Communiqué - 4 June 2009 - Canberra
Second meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) - Steering Committee
The Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) Steering Committee held its second meeting in Canberra on 4 June 2009. The Steering Committee was established by the Australian Government, with membership made up of local government leaders and experts.
The meeting was chaired by the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Australian Government Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
The Hon Gary Gray AO MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Housing, and the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, Minister for Employment Participation provided the Committee with an update on issues of relevance to local government within their portfolios.
Mr Mike Mrdak, the current Commonwealth Coordinator General and incoming Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, attended the meeting and provided Committee Members with a briefing on the stimulus package.
ACLG Plenary Meeting 25 June 2009
The Committee agreed that the theme for the plenary meeting “Building Resilience in Local Communities” was very appropriate given the current and emerging issues facing local government, including the challenges posed by the global economic recession and the impact of recent natural disasters in the context of climate change.
The meeting will allow mayors to present their views on how these challenges are felt at the local community level, and share ideas about how these issues could be managed.
The Committee stressed the importance of ensuring that local governments in disaster affected areas should be given the opportunity to share the lessons learned during the recent disasters in Queensland and Victoria at the breakout sessions. The Committee also noted the importance of facilitators being sensitive to cultural and language issues for mayors from remote councils.
The Committee noted that councils from areas where tourism is a significant part of the economy are particularly vulnerable following natural disasters and during a tightening economic climate. These councils could be given the opportunity to investigate ways to mitigate those impacts.
The Committee noted that delegates will nominate their council type to ensure that the breakout sessions are relevant to the participants. It is anticipated that there will be a large and diverse group of councils that identify as metropolitan councils and therefore they will be further broken down into metropolitan coastal and non- coastal. This will assist mayors to discuss common challenges and develop possible solutions. The outcomes of these discussions will inform the future work of the ACLG.
The Minister advised the Committee that the timing of future ACLG plenary meetings will continue to be linked to the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly (NGA) as a matter of principle. The Minister asked that further suggestions from Committee members on the ACLG meeting should be provided to the Minister via ALGA.
Cr Geoff Lake, Deputy Chair of the Steering Committee, advised that the last session of the ALGA NGA on 24 June 2009 at 12.00 pm would summarise the recommendations of the NGA for presentation to the ACLG meeting and recommended that anyone who was interested in local government issues should register for that session.
Funding Initiatives
The Committee discussed the 2008-09 funding initiatives including the Community Infrastructure Program and advance payments for the Financial Assistance Grant budget measures.
The Minister advised the Committee that the $250 million through the Community Infrastructure Program has now been provided to 565 local councils across Australia. These funds are now being used to support jobs through community projects such as refurbishing community centres, town halls, pools and sporting facilities.
The additional $550 million component has also been allocated. In partnership with local government 137 projects across the nation will produce over $1.5 billion of high quality, local capital works programs.
The Minister stressed the importance of delivering infrastructure funding as quickly as possible to maximise the benefits of the stimulus to the economy. Committee members agreed that it was important for local governments to swiftly implement the program in order to deliver a stimulus.
The Financial Assistance Grant funding initiative brought forward a portion of next year’s program funding to assist councils in their cash flow which is affected by the more difficult economic conditions. The Committee welcomed the responsiveness of the Australian Government to assist councils in this way.
The Hon Gary Gray, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, provided the Committee with a comprehensive update on the Regional Development Australia (RDA) process. The RDA network will bring together all levels of governments in order to respond to local challenges, and help people living in regional areas access Commonwealth Government programs to support communities. The RDA will engage in regional and economic planning and help better target funding for services and infrastructure to support jobs in regional communities and industries.
The Parliamentary Secretary advised the Committee that Queensland has now signed onto the RDA process and that New South Wales is in the final stages of the process.
The Minister for Housing advised that over the next four years the Australian Government will spend $15.3 billion on housing programs and will complete the program to build 20,000 new social housing dwellings and repair 47,000 existing homes.
Funding has been provided for the States and Territories to reduce homelessness, help private renters, public and community housing and reduce overcrowding in remote Indigenous communities. Expenditure under the National Rental Affordability Scheme will increase to meet the target of 50,000 new affordable rental homes.
The Minister for Employment Participation provided the Committee with an update on the $650 million Jobs fund to support local jobs, build skills and improve facilities in local communities. Projects in regions and communities with higher unemployment or facing large numbers of job losses due to the global recession will be given priority consideration.
Financial Reforms
The Committee supports the Government’s initiative with State and Territory governments to adopt and implement nationally consistent financial and asset management and planning frameworks for local government.
The Committee noted the development of a local government workforce strategy that will examine local government skills shortages in the context of workforce planning, career development and retention.
The Committee also noted that the Centre of Excellence for Local Government will be announced at the ACLG plenary meeting.
Constitutional Recognition of Local Government
The Committee received an update from Cr Lake on the local government sector’s progress with the matter of Constitutional Recognition of local government. Cr Lake stated that the local government sector appreciated the support for the process by the Australian Government. It was noted that further developments will be outlined at ALGA’s 2009 National General Assembly of Local Government in Canberra in June 2009.
The next ACLG Steering Committee meeting will be a joint meeting with the Local Government Planning Minister’s Council in Darwin in October 2009. The Steering Committee welcomed the opportunity to hold this joint meeting.
Contact:
Australian Council of Local Government Steering Committee Secretariat
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
GPO Box 594
Canberra ACT 2601
Tel: +61 02 6274 8144
Email: aclg@infrastructure.gov.au
Web: www.aclg.gov.au
