ALGA News

From the President

I am concerned at the possible safety impacts and increased costs for council roads of Asciano's reported intention to restructure its rail services in rural NSW and Victoria.

Apparently Asciano briefed its investors last week on plans to restructure its Pacific National rural services business in NSW and Victoria, which provide the majority of grain transport in these states. This is an extremely unwelcome development for local communities which will lead to many more trucks putting pressure on the local road system in the grain growing regions.

The additional movements of grain by road will place huge financial strains on the local road systems and without any mechanisms for councils to recover the costs this will lead to significant impacts on council finances.

These councils have been some of the hardest hit by drought in the last 7 years and have little financial capacity to meet these additional costs.

The increase in truck traffic will also have impacts on the amenity of many local communities that will be faced with increased truck traffic through their streets.

It is not clear from the Asciano briefing which rail services will be stopped. If the bulk haulage of grain to the export terminals ceases this will also have impacts on communities in major centres such as Newcastle, Wollongong and Geelong.

The increased truck traffic would have safety implication for both our regional and urban road systems and was inconsistent with the Government’s priorities to reduce greenhouse gases.

The new Rudd Government recognized the issue during the election campaign and announced it would undertake reviews of the future of grain lines. The announcement by Asciano makes those reviews more urgent.

Local Government calls on the Commonwealth Government to proceed with the reviews of grain as matter of urgency now that Asciano has announced its intention to withdraw from these businesses. I raised this matter during discussions on infrastructure with COAG meeting in Melbourne on Thursday and will keep you briefed on any further developments. I know this is a critical issue for many rural and regional councils.

Finally, have a very happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year. Thank you for all your support and assistance throughout the year. I believe that together we have achieved much over the past year and I look forward to working with you in 2008 to continue to forge ahead on the issues that are so important to local government and to the local communities we represent.

Cr Paul Bell AM
ALGA President

Qld: Majority vote "no" to council mergers

Queenslanders have made their opposition to council amalgamations clear, with the result of last week's polls showing 77 per cent are against the sweeping reforms.

But they will not stop the state government going ahead with the amalgamations, which will more than halve the number of councils at next year's elections.

While voting was voluntary, in some shires almost 80 per cent of eligible residents returned their ballot papers.

The strongest "no" vote came from Ilfracombe shire in central-west Queensland, where 99 per cent of voters were opposed to a pending amalgamation with Isisford and Longreach.

Only one shire voted in favour of amalgamation, Burnett in central Queensland, which along with two other areas, will be absorbed by Bundaberg council.

Local Government Association of Queensland executive director Greg Hallam said he was impressed by the support shown for the polls.

"The communities have clearly spoken, they don't want it. It looks like the government are going to go ahead with it, but it will be at their peril."

Premier Anna Bligh has urged communities to accept the changes.

The Federal Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Local Government, Warren Truss, said there was no choice but for Premier Bligh "to write off this crude experiment and go back to the drawing board."

"Results of plebiscites declared today by the Australian Electoral Commission demonstrate overwhelming community opposition to forced amalgamations. In many areas, a very large proportion of people took the opportunity to vote even though voting was voluntary, which shows just how heated this issue is," he said.

"The former Coalition federal government gave the people the opportunity to have their say. It would be tragic for democracy if Queensland Labor did not heed this very loud message that has been broadcast today." Mr Truss congratulated organisations across the state that sprang up to fight this unjust proposal. "They have showed enthusiasm and commitment and have given a voice to those who lost it when Labor stripped it away," he said.

City of Melbourne announces new city safety measures

A doubling of enforcement officers, a call to introduce a 12-month probationary period for new licensees and a request for a doubling in the number of closed circuit cameras are amongst a range of initiatives unveiled by the City of Melbourne to tackle the issue of late-night anti-social behaviour in the city. Council approved four new officers whose role will be to enforce and monitor planning permit conditions for all licensed premises. Lord Mayor John So called on Liquor Licensing Victoria to mandate a year-long probationary period for first-time licensees which would see them close at 1am. Without violations or complaints, a full permanent license would then be issued. Other initiatives include a draft licensed premises policy aimed at addressing issues of unacceptable patron behaviour and excessive noise; and a 24-hour city policy which will expand Melbourne's late-night offering beyond nightclubs to a broader visitor base. The draft licensed premises policy will be ready by early February 2008 and will then go on exhibition for wider public consultation.

Federal Parliament sits five days a week

Labor is adding an extra 15 days to the sitting schedule for federal parliament next year, including Fridays.

Leader of the House Anthony Albanese says it's the first time since Federation that Federal Parliament will sit most weekdays.

Safety - the most wanted christmas gift

With the Christmas-New Year holiday season fast approaching, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, has urged all motorists to take great care on the roads this summer.

"I would urge all Australians to give their loved ones the most wanted Christmas gift of all - a safe arrival after a road trip," Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese said that family celebrations at this special time of year were too often ruined by road trauma.

Mr Albanese said that studies by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had found that fatal crashes at holiday times were more likely than normal to be single-vehicle crashes and to occur on high-speed rural highways.

Your superannuation obligations

As a government organisation, statutory authority or municipal body, there are a number of superannuation (super) guarantee obligations to your employees you need to consider.

You need to:

• determine which workers are eligible for super
• work out how much to pay - the minimum is 9% of the employee's earning base
• work out which super fund or retirement savings account to pay it into
• pay at least quarterly by the cut-off dates of
• 28 October
• 28 January
• 28 April
• 28 July, and
• understand what you need to do if you don't meet your obligations (if you forget to pay or pay late).

The easiest and cheapest way for you to meet your super obligations is to pay super contributions:

• to the correct super fund
• for all your eligible employees
• by the quarterly cut-off dates.

If you pay super contributions by these dates, you will avoid the superannuation guarantee charge.

Most employees who are either full-time, part-time or casual are covered by the super guarantee legislation if they are:

• paid $450 or more before tax in a calendar month, and
• over 18 and under 70 years of age.

You may also have to make super payments for contractors you pay under a contract that is wholly or principally for labour (that is, physical labour, or mental or artistic effort) even if the worker quotes an Australian business number (ABN).

The minimum super amount you have to pay is 9% of each eligible employee's earnings base. For most employees, their earnings base is their 'ordinary time earnings', which generally means what they earn for their ordinary hours of work.

It's important to pay the correct amount of super by the cut-off date each quarter to avoid paying the superannuation guarantee charge. If you don't meet your super obligations you have to lodge a Superannuation guarantee charge statement - quarterly (NAT 9599) form and pay the superannuation guarantee charge to the Tax Office.

You may also be required to offer a choice of super fund to your eligible employees. If you have a new employee who is eligible to choose their super fund, you must provide them with a Standard choice (NAT 13080) form within 28 days of the day they start work with you.

Ways to avoid common pitfalls

• Pay super on allowances relating to conditions of employment.
• Pay super on bonuses that relate to specific performance criteria.
• Don't count super payments that your employees make through your payroll system, (after tax has been deducted from their salary or wages - their own income), towards your super guarantee obligations.
• Make super contributions on salary or wages back-paid to former employees.

For more information about your super guarantee obligations:

• visit www.ato.gov.au and go to For Businesses > Super essentials, or
• phone 13 10 20, 8am–6.00pm, Monday to Friday.

Aust councils threaten to sue Wall St investment bank

Local councils in NSW and Western Australia are reportedly threatening legal action against a major Wall Street investment bank.

At least two councils in NSW and one in WA are considering taking the Australian subsidiary of Lehman Brothers to court over the sale of high-risk investment products, The Financial Times reported.

The bank's Australian subsidiary, Grange, marketed the Lehman-originated collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) to various councils, charities and a public hospital.

Many of the councils and charities are believed to have suffered big losses after taking up the CDOs, which are designed for investment in a wide range of products including bonds.

The newspaper said that Lehman had admitted that "in very few cases" the CDOs sold by Grange had breached the councils' investment guidelines.

Some of the bank's CDOs have been hit by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States and are now virtually worthless.

The NSW government is believed to have launched an investigation into the CDOs.

Lehman Brothers defended the sale of the CDOs to the local councils, believed to include Manly council in Sydney.

"We believe that everything Grange sold to customers conformed to NSW ministerial (investment) guidelines," the bank told the newspaper.

"There will be cases where Grange does not believe, on the objective grounds, they have to cancel (the CDOs)." (AAP)

Residents encouraged to rate favourite council projects

NSW residents can now vote for their favourite council arts project or program online.

In the lead up to the 2008 NSW Local Government Cultural Awards, The Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW have launched an Awards website.

"Residents can now not only view council cultural projects and programs online, but have until the 31 March to vote for their favourite arts project through the new Peoples Choice Award category," President of the Local Government Association of NSW, Cr Genia McCaffery said.

"The votes will be counted as a percentage of the council population, so smaller councils won't be disadvantaged.

"Councils have until 29 February to enter the 2008 awards, and need to apply through our new website.

Winners of the 2008 Awards will be announced at a ceremony at Parliament House on Friday 2 May 2008. For more information, to submit an application or vote, go to the NSW Local Government Cultural Awards website: www.CulturalAwards.lgsa.org.au

ATUG 2008 Broadband and Industry Awards

In 2007, ATUG presented the inaugural Broadband Awards. In 2008, ATUG are hoping to build on the success of the awards and are looking for nominations and submissions. The awards are given by sector, including:

• Government
• Health
• Community
• Education
• Communications/IT
• Agriculture, Mining and Transport
• Security
• Sales and Marketing

As well as presenting the 2nd Broadband Awards, ATUG will be presenting the 23rd ATUG Industry Awards. Categories for the Industry Awards include:

• Charles Todd Medal (Communicator of the Year)
• Innovations in Communications
• Excellence in Communications Management
• Best Communications Solution - Large Business
• Best Communications Solution - Regional
• Best Communications Solution - Small Business
• Carrier of the Year
• Communications Journalist of the Year
• ATUG Chairman's Award

Nominations for both of these Awards close on the 8th of February, so get your nominations in before the New Year rush!

For more information on the Broadband Awards, please click here

To submit your own nomination for the Broadband Awards, please click here

To nominate someone else for the Broadband Awards, please click here

To nominate for the ATUG Industry Awards, please click here

Bali talks on climate change

Talks in Bali on attacking climate change have led to an agreed roadmap for two-year negotiations, leading to a new worldwide pact to actively address global warming.

The "Bali Roadmap" has been approved by consensus among the 190 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, after negotiations ran for 13 days.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, stated that Australia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol sent "a clear signal of the very high priority that Government places on climate change."

In addition to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, the Federal Government has committed to reducing emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 over 2000 levels and introducing a national emissions trading scheme. These were key areas of discussion at this weeks COAG meeting.

Minister Garrett also commented that the Government "recognised the crucial importance of cities and local government administrations in taking action on climate change."

Healthy announcements - Minister Roxon

The new Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, has wasted no time in making a number of announcements within the health and ageing portfolio. One of the key directions appears to be a focus on education, awareness and preventative measures to improve the health outcomes of our nation.

The Healthy Kids Check will help ensure all our four-year-olds are healthy, fit and ready to learn when they start primary school. Each year, this will benefit around 255,000 four-year-olds across the nation.

This will be linked to the 4-year immunisation conducted by a GP or practice nurse and a new Medicare item will be set up to cover this. Local councils and community health centres can also deliver this check when they provide the immunisation.

Parents will be provided with a Healthy Habits for Life Guide, which will provide practical, accessible tips on their child's health and development at a critical stage of their young lives.

The Government will provide $3.5m to develop and distribute guidelines on healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood settings and we will work with states and territories to put these in place around the country.

Promoting a positive relationship with food is a good step forward; and the Labor Government will provide $12.8 million for a national roll-out of the Kitchen Gardens program to 190 schools around Australia. As an early step, a demonstration school will also be established in each State and Territory for other schools to visit and learn from.

Among adults, Australia's growing obesity levels are also the product of the changing nature of work and the more sedentary nature of our leisure pursuits. We will need to consider these factors in any national action plan, which will cross portfolios.

One change Labor has made - significant but perhaps easy to miss with so many other changes going on - is the shifting of sport into the health portfolio. Sport, and physical activity more broadly, is an important part of preventative health, a crucial weapon in fighting obesity, and a key part of our national character to boot. If there is a way of placing fitness closer to the centre of the national psyche, sport, surely, must play a role.

Another example of change is our commitment to allocate $700,000 to support the Planning Institute of Australia, the Australian Local Government Association and the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Places, Healthy Spaces project, to produce national guidelines for town planners on designing communities which encourage healthy lifestyles. We are keen to see these ideas implemented at the local level with workshops and seminars to support their practical adoption.

Visit to China by ALGA delegation

A delegation from the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) visited China from 2 December to 12 December as a guest of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). The fact that the Chinese Government, through the Association, chose to sponsor a visit by local government underlined the importance China attaches to local government and ALGA as part of the Australian system of government.

The ALGA delegation was led by ALGA President Cr Paul Bell and included Vice Presidents Cr Bill Mitchell (WA), Cr Col Sullivan (NSW), Cr Ann Benison (Qld), Cr Dick Gross (Victoria), Cr John Rich (SA) and Mayor Mike Gaffney (Tasmania). The delegation was accompanied by ALGA CEO Adrian Beresford-Wylie.

The program for the visit was determined by the CPAFFC with the aim of providing the delegation with an overview of China's development and culture and an opportunity to raise significant issues of mutual interest with national, provincial and local government bodies.

Cr Bell said the visit was an excellent opportunity for Australian cities to learn from China's rapid urban expansion. "In summary, the rate of urban development and economic expansion of China is impressively dramatic but is clearly not without problems," he said. "Chinese cities are surprisingly modern in appearance but displacement of urban populations, urban congestion and pollution and the destruction of some culturally and historically significant sites are all issues Chinese cities face or have faced." Cr Bell said there was an awareness of these problems within local government authorities and there appeared to be a growing urgency in dealing with them.

Aged care funding announcement

The new Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, has recently announced a significant recurrent and capital expenditure program for the aged care sector.

Recurrent funding in the order of $233 million will be provided to deliver 6525 new residential aged care beds across the nation. This will comprise 4,415 high care and 2,110 low care beds.

An allocation of $40.5 million for capital projects will provide for a grants program for new or improved residential aged care services.

The allocations are made under the 2007 Aged Care Approvals Round, and further details on both the programs and the announcement can be found at www.health.gov.au/acar2007

Local government remuneration survey

Growth and diversity within the local government sector is reflected in results from the 2007 National Local Government Remuneration Survey conducted by McArthur Management Services.

This is the second year that McArthur collected remuneration data not just on job levels but also on generic job families to provide detailed analysis on specific jobs within different sized councils and in different states, a valuable distinction from which interesting trends have emerged.

Dr Wendy Attwater, an expert in Australian remuneration, commented on the data gleaned from 93 participating councils and analysis of 29 generic job families, pointing out disparities resulting from some growing and acute skills shortages.

The remuneration levels for some job families have moved ahead of others, for example, engineering jobs have moved 10 per cent at level 2 and 9.3 per cent at level 3 from last year to this illustrating the growing shortage of skilled staff in this area, Dr Attwater said.

"Shortages in engineering and other technical roles is a rapidly growing global problem and all employers, whether government or private, are experiencing great difficulties in recruiting skilled and experienced staff. As a result, the remuneration that is being offered is escalating at a great rate. This phenomenon is likely to continue for some years and so there will be continued pressure on local governments to keep up."

John Salisbury, McArthur Senior Consultant responsible for the survey, said another development was the number of council amalgamations, particularly in Queensland.

"We see the emergence of extraordinarily large councils - super councils - as changing the scope of remuneration being paid to senior executives and will be interested to observe how this unfolds over the next 12 months."

McArthur Management Services is Australia's major consulting firm to local government with over 20 years experience in high level executive search and recruitment, manager development as well as the provision of organisational advice.

The results of its National Local Government Remuneration Survey provide valuable information in reviewing remuneration packages within the sector and are available at no cost to participating councils. All data is confidential and non-specific to participating councils.

For more information contact John Salisbury on 03 9828 6565 or john.salisbury@mcarthur.com.au

Adelaide Council's solar-powered bus

Adelaide's first solar-powered bus is going into service.

Lacking a combustion engine, Adelaide City Council says the bus is extremely quiet and has no emissions.

The air-conditioned bus can carry more than 40 passengers and its electric motor is recharged using solar panels on top of the Central Bus Station in the city.

It is on trial and expected to be part of the regular fleet of free city centre buses from early next year.

Hobart Airport goes private

Hobart's airport, the last such facility to be controlled by a state government, has been bought by a Macquarie Group-led consortium which beat off competition from a series of bidders in a deal worth $350 million.

The Tasmanian Gateway Consortium, in which Macquarie owns 20 per cent and whose main partner, RBF, is the state's largest public sector superannuation fund, will take control of the airport at the end of next month following a competitive tender process.

The Tasmanian Government put the airport up for sale this year as part of a plan to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in the state's ailing infrastructure.

The sale of the airport comes nearly 10 years after the Federal Government offloaded Tasmania's other main facility at Launceston, which is owned by APAC, a consortium of investors that includes AMP, Deutsche Asset Management and Westpac's Hastings Fund Management.

APAC also operates Melbourne Airport. Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide airports are owned by different groups of local and foreign investors.

13-14 March, Canberra, Australia - Australian Disasters Conference 2008: Surviving Future Risks

Will provide participants with the opportunity to hear a diverse range of speakers from the fields of emergency management, community safety and risk reduction. For more information, please click here

Community infrastructure impacts on children

Walgett Shire Council, in north-western New South Wales, has decided to remove all high risk playground equipment from its parks to prevent future lawsuits.

The council says most playground equipment in the Walgett Shire does not comply with Australian standards and will be removed.

Six out of the shire's seven parks will be affected, including those at Collarenebri, Cumborah, Carinda, Burren Junction and Lightning Ridge.

The council's manager of engineering, Alan Nelson, says there are plans to replace the equipment.

"The council's budgeted $80,000 this year and it's foreshadowed that that $80,000 would be budgeted for the next five years, so that's $400,000 over five years to try to get things up to speed and we're hopeful that we might be able to obtain some external grant funding to assist us to get the job done a little bit quicker," he said.

New research supports importance of good urban design

Specific research that investigates the associations between neighbourhood walkability - based on dwelling density, street connectivity, land-use mix, and net retail area - and sedentary behaviour in the form of television viewing time in adults has uncovered some interesting findings. Walkability has previously been found to influence transport-related physical activity, but built environment attributes of neighbourhood have not been as thoroughly examined in relation to sedentary behaviour.

The research provides key new findings of the evident links between attributes of the built environment where people live and sedentary behaviour from a large sample of Australian adults. It provides useful information in support of the importance of designing and modifying urban environments to be safe and conducive to walking. Evidence of the associations between walkability and physical activity behaviour has been clearly shown in the past and this research highlights the additional importance of walkable neighbourhoods in reducing sedentary behaviour to improve health, independently, yet in partnership with physical activity.

Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33(6): 444 - 449.

Mission Australia 2007 Youth Survey

Mission Australia has published the results of its sixth national survey of young Australians "which uncovers the issues that concern them, who they admire and where they turn for advice and support". Based on input from 29,000 respondents between the ages of 11-24 in every state and territory around the country, the survey offers "a valuable snapshot into the minds of young Australians and provides a wealth of important information for anyone interested in their wellbeing". A copy of the report of the survey is available here

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Third annual Road Engineering & Maintenance Conference

Implementing sustainable building practices for local and arterial roads will be one of the main topics of discussion at the Third Road Engineering & Maintenance Conference 2008 being held in Melbourne on Wednesday March 5 & Thursday March 6. The conference is held annually and draws more than 200 delegates from councils, state road authorities and private sector from across Australia.

Alan Sheridan, Director of Works, Noosa Council, will deliver a keynote presentation at the conference on the topics of Green Roads - A Case Study in the Delivery of Major Arterial Roads in a Sustainable and Environmentally Responsible Manner. Noosa has won a number of awards for its leading edge practices in this field. In addition to sustainable building practices, Alan will also outline how a relatively small council has been able to raise $80 million for road construction.

More than 25 expert speakers from councils, state road authorities and the private sector will address the full range of topics dealing with contemporary practices in road design, engineering and maintenance with a special focus on local roads. Practical case studies, based on award-winning projects, are a feature of this conference to enable councils and other road authorities to immediately implement the information presented at the conference. The speaking program is further augmented by a number of practical workshops and a highly relevant exhibition.

Key conference themes will include: developments within effective road maintenance; alliance contracts and road delivery models; good paving practices, as well as work management issues connected with working under traffic.

For more information on the conference including the full speaking program and online registration, please visit www.halledit.com.au/conferences/roads/2008/

Please visit the website for registration form, or online registration, or contact Denise McQueen on Ph: (03) 8534 5021 (direct) or (03) 8534 5000 (switch); Fax: (03) 8534 5121; Email denise.mcqueen@halledit.com.au

Please note that the early bird rate applies for registrations received by January 18.