From the President
This election is a very important one for local government.
Local government is facing several challenges and we are calling on the major parties to respond to our 10-Point Plan which you will find on our website.
The 10 Points set out our goals under the broad headings of Fair Funding, Fair Treatment and Formal Recognition for Local Government, as well as Future Challenges.
So far during the election campaign, we have had announcements on road funding, on health, and on the environment from the major parties. We are keen to hear more about infrastructure, in particular community infrastructure.
Local government is facing a financial sustainability crisis. PricewaterhouseCoopers has identified a $14.5 billion dollar backlog on community infrastructure and that is why we need both parties to commit to a fund. Councils can not do it alone and bipartisan support is crucial.
Councils have posted on our website 1,000 examples of failing infrastructure that needs to be fixed - this situation can not go on.
This fund is important - that is why it has been supported by groups as diverse as the Queensland Resources Council (QRC), the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, the Country Women's Association of Australia (CWAA), the National Farmers' Federation (NFF), the Australian and Health Consumers of Rural and Remote Australia (HCRRA) the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA).
This fund would fix swimming pools, community centres and halls, sporting facilities, ovals and walking tracks and even upgrade our libraries and council-run meals on wheels kitchens.
With Australia facing an obesity epidemic and the importance of physical activity highlighted by governments and experts, it is important that local communities have access to high quality sporting facilities. The National Heart Foundation also strongly supports us.
I urge all of you to get behind local government by lobbying to help us get commitments for this $250m pa 4-year fund. It is important for the wellbeing of communities that we all do our utmost to make it happen.
Cr Paul Bell AM
ALGA President
Changing Cities Are Driving the World - Jeju, South Korea, 31 October 2007
ALGA President Cr Paul Bell, who is also theVice President United Cities and Local Government - Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC) Training, recently attended the 2nd UCLG World Congress in JeJu Korea.
With almost 2,000 Mayors, councillors and participants from 110 countries, the Second UCLG World Congress titled "Changing cities are Driving our World", culminated with the announcement of a new Presidency for UCLG, the world's largest organisation of Mayors and local and regional government organisations. Mr Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, France was elected President of the organisation. The Co-Presidents elected were:
- Mr Paco Moncayo, Mayor of Quito, Ecuador
- Mr Zhang Guangning, Mayor of Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Mr Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey
- Mr Amos Masondo, Mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa Mr Clarence Anthony, Mayor of South Bay, Florida, USA was elected as UCLG Treasurer.
The Congress Declaration and Communique issued following the conference highlights a number of major commitments including:
- Placing the challenge posed by global warming and the need for environmental protection as a priority issues for local authorities;
- (to) act to promote all human rights and respect diversity in our cities and territories as a foundation for peace and development; and
- (to) uphold efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and democracy at the local level, using it as leverage to strengthen the hands of local governments in global governance.
Cr Bell presented a paper to the working session on the Global; Observatory of Local Decentralisation (GOLD) outlining an Australian perspective to the challenge faced by local government and the processes of decentralisation. The Final Declaration can be found here.
LGAQ opposes waste tax
"Representatives of the waste recycling industry are proposing that a $150 annual tax be put on each householder," LGAQ president, Cr Paul Bell, said.
"This is an unacceptable imposition on ratepayers and is nothing more than a blatant push to increase the already substantial profits of the waste recycling industry."
Cr Bell's comments followed a recent waste forum organised by the Queensland Conservation Council at which representatives of the recycling industry proposed the introduction of a landfill levy on any waste sent to landfill. The forum was organised in response to a discussion paper on waste management options for Queensland recently released by the Environmental Protection Agency. A number of options for waste reduction were discussed - one of them a landfill levy.
Cr Bell said that the recent report by the Productivity Commission into waste generation and resource efficiency in Australia clearly found there was no case for a waste levy.
Macquarie valley councils urged to show caution on water restrictions
Macquarie Valley councils should closely assess their local circumstances before they decide whether to increase water restrictions, say the Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW.
The call for councils to be cautious follows an announcement by the Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water Phil Koperberg strongly recommending that councils including Narromine, Warren, Dubbo and Wellington go to level 3A.
"Different areas have different water needs and concerns, and local councils are therefore best placed to make decisions about what levels are appropriate," President of the Shires Association of NSW, Cr Bruce Miller said.
"Councils monitor local water restriction levels and amend them as required, and have already calculated appropriate restrictions based on current and expected allocations and other local circumstances.
"Local Government is supportive of measures to save water, but we're disappointed Minister Koperberg has made this recommendation publicly and without consultation with councils.
"It is crucial that all levels of government work together on this issue, so we're urging the Minister to engage with councils, who have extensive knowledge of local water issues and needs."
President of the Local Government Association of NSW, Cr Genia McCaffery said councils have a number of other projects and programs in place to deal with the impacts of the drought.
"Level 3A water restrictions mean big changes in how residents use their water, and while that level is needed and appropriate for some council areas, it's not for others."
The Associations welcomed the increase in water allocation for Cobar.
Tourism profiles
Tourism Research Australia, a business unit of Tourism Australia, have developed Local Government Tourism Profiles for about 250 Local Government Areas across Australia. We are currently finalising the profiles and expected to have them available via the website for free download in PDF format by the end of November.
As you can imagine, this information is highly sought after by Local Government and this is the first time Tourism Research Australia has been able to produce this kind of data. It has taken a couple of years to develop this product. ALGA has been asked to spread the word to councils about this new information.
Leading councils play active role in fostering learning communities
A number of adult education, community based representatives, local councils from around Australia, and ALGA, met in Cairns this week to hear and discuss what opportunities are potentially available to better engage communities through various e-learning tools and techniques.
The workshop and showcase, organised by the Adult Learning Australia heard how many councils around Australia are facing common challenges - how to better engage community members on controversial issues like sustainable development, population growth and the natural resource management; when they are spread over a wide area, working longer hours and maintaining busy lives.
Of particular interest was the decision by the Byron Shire Council to team up with the Byron Region Community College to trial a new solution; investigating the use of a council hosted internet forum to provide locals with an opportunity to voice their opinions on local issues and have access to information to enhance people's decision making processes.
The pilot is being funded by the national training system's e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.
A total of six projects were funded in 2007. The selected projects have identified a range of models that can be replicated by communities across Australia - supporting economic and regional development.
The 2007 community engagement projects funded include:
For more information visit: www.flexiblelearning.net.au
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Local Govt strategies for dealing with an ageing community
Innovative strategies to address the ageing population will be the focus of an important national conference, with case study presentations from a range of councils including Bass Coast Shire Council, Coffs Harbour City Council, City of Melville, Town of Victor Harbour, Gosford City Council, Broken Hill City Council, Shellharbour City Council and others.
Local government managers and councillors, concerned about the social and economic impact of providing aged care services and infrastructure within communities, will have a unique opportunity to learn from the experiences and strategies being pursued by councils across Australia.
The Local Responses to an Ageing Community Conference. will be held in Sydney from November 20-21 and will focus on innovative strategies being pursued by councils across Australia. It will enable managers and councillors to familiarise themselves with award-winning, best practice case studies.
Peter Oldsen, from Broken Hill City Council, for example, will outline to the conference how his council has been able to secure aged care and retirement village facilities through a lease back arrangement.
Delegates will also have the opportunity to hear about excellence in HACC service delivery, public transport accessibility options, health and wellbeing programs and built environment solutions. The conference will examine the mechanisms for local government to foster partnerships with aged care providers and it will also provide an opportunity to network with aged and community services managers in local government from all parts of the country. For more information visit www.halledit.com.au/conferences/ageing/2007.
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Election transport promises - they just keep coming
The past week has seen further significant transport funding announcements by both the Coalition and Labor.
The Coalition announced packages of transport funding for Sydney ($3 billion) , Melbourne ($2.45 billion), SE Queensland ($5.2 billion) and South Australia ($1.6 billion). The Coalition announcements include significant funding for rail in the Sydney basin and elsewhere and a commitment to an intermodal facility at Moorebank on the outskirts of Sydney.
Labor has committed to five major projects in north eastern NSW ($1.5 billion), Tasmania ($303 million) and north Queensland ($2.2 billion).
To date, Labor has not responded to the Coalition commitment to provide an additional $550 million for strategic regional funding nor the establishment of a $300 development roads program.
Links to these announcements are available through ALGA election website.
Kempsey Mayor calls for $1b council fund
The Mayor of Kempsey, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, is calling on MPs and federal election candidates to push Canberra on the issue of infrastructure funding for local councils.
Betty Green says when it comes to renewing and upgrading ageing community assets, Kempsey and others around the country cannot keep up, and they need a $1 billion federal infrastructure fund.
She says a number of key community assets in Kempsey are in desperate need of repair.
"The showground, the children's playgrounds, the water and sewerage pipelines, roads, bridges, community halls," she said.
"The ones that have been built in the '50s, '60s and '70s really need renovations or replacement. We are just not in a position to do that.
"Most councils are hard pressed to maintain a current program to keep roads and bridges and things of like nature in a safe condition."
Rural health joint media release
ALGA together with the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA), Country Women's Association of Australia (CWAA), National Farmers Federation (NFF), and Health Consumers of Rural and Remote Australia (HCRRA) has issued a joint media release to highlight key areas that need to be addressed by an incoming government in respect to rural health.
The release identifies 10 key priority areas that need to be addressed, and builds on the Good Health to Rural Communities work that was undertaken collaboratively by the partners to the media release in 2004.
The partnership has again highlighted the plight of rural health in Australia, and the breadth of issues that need to be addressed to ensure equity of access to health services for all Australians, including those in rural and remote Australia.
A copy of the media release can be viewed at www.alga.asn.au
The partners are also continuing to work together to review the previous Good Health to Rural Communities strategy, and this will be released early in 2008 to provide the incoming government with priorities for action and suggested strategies to address rural health.
Aged care announcements
Both major parties have recently announced policy proposals directed at older Australians with approximately $4 billion pledged to address ageing in Australia.
The "Making Ends Meet" proposal announced by Labor provided for such initiatives as increased and more frequent payment of utilities allowances, increased public transport entitlements and allowances to subsidies older Australian to access internet technology.
Further information on the proposal can be viewed here.
The Coalition has also announced a number of proposals as part of an overall package, including an increase in the utilities allowance to $500 per year, and opening up the availability of the allowance to carers and those on disability support pensions.
For more detail on this announcement you can visit here.
Sydney investigates public bike hire
More than 80 per cent of people favour the introduction of a public bike hire scheme in the City, and one in three people say they would definitely use it, independent research has revealed.
Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in Sydney, with ABS figures showing a 37 per cent increase in the number of residents cycling to work in the past five years, said Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP.
"The City Cycling Strategy is all about encouraging greater and safer use of bikes to boost fitness but also to reduce car usage and subsequently pollution and congestion," she said.
"Our priority is to provide a safe environment for cyclists. We plan to create a cycle-friendly City, via a network of attractive integrated cycleways, including innovative two-way lanes for safe passage and linkages across local government boundaries."
It makes sense that the City would seriously investigate whether a public hire scheme would work in Sydney. They are certainly booming in many other parts of the world.
Bike hire schemes have proven very successful in a number of European cities, including Paris, Barcelona and Berlin.
According to the Australian Greenhouse Office data, a five kilometre ride to work on a bike, as an alternative to using a car, will save over one tonne of emissions of greenhouse gas emissions over a 12 month period.
Support for 'active transport'
A new resource for local councils provides helpful guidance on active transport to childcare centres. The resource is the culmination of a year-long action research project investigating active transport issues for pre-school aged children and their parents. As an alternative to private vehicle use, active transport, which is any physical activity undertaken as a means of transport, has significant health, environmental and community benefits. For this project, it includes parents walking with their children, pushing them in a stroller, cycling with childseats, or taking public transport together. The research project, conducted by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS, investigated reasons for the current, highly car-dependent travel behaviour of parents when taking their children to and from childcare centres and the barriers to active transport. Three Sydney Councils - Waverley, Marrickville and Sutherland Shire – used this research to inform the development of interventions to help increase the use of active transport in their communities.
Case studies from these Councils are presented in the resource, which also includes lessons from relevant literature and previous projects, findings from a parent survey conducted during the project, and tips for things Councils can do to plan for, encourage and increase active transport to childcare centres.
The resource also includes links to further information and useful resources. The resource was produced in partnership with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC), the Centre for Local Government (CLG), Marrickville, Waverley and Sutherland Shire Councils, and NSW Health. The research project was funded by the Local Government and Shires Associations (LGSA) Healthy Local Government Grants Program. To view or download the resource, please click here.
McArthur Fellowship Award
The 2007 McArthur Management Services Local Government Fellowship has been awarded to Cr Tim Rodgers from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council at the MAV Annual Conference Dinner.
Cr Rodgers received a $10,000 international study grant, which he will use to examine ways for councils to manage community concerns and perceptions in the development and implementation of climate change adaptation solutions.
As part of his research, Cr Rodgers intends to visit the United Kingdom, Italy, USA and the Netherlands.
He proposes to use the findings of his study to ensure local government can work in partnership with communities to build acceptance and understanding of the adaptation measures that will be required to address climate change impacts. He also hopes his research will ensure decision making is robust and transparent to the community, that it minimises conflict and achieves broad community acceptance.
PIA releases second annual National Planning Report Card
To coincide with World Town Planning Day, Australia's peak professional association of planners, the Planning Institute of Australia, has released its National Planning Report Card.
The Planning Report Card - titled "Planners Telling It Like It Is" - is the second of such reports released by the Institute. This year over 740 planners responded to the survey that examined how the respective State and Territories are travelling with respect to multiple issues. This year's report added two new criteria - that being climate change and urban design.
Whilst all state and Territories received disappointing assessments, NSW planners have given their state a particular bad assessment.
NSW received an overall D-plus, while everywhere else except Tasmania received a grade of C. Marks for climate change as well as future transport and infrastructure needs dragged down NSW's performance.
Western Australia's transport planning received the highest mark overall, with a B-minus awarded by the state's planners after the opening of a new train line, a new smart-card ticketing system and the purchase of 15 new three-car trains.
By contrast, blueprints for infrastructure development and transport dragged down the overall result in NSW, while urban design and planning for growth were the only areas that were given a pass.
The report is available on www.planning.org.au
Groundwater Quality Conference (GQ07)
The 6th International IAHS Groundwater Quality Conference will be held in Fremantle, Western Australia, 2-7 December 2007. The GQ conference series is the premier forum for interaction on Groundwater Quality issues worldwide. GQ conferences are held every three years, and this is the first time a GQ conference has been held in the southern hemisphere. The GQ07 Committee received approximately 300 abstracts from 41 countries and has put together an exciting program with eleven keynote speakers. For further information see www.csiro.au/GQ07 or contact Greg.Davis@csiro.au. A program and registration brochure is attached to the web page.
National Timber Councils Breakfast
The newly formed National Timber Councils Taskforce Inc. will hold a breakfast meeting during the upcoming ALGA National General Assembly and invites council representatives from regions in which forestry is an important activity to attend.
Venue: Novotel Atrium, 100 The Esplanade, Darwin - Billabong Room
Date: Wednesday 28 November 2007
Time: 7.00am – 8.30am
Cost: $20 per person (invoice to be sent subsequent to meeting attendance)
RSVP: Wednesday 21 November 2007 via email: sstuckey@mav.asn.au
Enquiries: Phone 03 9667 5582 or sstuckey@mav.asn.au
Quote of the week
"No South Australian or West Australian or Tasmanian should feel in any way excluded. It's just that we're dealing with the eastern seaboard in a super Sunday for roads funding."
John Howard
International news 
New Zealand has joined a coalition of European countries, US states, Canadian provinces, and Norway in the formation of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) to fight global warming.
ICAP will provide an international forum for governments and public authorities adopting mandatory greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade systems to share experiences and best practices on the design of emissions trading schemes.
This groundbreaking cooperation will ensure that the programs are more compatible and are able to work together as the foundation of a global carbon market. Such a market will boost demand for low-carbon products and services, promote innovation, and allow cost effective reductions so as to allow swift and ambitious global reductions in global warming emissions.
ICAP will open lines of communication for sharing valuable information such as research, effective policy initiatives, lessons learned and new developments. By working together to establish similar design principles, ICAP partners are ensuring that future market systems, in conjunction with regulation in the form of enforceable caps, will boost worldwide demand for low-carbon products and services, provide a larger market for innovators, and achieve global emissions reductions at the swiftest pace and lowest cost possible.
The new partnership supports the current ongoing efforts undertaken under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which all ICAP members agree has a central role in fighting global warming.
For more information, please visit www.ICAPCarbonAction.com
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