Kevin Rudd gives a closing address - Transcript
Thank you one and all for your participation today in what is, I think, against any logical measure, a historic occasion. You, the representatives of local government across Australia, and for the first time, have met in a national conference with, we, the cabinet of the nation.
This nation's cabinet has not, in the past, to the best of my knowledge ever sat down and met with State Governments, either together or even individually. We have, of course, the mechanism of COAG but we don't have the entire cabinet sitting down with you, and that's what we've done today and done so deliberately, and this, for us, is a first as well.
To my cabinet colleagues could I say to them, thank you - to thank them for their participation throughout the day. As the Minister just said, virtually the entire crew is here and it's been important to have their engagement in each of the breakout sessions that we've participated in and I thank them one and all. Also thank the various members of Parliament who have been here in support of their local authorities and I know how closely they seek to work with you on the ground in doing what's right for your local communities.
You know, people ask, you know, what's all this about. Let me just say a few basic things. Personally, I am a huge believer in local government. For me, it's just normal and natural, there's no great sort of trick in this. It's an important, fundamental elementary part of Australia's national life, what you do.
There is no mystery in it, it is real, it's important, it's grass roots, it's practical and it counts in your local communities, at all sorts f levels. I come from a family which was actively involved in local government; two uncles who were shire chairman, both loyal members of the National party, in case you're asking.
[Laughter]
And I am the first red sheep in the family. So - but you know local government has just been part of me growing up and it's part and parcel of holding the local community fabric together and I know having grown up in rural Queensland together with the Treasurer the important role which local governments play. And you'll see that reflected also in the way in which we seek to engage communities around the country. My general practice is, whenever I can do it, if I am visiting an area, I'll try and call in and see the mayor, I've done that since I was leader of the Opposition, I continue to do that, to find out what's happening in that local community.
When we go out as cabinets and meet across the country, in our first year in office, not quite, we have made a practice of taking this cabinet out to the nation. We have met so far in western Sydney, we've met in Newcastle, we've met in the areas just north of Brisbane. We've met in Mackay, we've met in Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory in Yirrkala.
We've met in the southern suburbs of Perth. We've met in the southern parts of Adelaide, most recently we were in Launceston, and we have other places to visit still.
And engaging with local government on each of those occasions for us, is really important because it's the best quick lightning rod into what a local community needs, won't be perfect because we're all politicians. But, you know, it's a pretty good handle on what's going on.
And to be elected, each of you, whatever tradition of politics you may follow, of itself, in my view, commands respect. And that is the second thing which this gathering is about, simple extension of proper respect to local government in Australia, it's important, and that's what we are seeking to say to you loud and clear today, and say to the nation loud and clear as well.
So we begun a new relationship, and new relationships are about beginnings. We've talked today about a whole range of practical areas of work, housing affordability, measures to tackle water shortage, measures to deal with natural environmental challenges, closing the gap on indigenous disadvantage, fostering regional development and this overall longterm challenge of the proper provision of infrastructure.
And what has been good about this gathering today and the discussions that I've had with various mayors and heads of councils across the nation, it's not even going to be the faintest whiff of party politics about this because people just want to get on with the job. And that frankly is where our government comes from as well. We want to get on with the job.
And that is good because the national interest, Australia's interest, counts on us getting on with the job.
Now, the three sets of areas where I said we wanted to advance the national debate today were on the formation of this new relationship, on what we could do in the future, on constitutional recognition and what we could do in the future on infrastructure.
The purpose of this gathering itself is to commence both substantively and symbolically this new relationship, the fact that we now have an Australian Council of Local Government. And it provides for us the vehicle for greater national policy coordination between the Federal Government and local government.
The mechanisms for doing that, into the future, will be sorted out between the Minister and between the Australian Local Government Association and with all of you between now and when we meet again.
But we are serious about this business, we actually want to know your input, because we need that for better governance of the nation.
So that is a concrete beginning. Mark this in your diaries, the 18 November 2008, was when we commenced a formal structural relationship between the Commonwealth Government and local government in Australia through the establishment of this, Australian Council of Local Government.
Secondly on the question of constitutional recognition, I attended briefly the - one of the working groups on that just before and there is a diversity of views, there's a diversity of views in terms of how long this will take, how complex it will be to arrive at a common form of language and in certain local authorities across the country the fact that there won't necessarily be overwhelming support.
Well, that's why we have embarked upon a process to get this right and I think it's important for us to hasten slowly so we do get it right. So we're going to look carefully at what comes up at year's end when you gather together on this question and try and work our way through it.
So don't expect that we're going to railroad you into anything. We've got to make sure that we have the best centre of gravity possible across the local authorities of this country, about an appropriate form of constitutional recognition and an appropriate time line for doing it. Because unless we are in this together, guess what? It won't happen. It's a simple as that.
Third goal that we set for ourself is around infrastructure. You know this is really important. Short-term, long-term. Cities big and small. From wonderful downtown Sydney, to the back blocks of Burke, infrastructure is important. Short-term and long-term. And as a nation, you know the founding fathers as they were primarily, more than a century ago, and the various colonial governments which preceded them, probably did more to lay out the nation's infrastructure than have national governments in more recent times.
And it is - and you look at the creaking nature of some of our infrastructure and the age of it, it doesn't take you long to figure out that we've got a bit of a problem on our hands. And, you know, it's time, as a nation, that we got serious about it.
You've heard the ministers speak long, hard and eloquently about our Building Australia Fund. You've heard other ministers; the Health Minister and the Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard speak about the importance of national investment in our universities, in our TAFE system and in our hospitals, to make sure that this economic and social infrastructure of the future is twenty-first century infrastructure.
You've heard us speak long and hard about why is it that an eighteen - nineteenth century we had our colonial premiers layout a national railway system, albeit with about 16 different gauges, and yet come the twenty-first century we've not done the same yet for the - an integrated national high speed broadband network, which is the railways of the twenty-first century. Why haven't we done that?
It's time for the nation to get serious about this. And we intend to do so, not just in partnership with state and local - state and territory governments, where they wish to be partners with us, but with local governments where they wish to be partners with us as well.
So what I've outlined today in my remarks and the minister will reinforce with subsequent statements and policy engagements of his own, is let's get infrastructure planning right. Let's get our asset valuation right. Let's get our asset management right for infrastructure. Let's get our infrastructure planning right. Let's get our infrastructure maintenance and replacement strategies right.
And let's do so on a nationally consistent basis so that we can, before too many years elapse, look at a genuinely integrated national infrastructure plan, which is as relevant for communities in a local authority in the south-western tip of Western Australia, as it is for Palm Island off the coast of North Queensland. That is, that the methodology for arriving at an assessment about what infrastructure is needed, is common. The conclusions of each community will be different. But we'll have a reliable basis upon which to reach those conclusions.
Then, if we get that right - and that's the challenge I leave with each of you, and the minister will be pursuing with you - what I'm signalling to you loud and clear is that we, the National Government, will be partners with you in co-investment in the future. There will be no blank cheques. We want to be co-investors with you, in infrastructure that counts for the future, and that infrastructure that has been rationally planned for the future. That's what we're signalling to you.
And as a down payment, and mindful entirely of the national and international economic circumstances that we are in, we have made this initial investment of $300 million, which the minister has described to you in detail. And that's simply to show this, demonstrate this simple point, on this day, the 18 November 2008, that we're fair dinkum about this, and we want you to be fair dinkum with us. And that's the proposition I'll leave you with.
This is the beginning. And a number of you have been criticised for coming here. One of the delegates said this to me before, just as I came into this last session. For those who would criticise gatherings such as this, and any of you in your local authorities, could I just ask the critics to bear a couple of things in mind.
One. From the Australian Government today, you as representatives of local government, go back to your communities as the co-beneficiaries of a $300 million immediate investment. That's the first point.
The second. Is that you go back to your communities with an undertaking from the Australian Government that in terms of long-term infrastructure investment and planning, that if your authorities and your local areas come up with integrated, effective long-term infrastructure planning, and the data is clear, then this Australian Government will help co-invest with you in the future.
That's two things which exist today, which didn't exist yesterday. And that is a consequence of our gathering here today.
[Applause]
And to any of your local communities, or any of your local critics who have a problem with this, ask them to write a letter to your local paper and ask that the money be sent back to Canberra...
[Laughter]
...because I'm sure there's a few other local authorities who would like to have it. So that's a general invitation to your critics from me.
You know, the other thing about what we're doing here is that in our gatherings both today and into the future we, as the Australian Government, don't expect uniform agreement. You're going to have different points of view with us from time-to-time. Guess what, we're not threatened by that. It's part of a natio natural national debate. We can conduct it with civility. We can conduct it in the appropriate framework. But we actually just want to get things right for the nation.
The one point of being in government is to make a long-term difference for Australia, and to make a long-term difference for your local communities. That's what we're on about. And if on the way through, you have a different point of view to us, on a certain project here and a certain project there, I just say that's life, you know. Life's not made up of universal agreement, or universal conflict. You know, it's a bit different to that.
So the culture that I would like us to have about ourselves is obviously respectful towards one another. One which is tolerant of the diversity of views here. One which doesn't expect a complete uniformity of views. But one where we're always harnessed with this one long-term vision, which transcends the party political divide, which is how do we build this nation's long-term economic and social infrastructure, to the benefit of the generations who come after us?
So, with that, I conclude. But with this as a final remark. This is the first meeting of the Australian Council of Local Governments. I now formally invite you to the second meeting of the Australian Council of Local Governments to be held at a time, place and an event as yet unknown, but in the year 2009.
Thank you for coming.
[Applause]
