Parliamentary Motion gives local government due recognition
A milestone for local government was achieved in Federal Parliament this week with the introduction into both Houses of the Parliamentary Motion on Local Government. The motion was introduced into the House of Representatives by Local Government Minister Jim Lloyd MP. The wording is as follows: "That the House/Senate:
- recognises that local government is part of the governance of Australia, serving communities through locally elected councils
- values the rich diversity of councils around Australia, reflecting the varied communities they serve.
- acknowledges the role of local government in governance, advocacy, the provision of infrastructure, service delivery, planning, community development and regulation.
- acknowledges the importance of cooperating with and consulting with local government on the priorities of their local communities.
- acknowledges the significant Australian Government funding that is provided to local government to spend on locally determined priorities, such as roads and other local government services.
- commends local government elected officials who give their time to serve their communities."
Labor moved an amendment to the motion in both Houses - that paragraph 1 be omitted and the following paragraph substituted:
"1. supports a referendum to extend constitutional recognition to local government in recognition of the essential role it plays in the governance of Australia."
The resolution was passed unamended by the Senate and was referred by the House of Representatives to the Main Committee for further debate.
Minister Lloyd urges states to 'do more for local government'
ALGA President Cr Paul Bell thanked Local Government Minister Jim Lloyd for his efforts in developing the motion in consultation with ALGA. The motion formed part of the Government's response to the Fair Share report on cost shifting. "This motion recognises the role of local government and is a step on the road to formal constitutional recognition," Cr Bell said. "For the first time, both houses of Federal Parliament have the opportunity to recognise the role and importance of local government as part of Australia's system of democratic government."
Mr Lloyd said the historic motion had a number of objectives, including recognising and celebrating the role and importance of local government as an integral part of the governance task in Australia and acknowledging the huge diversity of local government. The motion also gave due recognition to the contribution made by the elected local councillors throughout the country for their community service.
Mr Lloyd emphasised the commitment of the Australian Government to cooperating with and consulting local government through the Council of Australian Governments as well as many of the ministerial councils which operate under the COAG umbrella. "The Australian Government has supported the addition of local government representations at these councils, and ALGA has been very active in representing the interests of local government on these councils," he said.
Mr Lloyd said the securing of the recent intergovernmental agreement on local government relations with local government and the governments of the states and territories was an historic outcome. The agreement addressed cost-shifting by obtaining in-principle agreement from governments that, when a responsibility was devoted to local government, local government was consulted and the financial and other impacts on local government were taken into account.
The new national principal maintaining funding for amalgamating councils came into effect on 1 July 2006. The Commonwealth Grants Commission report on the interstate distribution of road funding was completed on 30 June 2006, and the government was now considering the report's recommendations.
"Local government has long ceased to deal solely with roads, rates and rubbish," Mr Lloyd said. "The range of services provided by local government throughout Australia is very wide and can include such things as childcare services, health and welfare services such as immunisation clinics and meals on wheels, programs for settling migrants into their communities, environmental services, and sport and recreational services and facilities such as football and hockey fields, swimming pools, learn-to-swim classes, parks and gardens, and indoor sport centres. There are also of course, emergency services; local government is at the front line of those defences when we have tragedies. There are examples of that, such as the services that were provided in Beaconsfield in Tasmania, with the mine collapse, and in Innisfail in Queensland following Cyclone Larry."
Minister Lloyd outlined the Australian government's commitment to local government, particularly the Roads to Recovery and AusLink funding programs. "The Howard government has extended the Roads to Recovery program for a further four years to June 2009, with a further commitment of some $1.23 billion, which includes $30 million for roads in unincorporated areas," he said. "I was very pleased that we were able to announce an additional $307 million for this program, which was provided up-front to every council in Australia, as an advance payment in June of this year for expenditure over the next three years. It now brings the total commitment under the Roads to Recovery program to over $1.7 billion."
Mr Lloyd said the Australian government had made a substantial contribution to local government through the provision of the financial assistance grants and through reforms of the environment local government operated in. He would 'continue to look at ways to increase the direct funding to councils and look at innovative programs, because it is a very effective way of delivering services to the community.'
He said there were indications that many councils, particularly in rural areas, were still struggling to provide basic services to their communities. "Recent reports from several states have shown that many rural and regional councils may not be sustainable in the long term. It is time for the states to look seriously at what services and functions they expect local government to provide and to ensure that local governments are properly resourced to carry out these tasks. The Australian Government is doing its fair share to support local government, and the states and territories need to step up to the mark to also support local councils."
"There are of course, important tasks for local government itself to address. Local government needs to ensure that proper asset management systems are in place and that it adequately plans for infrastructure renewal and replacement. Councils need to have a medium-to-long term budgetary focus. Expenditure decisions by councils that are more strategic and lower the cost of providing core services are vital for local government to improve it financial governance. We need to encourage those that are lagging behind to take note of the best practice being demonstrated by leading councils. Best practice is recognised by the Australian Government through the National Awards for Local Government, and this year is the 20th anniversary of these awards.
"The Australian government has forged a strong partnership with local government. It has demonstrated its willingness to work with local government in the past, and I can assure you that it will continue to do so in the future. In moving this motion the government is continuing to deliver on the commitments that it made in response to the Hawker report."
Labor calls for new vision for local government
Shadow local government minister Senator Kim Carr, in supporting Labor's amendment to the resolution, called for a new vision for local government, including a referendum to gain constitutional recognition for the longest-established governments in this nation.
"Constitutional recognition is long overdue and is critical if local government is to do its job properly," Senator Carr said. "Recognition would allow local government to take a bigger part in discussions on critical infrastructure needs of communities. As things stand local government cannot take part in many national programs that are critical to their constituents: local families, businesses and tourists."
Senator Carr said that Labor had moved an amendment calling for a referendum and despite strong support from the Democrats and Greens, the Government opposed the call and the vote was lost.
"It is time for a bipartisan approach on local government, time to include local government in decisions on development, infrastructure and environment. Labor will work with local government and with its representative bodies such as the Australian Local Government Association to introduce a new cooperation and a better deal for local communities."
In relation to constitutional recognition, Local Government Minister Jim Lloyd said: "Importantly, while there are many in the local government sector who want formal recognition of local government - that is, constitutional recognition - this proposition has been unsuccessful in two previous referendums, and the government and I as Minister are not convinced that another referendum at this stage would have a different result."
ALGA President Cr Paul Bell said that constitutional recognition was a strongly held ambition of local government. "I believe that the call for constitutional recognition has to have the support of the broader community backed up by the three spheres of government, otherwise we'll be heading for a third failure. The challenge ahead is to strengthen that support for fair treatment for local government through recognition of us as an equal partner in the federation and we will continue to work hard to achieve this goal. This motion is an important step."
Alan Jones - Building bridges
Yesterday on the 'Today' Program on Channel 9 Alan Jones raised an issue close to the heart of local government - funding to upgrade timber bridges: "In the scheme of things, this might not seem very much. But I wonder whether sometimes we aren't wise after the event. I wrote to the New South Wales Minister for Roads some months ago though I had written to several of his predecessors on the same subject, many times in the past. And I'm sure these sentiments apply in every state of Australia. I wrote about timber bridges. I had heard, at the time I wrote last in early August, that the timber bridge programme in New South Wales was on hold. That is, the upgrading of timber bridges in rural areas was simply not happening. Or if it was, it was on a 50:50 basis with local councils having to pitch in. And we know local government simply does not have the money for these sorts of projects.
Now, taking New South Wales figures alone, there are 2,500 timber bridges alone under local government control. And this would be the same across Australia. And local councils can't afford the cost of upgrading them. The NSW Minister responded telling me he'd had many representations from country MPs and regional mayors about timber bridges. And he had asked, "the RTA to look at various options to fund a timber bridge program." In other words, there is no money.
Well then we learnt that nearly two thirds of these road bridges in New South Wales had failed roads and traffic authority inspections in the past year. And apparently during the 9 months to March, and I don't have the figures for other states but I am sure the story would be the same across Australia, 1,608 of the nearly 5,000 bridges maintained by the RTA, underwent a detailed inspection. One thousand and seventeen or sixty three per cent were deemed to be unsatisfactory. Some bridges had even been closed due to structural deterioration. And someone from the RTA said many of the defects identified in the inspections were minor but the reality is critical bridge repair and proper maintenance is not happening.
One mayor in the bush in the South-west of New South Wales said his six RTA administered bridges were badly in need of repair. And local councils don't have the money to fix the bridges. Now...why am I saying all this? Well, to come back to my earlier point. Are we wise after the event? Many of these bridges are used every day by school buses carrying kids to and from school. And then how many semi-trailers and trucks do we see on rural and non-arterial roads.
The government argument is, well, we fixed up the bridges on the arterial roads, because the arterial roads carry the majority of the state's traffic. Well they don't carry the school buses in the bush and they don't carry B-double semi-trailers that you see on local roads. So what's going to happen? Are we going to wait until one of these bridges collapses? And a school bus crashes or a semi-trailer explodes before we get serious.
No one seems to want to do anything about it. Canberra has billions of dollars. Local government don't have the money. So what's to happen to timber bridges across the country? What assurances can we give bush parents that when their kids catch the bus in the morning and afternoon often to travel fairly long distances to and from home, and often crossing local timber bridges - what assurances can we give parents that their kids and the bridges are safe?
The truth is, for all our apparent wealth, we cannot give those assurances. Indeed, there is not even an inventory of timber bridges around Australia. We don't know how many there are, where they are or their state of roadworthiness. And that means we're putting young people at risk every day without their knowledge. The proper repair of timber bridges across the country shouldn't be something about which you have to beg for money. The proper and complete repair should be taken as a given. And the money for such repair should be found immediately.'
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