Darebin Mayor elected ALGA President
10 November 2004
The Mayor of the City of Darebin in Melbourne, Councillor Rae Perry, has today been elected as President of the Australian Local Government Association. She becomes the Association's first female president.
Cr Perry succeeds Cr Mike Montgomery, of the Shire of Moree Plains in NSW, who has stepped down after two years at the helm.
Cr Perry said she would vigorously pursue ALGA's core goals of securing fair funding for local government and putting an end to cost shifting.
"Local government is under severe financial pressure as income sources, particularly grants, fail to match the increasing demand for human services and infrastructure," Cr Perry said.
"We must continue to make progress on the reform of federal/local government financial relations and put an end to the practice of 'cost shifting' in which state and federal governments shift costs to local government with no, or inadequate, funding," Cr Perry said. Cost shifting is estimated to cost local government between $500m and $1.1 billion a year.
"I was pleased to hear the Federal Minister for Local Government, Jim Lloyd, today say that a new stream of revenue for local government must be investigated," Cr Perry said.
"He is also keen to press ahead on an intergovernmental agreement on cost shifting. We look forward to working with him to ensure these objectives are achieved."
Cr Perry said ALGA has developed a very good relationship with both the Australian Government and the Opposition and she looked forward to building on that relationship to the benefit of local communities throughout Australia.
Cr Perry paid tribute to the work of Cr Montgomery, saying he had done a magnificent job for local government over the past two years.
In other elections, the President of the Queensland Local Government Association, Cr Paul Bell, and the President of the Western Australian Local Government Association, Cr Bill Mitchell, were elected as the ALGA Vice Presidents.
ALGA represents local government at the national level. It is a federation of state/territory local government associations and the Government of the Australian Capital Territory.
