| | On 18 March 2015 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement initiated an inquiry into crystal methamphetamine and the committee is seeking submissions from interested parties, including Local Government, addressing some or all of the inquiry's Terms of Reference. The committee encourages the lodgement of submissions in electronic form through the committee's website. All submissions should include the author's full name, phone number and postal address on a separate covering letter. Submissions are due by Wednesday, 10 June 2015. Read the Terms of Reference of the inquiry here. | | | | | Infrastructure planning and heavy vehicle road reform were two of the important topics for discussion on the agenda of the Transport and Infrastructure Council, which met last Friday in Sydney. During the meeting, the council acknowledged the work by jurisdictions in supporting the implementation to date of the Infrastructure Reform Agenda, including the development of infrastructure project and cost benchmarking analysis. It was agreed that developing longer term reforms to improve selection, funding, delivery and management of major infrastructure projects was fundamental to growing productivity. The council also noted the progress in implementing the initial measures agreed by Council Ministers in May 2014 on heavy vehicle road reform. The first outputs of the initial measures will be delivered to the council in November 2015 and will include a national four-year forward road expenditure plan and heavy vehicle road asset service standards publication covering key freight routes. Other issues discussed at the meeting included heavy vehicle regulation, rail regulation, the national transport commission review and the national cycling strategy, among other topics. Download and read the Communique that came out of the meeting. | | | | | Pedestrians, comprising the largest single road user group because almost everyone is a pedestrian at some point, are identified as a vulnerable road user group in the National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020. In the event of a crash, they have little to no protection compared to other road users. The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development recently released a paper presenting the latest available Australian and international statistics on the road safety of pedestrians. The data found that in Australia there has been a consistent downward trend in total road fatalities, including pedestrian fatalities. Since 2005, pedestrian fatalities as a percentage of all road fatalities have remained relatively stable. Read the pedestrians and road safety paper here. | | | | | Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson has asked the Joint Standing Committee On Electoral Matters to look into claims of intimidation outside election polling booths and the handing out of misleading leaflets. Senator Ronaldson made the reference in response to community concerns about the conduct of campaigners at polling places. The inquiry would look at the distribution of how-to-vote cards and campaigning by organisations other than political parties. It would also examine allegations about intimidation and the provision of misleading information. | | | | | The Abbott Government on Monday announced the launch of a national public consultation to inform development of a new Disability Employment Framework. A series of forums will be held around Australia to better understand what is and is not working in current disability employment programmes and what the Government can do to improve employment rates. An Issues Paper has been released to encourage discussion about the current approach and the best ways to support people with disability to find long-term, meaningful employment. Go to www.engage.dss.gov.au to download the Issues Paper and to find out how you can get involved Assistant Minister Fifield has indicated that employment of people with disability will be a priority in the next 12 months. | | | | | In 2014, an independent expert panel chaired by Mr Dick Warburton, undertook a review of the operation, costs and benefits of the Renewable Energy Target scheme (RET), recommending that the RET be scaled back. Following its consideration of the panel's report and subsequent negotiations with the Opposition and cross bench senators, the Government has decided to make changes to the RET scheme, which it believes will better reflect market conditions and ensure renewable energy continues to play a significant role in Australia's energy mix and in achieving Australia's 2020 emissions target. The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015 amends the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 and makes consequential amendments to the Climate Change Authority Act 2011 to implement the Government's proposed changes to the RET. Download the Government's Explanatory Memorandum of the changes here. | | | | | The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has developed a national data standards strategy and implementation plan for the education and training sectors, covering the early childhood education, school education, VET and higher education sectors. It undertook the project in 2013-14 to enhance the comparability, quality and coherence of information across the education and training sectors, including early childhood education, school education, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education. The strategy aims to provide a vision and goal for education and training data, and priority areas to achieve a national education and training data standards strategy and implementation plan. Read more in the project report here, which summarises the activities and process undertaken to develop the strategy and implementation plan. | | | | | Regional Conference - Broome Staircase to the Moon, held from 1 - 3 July will explore ways of implementing visionary plans for the development of Northern Australia, but the issues discussed will be relevant Australia-wide. The jam-packed program will focus on the themes of People, Place and Prosperity and includes interesting speakers such as Daniela Tonon, Special Counsel Herbert Smith Freehills, who will talk about navigating the regulatory approval process. The conference will also include study tours of heritage, town revitalisation and tourism development projects and a workshop training day titled Making better planning decisions. Click here for more information about the conference. | | | | | The Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards has put the call out for nominations of local programs that have reduced crime or violence and helped the community become a safer place. Programs of all sizes are encouraged to nominate, particularly programs that focus on violence against women and children, and target technology-enabled crime such as fraud and scams. Nominations close on 17 July 2015, so for more information on how to nominate visit http://www.aic.gov.au/, email acvpa@aic.gov.au or call 02 6260 9216. | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |  Australian Landscape Conference 2015 ART AND NATURE: Conflict and Harmony in the Landscape With a stunning line up of key international and thought provoking speakers, this conference is not to be missed! Speakers this year are particularly relevant for Local Governments with their focus on addressing challenges of increased urbanisation. Civic landscapes, design of green networks for marginalised communities and sustainability are integral to the speakers' philosophies. With increasing awareness by planners that art, civic design and stimulating landscaping can all promote urban renewal, this conference is perfectly timed. The conference begins with Martin Rein-Cano (Berlin) who argues that English style landscaping is boring and that we must inject a much greater artistic impulse into our landscaping. There are 12 brilliant presentations (10 international and 2 Australian) and the ALC provides a unique five day program. No better environment exists to meet like-minded people, networking and exchanging ideas than at ALC 2015. With the 16 practical workshops (four by international speakers), the ever-popular Friday garden tour, relaxed Saturday night speakers’ dinner and the ALC is a must attend conference for planners, gardeners, designers, managers and anyone with an interest in landscape design! Early bird registration (before June 30) now open. CPD points apply. www.landscapeconference.com Melbourne Convention Centre
September 18 - 22, 2015
Registrations: Sue Forge- e: sueforge@icloud.com 043 818 1578 |
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