Welcome to the first issue of National Perspective for 2000. Throughout this year I will continue to contribute to Local Government Focus as a way of keeping everyone involved in Local Government updated with Federal Government initiatives of interest to your Council and your community.
2000 will be an important year for Local Government with the review of the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 to commence. Details and timing of the review will be circulated to councils in the coming months.
This year will also see the Federal Government respond to the recommendations of last year’s Regional Australia Summit and a continued focus on the need of better service provision for people in rural and regional Australia. A working group, who will provide advice to the Government, is currently examining the recommendations from the Summit. Local Government is involved in the working group and will play a major role in the Summit’s outcomes.
Northern Australia will also be a major priority for me this year, building on many achievements of the Howard Government last year in rural, regional and remote Australia. And later this year we will be hosting a Northern Australia Forum. As one who lives north of the Tropic of Capricorn, I know first-hand how Northern Australia has the greatest potential for development in the country.
The Forum will focus on new opportunities and will highlight how Government at all levels, but particularly Local Government, and private industry, in partnership, can play a part in regional development. We are commencing a series of meetings and consultations across the North from the beginning of this year to refine the key discussion areas and format for the Forum.
Certainly the potential for Australia’s future is in Northern Australia. At the start of the new millennium it is time to start unlocking that potential and turning it into reality. Local Government will be critical for these benefits to be unleashed.
2000 will also see a continuation of the National Awards for Innovation in Local Government. This year there will be a new Youth category in the Awards which will acknowledge leading practice at the Local Government level in innovative projects designed to improve youth representation or to address youth lifestyle needs. The creation of this new category follows a recommendation from the Lifestyle Group of the National Youth Roundtable.
This new Youth Category was a worthy recommendation and its inclusion demonstrates the Government’s willingness to implement practical suggestions from the Youth Roundtable.
The Federal Government will continue to provide support for Councils who wish to be involved with Local Agenda 21, a key focus of ecological sustainable development. There is further information on Local Agenda 21 in this edition of National Perspective.
I wish all in Local Government and your local communities the best for the coming year.
