Speeches: 2004
Opening Address
We come together to discuss the recommendations of the landmark Fair Share report on cost shifting and local government financing. The report represents a 'once in a generation' chance to change the way all governments work together to achieve meaningful outcomes for the people of Australia. Most importantly, it is about making sure that local government is in a position to fulfill the roles expected of us by our communities and, indeed, by other spheres of government.
Address to Round table on cost shifting and local government financing
Councillor Mike Montgomery
President, Australian Local Government Association
10 June 2004: Canberra
I'd like to start by thanking Minister Campbell and his state colleagues for convening this historic roundtable.
It is my hope that this meeting will help pave the way towards a more secure future for local government, working in stronger partnership with our federal and state counterparts.
We come together to discuss the recommendations of the landmark Fair Share report on cost shifting and local government financing.
The report represents a 'once in a generation' chance to change the way all governments work together to achieve meaningful outcomes for the people of Australia.
Most importantly, it is about making sure that local government is in a position to fulfill the roles expected of us by our communities and, indeed, by other spheres of government.
Our constituents - our councils throughout Australia - have high expectations of us.
They expect that we will use the Fair Share report to fix some fundamental problems that have - for some time - been impeding local government from reaching it true potential.
This bipartisan report is important for a number of reasons.
While not perfect, it has been well received in many quarters.
Importantly, it highlights the case for change. It underlines the urgency of change. And it shows us how to achieve the necessary change.
It is an excellent starting point.
Local government has now had seven months to read and re-read the report. We have thought carefully about its content and recommendations.
If we can put specific recommendations aside, local government sees four core recommendations arising from the report that need to be supported.
- There needs to be a commitment to develop an agreement on inter-government relations;
- This agreement needs to be made at the highest level - the Council of Australian Governments;
- There needs to be a summit on intergovernment relations convened by COAG; and
- There needs to be an agreement that local government finances must be addressed and placed on a more secure footing.
If we do nothing else today, we must commit to these four core recommendations.
Together, they represent the essence of the Fair Share report.
They establish processes that can - over a reasonable period - address the underlying problems that face local government, problems that have been so well documented in the Report.
The structure of today's program and the papers prepared for this meeting reflect these priorities.
Breaking the subject matter up into roles and responsibilities, finance and administrative arrangements and the IGA will help us go to the heart of the issues we face and - I hope - avoid us getting bogged in the detail.
In respect of roles and responsibilities - we don't need to engage in a protracted debate on specific determination of each and every 'role and responsibility' for all levels of government.
The Fair Share report clearly demonstrates that the roles and responsibilities of local government have changed significantly over the past 30 to 50 years.
This evolution of roles and responsibilities tells us that the business of government is not static. It changes. As we know, councils have an increasing focus on human services in addition to the broad range of traditional services that might have been the sole expectation a few decades ago.
Clearly, broadly defined roles and responsibilities are called for. Equally important is the need to allocate resources to match those roles and responsibilities, which ever sphere of government is providing them.
We also need to recognise the fact that the tax powers of the Australian Government provides the principle source of public sector revenue - not just for the Commonwealth, but across for board.
As the Fair Share report makes abundantly clear, local government has very limited capacity to raise its own revenue, relying on rates as its sole means of taxation.
Local government is caught in a funding squeeze. Cost shifting, unfunded mandates, ageing infrastructure and increasing demand for human services are putting immense pressure on finances when we have little real capacity to increase revenue.
What we are saying is that we can no longer do business as usual.
We need a basis to negotiate mutually agreed outcomes with funding agreements on service provision.
We need a strong and robust intergovernmental framework that assists us all to work together in a fair and equitable way.
And we need new funding arrangements which allow us to carry out our roles and responsibilities to improve outcomes and opportunities for the communities we service.
In conclusion, thank you for convening this summit. This is an historic opportunity to advance solutions and change intergovernmental arrangements to ensure local government can fulfill its true potential.
Thank you.
Cr Mike Montgomery
10 June 2004
