Councils across the country held events honouring local women to celebrate this year's International Women's Day. Events ranged from breakfasts, exhibitions, photo competitions, twilight suppers and panel discussions.

The Leichhardt Council marked the Day with its International Women's Day Honour Roll, which recognises the women in the Leichhardt community and acknowledges their contributions to the community, particularly to women's social justice and equality. 28 women were nominated with 10 of them added to the Honour Roll.

Held on the 8th of March each year, International Women's Day unites women across the world and celebrates the contribution that women make to their workplaces, their families and their communities.

ALGA's booklet, Women in Politics, tells the stories of outstanding women and inspires other women to follow in their footsteps. With an estimated 27.3 per cent of councillors being women (in 2010), the booklet also encourages greater participation of women in political life in all levels of government. As the level of government closest to the community, it is important that councils reflect the communities they serve. Download the booklet for free on the ALGA website.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Disability Reform Council (the Council) recently met in Adelaide to discuss a number of issues critical for the successful roll-out, and full transition to, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The Council confirmed that bilateral agreements for the NDIS transition to full scheme are now in place for New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory, providing coverage for 64 per cent of the estimated 460,000 people expected to be eligible for the scheme.

Transition commenced in South Australia on 1 February 2016 with children aged under 14 continuing to be the first group to access the NDIS.

From 1 July 2016, transition will commence in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, and by the end of the 2016-17 year, it is expected that around 140,000 participants will have entered the scheme.

Active negotiations are continuing with Queensland and the Northern Territory, while the trial in Barkly in the Northern Territory and the early transition sites in Queensland continue to be implemented.

More information is available in a communique issued by the Council at this link.

The Government has announced the appointment of the Hon Don Page, former member of the NSW Parliament for Ballina, as the new Chair of the Regional Development Australia (RDA) Northern Rivers Committee for a three-year term, and Mr David Gallagher as new Deputy Chair of the RDA Committee Far West for a two-year term.

Minister for Regional Development Fiona Nash and New South Wales Minister for Regional Development John Barilaro said RDA committees play a key role in growing stronger regions across the nation and ensuring that all three tiers of government work together as productively as possible.

The committees assist local community stakeholders to develop project proposals and direct them to appropriate public and/or private funding sources--including the $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund.

The committees also provide advice to the Government on critical issues affecting each region and are an important mechanism to increase access to Australian Government programmes in their communities.

For more information and the latest news from the national RDA network visit rda.gov.au.

As the inquiry into the role of transport connectivity on stimulating development and economic activity moves to Melbourne on Friday, a key focus will be on how investments in transport assets could be offset by the increase in property value along transport corridors.

Chair of the House of Representatives Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee, Mr John Alexander MP, emphasised that transport connectivity was not an end in itself--it was a means of achieving urban renewal and regional development.

"Transport connectivity makes our cities more liveable and our regions more accessible, while also increasing the value of the property along transport corridors and adjacent to transport assets, such as rail and bus stations," Mr Alexander said.

"Value capture is about using some of that increased value to pay for the infrastructure that created it, with even modest gains in property value potentially creating a significant funding base. This could be utilised to build transport infrastructure projects from small light rail services to interstate high speed rail connectivity."

The Melbourne hearing details are available on the Inquiry website. The public hearing will also be webcast live at http://www.aph.gov.au/live

The Government's National Carbon Offset Standard certification system, which recognises carbon neutral businesses, products, services and events will be expanded to include cities, precincts and buildings.

The expansion will enable cities, precincts and buildings to be certified as carbon neutral, with an expert committee established with aim of having the first officially certified and operating carbon neutral precinct or city by January 2017. The committee will also work towards a carbon neutral certification of Australia's buildings.

The first meeting of the Expert Committee is planned for April 2016 and members will include representatives from big cities, Barangaroo Delivery Authority, the Green Building Council of Australia, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

For more information on the National Carbon Offset Standard, contact ncos@environment.gov.au

An annual survey of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in local councils has found that, while a capability gap between councils of different sizes remains, small and medium sized agencies have expanded their capabilities while containing or reducing ICT costs.

Assessment criteria of the annual benchmarking of ICT productivity in local councils included several factors - ICT capabilities, delivery of ICT-enabled projects, quality of ICT services and staff satisfaction with ICT performance.

There was no standout performer this year, but several councils reported good results in different categories. For example, Albury City (NSW) has advanced to a higher performance quartile and, at the same time, reduced their ICT spend per employee, which is now about 20 per cent less than the average expenditure. 

Over the next 12 months, the average ICT budget is expected to grow by about 4 per cent, with top priority given to 'digital government' projects. Councils are also planning to increase investments in revisions of their ICT architecture to reflect the growing number of IT applications, adoption of cloud-based technologies, and increased volumes and data management requirements.

If you would like more information, please contact Leila Abbasova for a copy of the report.