Around the nation, over the next 12 months, Councils are organising a multitude of events to celebrate 100 years of nationhood. “Councils and their communities are making this work on the ground,” said Australian Local Government Association President, Councillor John Ross. “At the same time, 100 years on, the celebrations enable us to reflect on a number of things, including how Local Government should be recognised in the Federal Constitution and how reconciliation might be progressed.”
Councillor Ross said that in the spirit of Federation, the ALGA is keen to foster good relations with the other spheres of government, particularly the Federal Government.
“At our recent National General Assembly in Canberra, the Prime Minister, Kim Beazley and Meg Lees all said the same thing, that relations between the Federal Government and Local Government need to be enhanced,” he said.
“The Rural Roads To Recovery initiative is a good example of how and why direct relations between Councils and the Federal Government should exist.
“On a number of fronts Local Government is demonstrating that it is doing things well, particularly in the area of environmental management. This reinforces our argument for funding directly from the Federal Government.”
John Ross said that Local Government has reaffirmed its commitment to progressing reconciliation between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians.
“With the recent winding up of the Reconciliation Council and as the new body, Reconciliation Australia, is finding its feet, ALGA will organise and promote National Reconciliation Week for 2001,” he said.
Turning to ongoing issues that ALGA will pursue during 2001, Councillor Ross said that a strong commitment to regional and rural development will be maintained.
“Regional development is a core business of Local Government,” he said. “We are not going to continue being local if we can’t keep our businesses and people in our areas.”
On the environmental front, John Ross said that ALGA will again be arguing that recycling needs a huge shake up.
“The National Packaging Covenant has let industry off the hook,” he said. “Ratepayers are currently picking up the tab for negligent manufacturers ignoring the lifecycle costs of their products.”
In this a federal election year, John Ross said that for the first time Local Government, through the ALGA, has embarked on a national road funding campaign for increased and long term funding for roads.
He also points to the fact that in May this year, most likely prior to the election, the review of Financial Assistance Grants (FAGS) is due to be tabled in Parliament.
“The Government introduced the New Tax System as the best way forward, so it ought to be able to accommodate FAGS to Councils in a more meaningful way,” he said.
“With the States the major beneficiaries of the New Tax System, Local Government should be able to access some of this additional funding.
“We need to position ourselves to do this, as there will be different views State by State.”
He said ALGA had argued for six percent of GST collected to be paid directly to Local Government, to replace FAGS and provide a funding stream with a built in growth element.
“Put simply, currently there is not enough money in FAGS to achieve horizontal equalisation,” he said.
“As we enter our second century as a nation we need to get sensible agreement about Constitutional Recognition enabling funds distribution direct to Local Government not via the States.”
