Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addresses the Australian Council of Local Government - Welcome Dinner
E&OE
Geoff Lake President of the ALGA, John Stanhope the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, Anthony Albanese otherwise known officially and formally as Albo Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Professor Allan Fells Dean of the Australian New Zealand School of Government, Professor Ross Milbourne Vice Chancellor of UTS, Professor Stephen Parker Vice Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Mayor, Shire Presidents, Representatives of Local Government, Parliamentary colleagues and supporters of the Queensland team.
Can I begin by acknowledging the first Australians on whose lands we meet and whose cultures we celebrate as the oldest continuing cultures in human history. Just reflect on that for one moment because it was not far from here that the apology to indigenous Australians was first delivered and as we reflect on the extraordinary history of this country's aboriginality it is, I believe, a great gift to all of us that we share this continent with the first Australians.
To think for a moment about the words I just said - the oldest continuing cultures in human history. It doesn't matter where you go in the planet today, the oldest continuing cultures in human history and we share this continent with these people of the dreaming, these custodians of the land and I think it is a great privilege and honour for us all.
Just earlier this evening I had the privilege, in this building also, welcoming their majesties the King and Queen of Spain and for the first time here in this building and the first time in the nation's capital our formal ceremonial welcomes to visiting heads of state and heads of Government now involve a traditional Aboriginal welcome. That's as it should be.
It is part of all of us as a nation being in this nation's future together because this is such a vast and vibrant land of such diversity but enriched enormously by its Aboriginality.
For those of you who have travelled far and wide, for example the ACT Chief Minister, to be here this evening, welcome to his fog. If you saw the weather this morning that's what Canberra is like most times between June, July and August. And for those of you who were very clever and wish to indicate to your colleagues in Canberra that you're definitely going to attend a meeting here, scheduled in the morning some time and promised faithfully you'll catch the morning flight anytime in the morning and you'll have a rolled gold excuse for never arriving. In fact I'm sure when they found the opportunity to decide on Canberra as the nation's capital back in 1913 there was only a passing reflection given to what Orville and Wilbur Wright were up to on the other side of the Pacific. Because the thought of actually having to have a place which was fog free, where you could land an aircraft every now and then between June, July and August was obviously not on the founding fathers' minds. Andrew Fisher, the Labor Prime Minister at the time was a man of great vision, planning Canberra's airport was not one of them.
Those of you who are here tonight, which is the vast bulk of you, you are here because you are to be engaged in an important dialogue for us which is how do we forge a new bond between the Federal Government and Local Government and one of the reasons tonight we have, I think, virtually all ministers from the cabinet here in this room tonight is because we want to make that happen. It's not just me up on the stage or the Minister for Local Government down at his table, it is, I see in front of me the Treasurer, I see the Attorney General, I see the Finance Minister, he's sitting on tablewhat table are you on Lindsay? Three. If you've got any money problems go over there. We call him Doctor No.
But also other ministers, the Minister for Small Business Craig Emerson I can see here and other ministers of the government and I have simply acknowledged those whom I can see from where I stand and beyond that the members of our parliamentary party who are here also, I hope seated as best they can with representatives from your part of Australia. And the purpose of this evening's gathering and what is happening of course in our activities tomorrow is not just to say that we wish to have a new engagement with Local Government but to get on with the business of doing it and that is why you have virtually every member of the cabinet here this evening.
You, as Local Government, I believe in our structure of National Government, are deserving of a particular respect. The business of Government is a tough business. Each of you have been elected to your positions. All of us virtually in this room have been elected to our positions. Obtaining the legitimacy that has come through elected office is a hard process.
In the case of Local Government you are also at the area and at the pointy end of an immediate delivery, of immediately accessible services to Australia's people. This puts you on the spot the whole time.
The folk that I've known in Local Government over the years, including a couple of uncles of mine who were loyal sons of the Country Party, and I just remember their lives though which is always spent on the phone dealing with one thing after another at a very, very local level. And those of you in Local Government today I know that things haven't changed a lot.
The immediacy, the accessibility of having to do it and having to deal with the problems of you know 'what night does the garbage go out, do the sprinklers turn on on this day or that day?' But these things are vitally important to Australia's people because it's about making life in our cities, life in our communities, life in our rural communities more liveable, more workable, more decent.
So as Prime Minister of the country my overriding message to you all this evening is that we respect what you do, not just because of your inherent legitimacy as being elective representatives but because of the immediacy of the services you deliver to the good people of Australia.
This partnership that we are forging with you will take time to unfold. I hope in the initial period we have demonstrated our bona fides and our good will.
Coming from our meeting at the end of last year and some of the allocations we made subsequent to that we wanted to partner with you in making a difference in this extraordinary event called the Global Economic Recession. And one of the reasons we chose to do that as those events unfolded was this - we know that in terms of providing local stimulus that you are the best and most efficient people at getting that stimulus out the door, whether it's in roads, in black spots or any other local project or construction project.
I was recently in Perth and with the Local Member Sharon Jackson looking at what we were going to do with a major re-development on the banks of the Swan River and I've seen so many of these right across so many of the Local Government authorities represented in this room this evening and this is good stuff, it means good things for those local communities but stepping back from it all, if you aggregate its impact it is good things for the national economy.
Ponder this for a moment, there are about 30 countries in the OECD, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation Development representing the advanced economies of the world, this country Australia at present, in the midst of the worst global recession in three quarters of a century, is the fastest growing of them all and it is because we as governments have decided to band together, to put aside our politics and whichever way the politics of your local authorities is constructed we get on with actually a much more important national purpose.
How do we underpin the national economy at a time when the private sector, because of reasons of global finance and the contraction of global trade, is in retreat?
And the good news is through your hard work on the ground as local authorities partnered with the support we've been able to provide nationally that we together have made a difference. It wouldn't be like that, we wouldn't be the country in the world with the fastest growth of the major advanced economies, with the second lowest unemployment of the major advanced economies and, I add, with the lowest debt of the major advanced economies as a proportion of GDP, were it not for our ability to work together because the spirit that I picked up in this room last year was very much one that I've expressed across the nation since then and it is as follows - 'in the midst of this great challenge, this great global economic challenge, we are all in this together and together we have made a difference.'
You'll be pleased to know that tonight is intended to be a set of brief remarks.
I've got one or two things extra to say and I will have more to say when I speak to you tomorrow. The second Australian Council of Local Government meeting comes at an important time.
While we have achieved many things since the inaugural council meeting last November we must sustain the momentum. Crucial to sustaining the momentum is to build a culture of excellence and a culture of improvement in local government. That's why we can celebrate tonight's earlier award winners, especially the national award winners Newcastle City Council in New South Wales, give them a cheer.
And Carpentaria Shire Council in my home state of Queensland - who are deserving of a double cheer.
Congratulations also to the category winners who have demonstrated excellence in an important range of areas from youth work to environmental sustainability, from crime prevention to strengthening our indigenous communities.
That's why last November I made a commitment to invest $8 million in establishing a Centre of Excellence for Local Government, a centre that will showcase innovation and advance best practice across Local Government and lift the sector's professionalism and profile.
The centre will assist with raising the sector's workforce capacity and addressing the problem of skill shortages that many councils have experienced in recent years. Tonight we deliver on our commitment to establish this centre of excellence for local government.
After a very competitive process that generated six separate tenders involving 21 Australian Universities as well as several vocational educational professional organisations, I'm pleased tonight to announce the winner of this tender. That winner is the consortium embracing the Australian and New Zealand School of Local Government, ANZSOG, Local Government Managers Australia and the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia Limited and led by the University of Technology Sydney alongside the University of Canberra.
And I'm delighted that each of these institutions are represented here this evening. Congratulations to UTS and the whole consortium, the new Centre of Excellence will collect and disseminate best practice and innovation, deliver a program of award courses tailored to specific Local Government needs, encourage exchange programs across the Local Government sector, hold forums designed to develop national policies and to facilitate dialogue on important issues, engage the skills and experience of leading researchers and educators, provide a truly national reach across all of Australia's 565 Local Authorities and work closely with all key groups associated with Local Government.
With this new Centre of Excellence in place we can look forward to advancing our objective of ending the blame game between different levels of government and getting on with the business of delivering better services to our local communities.
To conclude I hope tomorrow morning is valuable and constructive and I look forward to seeing you all there. This is an important meeting for the Australian Government; I hope it is also an important meeting for the Australian Local Government. It is important because we intend, for however long the Australian people choose to support us in this office, to make a difference and we see you as representing key and essential partners in making that difference for the nation.
And if I could conclude on this note of absolute national unity, may Queensland thump New South Wales.
