Mayor Troy Pickard, ALGA President
The 41st meeting of Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) in December 2015 saw agreement by the Leaders to reinvigorate and refocus the COAG agenda on economic reform to drive the nation’s economic growth and improve the living standards of all Australians.
The renewed agenda brings together existing efforts under the Reform of Taxation and the Reform of the Federation processes—as well as competition, innovation and regulation reform—and closely draws on the Harper Competition Policy Review.
Principles for the new national economic reform agenda were developed with the aim of delivering:
- a stronger, more productive and more innovative Australian economy, with more jobs, more opportunities and higher living standards
- fairness and equity, with protection for disadvantaged and lower income Australians and
- more efficient and high-quality services to all Australians.
- This is a broad agenda that will require all levels of government to play their part in ensuring reform that contributes to strong economic growth.
Local Government has a place in this agenda under three key elements of the Harper Review: road pricing reform, deregulation and planning. At the same time, discussions around tax reform are keeping all options open, including land tax reform. A key priority for Local Government remains to preserve, and if possible, improve, the integrity of the rates base.
The focus on pragmatic reform is welcome but we cannot forget that in the long term, better service delivery for the community will still require a closer alignment between roles and responsibilities and access to revenue. This is something ALGA will continue to work towards as part of the reform agenda.
