 | |  Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the Australian of the Year awards on Monday night in Canberra, with the 2016 Australian of the Year award going to former Army chief David Morrison. Local government was strongly represented in the Australia Day honours list through past and present local government councillors and mayors. Those honoured by being made a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) were: - The Hon David Mylor Evans, VIC
- For significant service to the Parliament and community of Victoria, to local government, and to aged care, education, and land conservation groups. - Mr Maxwell Graham Fehring, VIC
- For significant service to the dairy industry through a range of roles, to local government, and to the community of the Gannawarra shire. - Mr Brian Joseph O'Connor, NSW
- For significant service to the petroleum transport industry through emergency response safety training, and to the community of Yass. - Mr Napau Pedro Stephen, QLD
- For significant service to local government in the Torres Shire, and to the community through various advisory, social welfare and health organisations. The following were recognised as recipients of the Medal in the Order of Australia (OAM): - Ms Judith Margaret Williams, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community of Yass. - Mr Robert John Tremain, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community of Warialda. - Mrs Jean Elsie Sorley, QLD
- For service to local government, and to the community of the Western Downs. - Mr Peter William Solomon, SA
- For service to local government, and to the community of Port Augusta. - Pastor Linda Elizabeth Sivyer, QLD
- For service to local government, and to the community of Aurukun. - Mr John Seymour Shaw, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community. - Mr John Chester Sandland, SA
- For service to local government, and to the community of Peterborough. - The late Mr Harvey Maxwell Rose, NSW
- For service to local government and to the community. - For service to local government, and to the Chinese community of Victoria. - Mr Michael John Morland, VIC
- For service to local government, and to the community. - Dr Creston Ivan Magasdi, SA
- For service to local government, and to the community. - Mr Robert John McDonald, QLD
- For service to local government, and to the beef cattle industry. - Mr Brian William McCormack, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community of the Upper Lachlan Shire. - Mr Geoffrey Raymond Lyons, TAS
- For service to local government, to the community of West Tamar, and to surf lifesaving. - Mr Peter Adderley Kearney, TAS
- For service to local government, to education, and to the community of West Tamar. - Mr Graeme William Hanger, NSW
- For service to the community of Bathurst. - Mr Mark John Greenhill, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community of the Blue Mountains. - Mr Neville Wayne Goodwin, VIC
- For service to local government, and to the community of the Bass Coast. - Mr Dean Charles Dolling, SA
- For service to local government, and to the community of Port Broughton. - Mr John Richard Coventry, QLD
- For service to local government, and to the community. - For service to local government in South Australia, and to the community. - For service to local government, and to the community of the West Kimberley. - Mr Peter Terence Blackmore, NSW
- For service to local government, and to the community of Maitland. Public Service Medals (PSM) were received by: - Mr Brian William Bell, NSW
- For outstanding public service to local government in New South Wales. - Mr Paul Anthony Mann, NSW
- For outstanding public service to local government in regional areas in New South Wales. - Mr Glen William Potter, QLD
- For outstanding public service to local government in Queensland. - Mr Gregory Keith Trevaskis, WA
- For outstanding public service to local government in Western Australia, and to the community. The Australia Day Honours list can be read in full here. | | | | |  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development the Hon Warren Truss MP and Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister the Hon Michael McCormack MP this week announced that regional communities will be asked to contribute to a revamped regional development policy paper to be drafted this year. The nationwide discussions will inform the paper's foundations, in which the areas of focus will include: - reviewing current government policies and their impact on regional Australia
- gathering ideas on how the government can work to grow regional economies and create jobs, including capitalising on the ideas boom and the innovation agenda
- celebrating the benefits of regional living.
Minister Truss said the policy will set out a long-term vision for regional Australia and the grassroots approach would be central to the development of the policy paper. "These discussions will put regional communities, including Indigenous communities, firmly in the driver's seat by focusing on growing opportunities through nurturing innovation and investing in infrastructure," he said. "More often than not, the opportunities and solutions identified at the local level to meet local needs are the best." Mr McCormack will begin his series of meetings in the coming weeks with the first visits planned for Tasmania and Western Australia. More information is available in a media release from Minister Truss. | | | | |  Registrations to attend the 2016 National General Assembly of Local Government to be held in Canberra from 19 - 22 June are now open. The theme for the Assembly is Partners in an Innovative and Prosperous Australia, which will focus on debating and discussing the role that local government plays in boosting productivity and showcasing innovation and best-practice. The NGA brings our sector together, providing a platform for thought-provoking discussion and serious consideration of the development of policies on issues of national significance. Register your attendance at this year's NGA on our website. | | |
| |  Happy New Year and welcome to the first ALGA News edition for 2016! With a Federal election set to take place sometime this year, the coming months offer an opportunity to pursue Local Government's needs at the Federal level. The team at ALGA are determined to drive the advocacy for the Local Government sector, including continuing our push to permanently double Roads to Recovery funding, restore the indexation of Financial Assistance Grants as soon as possible and make the Bridges Renewal Program permanent. This year, ALGA will also be making the case that a constructive partnership between Federal and Local Government is vital if we are to capitalise on economic opportunities by prioritising investment in infrastructure and job-creation initiatives that will support the sustainability of local communities, particularly in rural and regional areas, and create a stronger economy. We will continue our advocacy for a Local Government Community Infrastructure Program aimed at the renewal and maintenance of existing ageing community infrastructure. ALGA set out the case for such a program at last year's National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Ballarat and the document is available on the ALGA website. It is important that Local Government's voice is heard during the policy debates that will take place in the lead up to the Federal election, and we will aim to keep you informed about our ongoing advocacy work. This week, we also celebrate the achievements of individuals from across the nation who were honoured in the Australia Day honours list and I would like to extend warm congratulations to my past and present Local Government colleagues who were recognised with awards. Their commitment to our communities is incredible and I thank them for their tireless efforts. Mayor Troy Pickard
ALGA President | | |
| | Round Three of the National Stronger Regions Fund (NSRF) has opened for applications from local governments and incorporated not-for-profits for priority infrastructure projects in regional communities. Applications will be open between 15 January and 15 March 2016. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development the Hon Warren Truss MP has encouraged applicants to put forward projects that demonstrate strong economic outcomes and address disadvantage, to give themselves the best opportunity for success. "Funding is targeted to ensure successful projects will deliver strong outcomes for local communities," Minister Truss said. Grants must be between $20,000 and $10 million and grant funding must be matched in cash on at least a dollar-for-dollar basis except for those applicants in remote and very remote locations. For Round Three, these applicants need to contribute at least one dollar for every three dollars of NSRF funding sought. Further information on the programme, including on the application process for Round Three, is available at: www.infrastructure.gov.au/nsrf. | | | | | The Australian Government recently announced that it is investing $100 million to fund 164 bridges to deliver much-needed economic and safety benefits to communities around Australia under Round Two of the Bridges Renewal Programme. Only councils were eligible to apply for this round and 270 applications were received seeking around $220 million in government funding, with 141 being successful. The $100 million in this round of the programme will be matched by local councils and/or state governments and is in addition to the government's $111 million committed under Round One of the programme. More on the Bridges Renewal Programme, including a full list of successful Round Two projects and details on the application process, is available online at: www.infrastructure.gov.au/bridges. | | | | | New information about the progress of our regions is available in the second edition of Progress in Australian Regions - Yearbook 2015, released by the government late last year. The Progress in Australian Regions report uses social, economic, environmental and governance indicators to chart local and national trends. The report reveals that regional progress, population growth, economic expansion and the increasing demand for transport continue to be among the most important issues driving public policy development. The report also showed there had been progress in many domains--including outcomes in international trade, health and the development of skills of young people. Other findings included: - Outside of the major cities, port activity was highly concentrated in the iron ore ports in Port Hedland and Dampier in northern Western Australia.
- The value of freight though regional and remote ports grew at rates that rival ports in major cities, with a total increase of $65 billion.
- The health of people in regional Australia continues to improve in some key indicators; overall, life expectancy increased by 0.8 years to 82.1 years.
Governments, private organisations and the community will be able to use the information in this publication to identify trends that can inform policy development and investment. Progress in Australian Regions: Yearbook 2015 is available to access online at: www.infrastructure.gov.au/regional-yearbook. | | | | | A total of 54 applications have been received as part of the current round of feasibility funding under the Australian Government's $500 million National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, which closed for applications on 21 January 2016. In total, more than $87 million in Australian Government funding has been requested by the states and territories and their project partners to accelerate the planning and development for nationally-significant water infrastructure projects that will support the expansion of regional and rural economies. The fund will support water infrastructure projects across the country--including new and augmented water infrastructure, such as dams, pipelines and managed aquifer recharge projects--to secure the nation's water supplies and deliver strong economic benefits while also protecting the environment. An independent expert panel has been engaged to evaluate the applications over the coming weeks and an announcement of the successful projects will soon be made by Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP. More information of the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund is available at agriculture.gov.au/water-infrastructure. | | | | | The Department of Communications has issued a Mobile Black Spot 101 guide, which outlines the 10 most important things people need to know about the programme. Among the list is the map of the mobile black spot locations that have been reported to date and the locations that will receive mobile base stations under Round 1, which is available on the NationalMap. The list also includes facts about the programme such as that almost 500 new mobile base stations will be rolled out under Round 1, and that once the database closes and the Round 2 programme guidelines are released in early 2016, the mobile network operators will be asked to nominate the locations on the database where they propose to deliver improved mobile coverage. Find out more about what you do-or don't-know about the Mobile Black Spot Programme on the Department of Communications website. | | | | | The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has released its audit report on the design and implementation of the first funding round of the Bridges Renewal Programme. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development's design and implementation of the first funding round of the programme. The report made a critical conclusion that, although the programme had both productivity and community access objectives, projects seeking to improve community access were disadvantaged in the application and assessment approach and so they were less successful in obtaining funding. The Australian Government had intended for the programme to address the backlog of deteriorating local bridges that were beyond the financial resources of councils to renew, and this was dealt with in the second round of the Bridges Renewal Programme which was consequently open only to local government. If you are interested in reading the ANAO report, it is available in full on its website. | | | | | The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has released heat maps for all Heavy Vehicle National Law jurisdictions to identify hot spots for road manager consent. More than 12 months of data for cross-border journeys has been collated and compared to show: - popular sections of the road network for access applications
- the average time taken for road managers to respond to an access request
The maps indicate that while some areas receive a high volume of applications, they have effective processes and relationships in place to ensure swift turnaround. Using this information, the NHVR and road managers can compare permit requests and work with neighbouring councils to identify infrastructure bottlenecks and target spots for improvements to the road network. The maps are available from the local government resources section of the NHVR website. | | | | | The Productivity Commision's final report on Public Safety Mobile Broadband was released by the Government earlier this month. It looked into the best way to secure a mobile broadband capability to meet the long term needs of Australia's public safety agencies (PSAs) - the police, fire, ambulance and emergency services. Mobile broadband technology represents a significant opportunity to save lives and property, improve officer safety and drive productivity gains in the delivery of public safety, allowing frontline officers to access high-speed video, images, location tracking and much more. The report evaluates a range of options for delivering a public safety mobile broadband capability to Australian public safety agencies, including use of a dedicated network, an existing commercial network, and combinations (or hybrids) of the two. The report found that commercial carriers are the most cost effective option for delivering a public safety mobile broadband capability to public safety agencies. The Commission undertook an illustrative evaluation of the costs of several specific delivery options over a 20-year period and found that the cost of a dedicated network is estimated to be in the order of $6.2 billion, compared to $2.2 billion for a commercial option. Even the lowest-cost hybrid option is about 32 per cent more expensive than a commercial option. The Productivity Commissioner, Jonathan Coppel, said: "A commercial option is substantially lower cost because considerable existing infrastructure could be used or shared, meaning significantly less new investment is required." Read the full report on the Productivity Commission website. | | | | | Distance education students in regional and remote Australia will have access to dedicated broadband capacity - outside of their home broadband quota - and faster download speeds when the NBN launches its Sky Muster service this year. Following work with departments of education and key stakeholders, NBN will be consulting with industry on plans to provide a separate 50GB monthly data allowance to eligible distance education students. Further trials and developments are planned for dedicated education video services over the coming year. Launched into space in October last year, the Sky Muster satellite will help bridge the digital divide for people learning remotely and will also provide high-capacity broadband service to more than 250,000 homes and businesses when it begins transmitting this year. More information about the data boost is available on the NBN website. To stay informed on the key milestones and developments relating to the NBN rollout, sign up to its new Connected Communities newsletter at this link. | | | | | The 11th Australian Government ICT Awards recognise and promote excellence, innovation and professionalism in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) across local, state and federal government agencies. There are two streams in the Awards program, the Excellence in eGovernment Awards which recognise specific project initiatives, and the ICT Professional of the Year Awards which recognise individual and/or team based practices. Since 2006, the Department of Finance has administered the awards and every year since then, local government has been recognised for its achievements in the eGovernment arena: - 2014 Cardinia Shire Council VIC, City of Burnside SA, City of Charles Sturt SA, City of Greater Geelong VIC, City of Mandurah WA, City of Perth WA
- 2013 Adelaide City Council SA, Kiama Municipal Council NSW, Sunshine Coast Council QLD, Wollondilly Shire Council NSW
- 2012 City of Melbourne VIC, City of Bayswater WA, Sunshine Coast Regional Council QLD
- 2011 Local Government and Shires Associations NSW, Wyndham City Council, VIC
- 2010 City of Marion SA, City of Cockburn WA, Rockdale City Council NSW
- 2009 Tablelands Regional Council QLD
- 2008 Rockdale City Council NSW
- 2007 Hornsby Shire Council NSW
- 2006 Hobsons Bay City Council VIC and Shellharbour City Council NSW.
Nominations for the 2016 awards are now open so nominate your council ICT initiative before the nominations close at 11:00pm AEDST, Monday, 29 February 2016. More information on eligibility criteria and the nomination process is available on the Department of Finance website. | | |
| | | | | | | |  ANROWS Inaugural National Research Conference on Violence against Women and their Children Local government plays an important role in prevention of violence against women. "Statistics on the extent of domestic, family and sexual violence against women and their children are compelling and all the more confronting because these figures are increasing at the same time as Australia is making a major commitment to reverse the situation. This requires coordinated activity by governments, service providers and professionals, researchers and the community in general." Emeritus Professor Anne R Edwards, Chair, ANROWS. ANROWS - a federal, state & territory initiative under the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022, is holding its inaugural National Research Conference at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne from 23-25 February 2016. Policy-makers, participants from the three tiers of government, practitioners and researchers will be encouraged to share experiences, ideas and advice on how this research can drive evidence based policy development, service responses and practice. Register Now: www.anrowsconference.org.au or email caryn.morgan@anrows.org.au. More information on ANROWS? www.anrows.org.au |
| | | | | |  Is your Council at risk? According to the latest research on procurement in Local Government, while most Councils have procurement policies, they have very limited transparency, governance and probity over purchasing BELOW the tender threshold. A recent white paper produced on Local Government procurement spend demonstrated that; - 80% of Local Government purchasing occurs BELOW the tender threshold
- 93% of Council RFQs (requests for quote) are managed via a manual email process
- 57% of Councils acknowledge it is 'difficult' or 'very difficult' to demonstrate governance and probity in procurement below tender threshold
- 50% said the manual purchasing process is the greatest issue in the way buyers obtain quotes
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