Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) has launched a Rural Online Project which aims to provide practical support to senior Local Government officers employed in rural and remote locations through a web site facility.
Funded by the Department of Transport and Regional Services Local Government Incentives Programme, the project was guided by an Advisory Committee with representatives from several government departments, including the National Office of Local Government, and rural Local Government officers.The online facility contains several elements including the following.
Message Board
A place where visitors can log questions, comments etc. or respond to existing items.
News
A dynamic facility providing information about relevant issues, events etc. Again, visitors can contribute.
Links
A guided link facility which provides an indication of content in a number of linked sites.
It has been designed to allow interesting articles and information to be archived so they can be readily accessed for future research.
Another innovative component of the project is the introduction of a ‘Rural Network’ which will allow rural officers to distribute queries, comments and responses to each other through a direct email facility. Government departments and organisations dealing with rural Local Governments and rural communities are encouraged to use this new facility to promote projects and programs, distribute media releases and so forth.
To access the new facility, simply go to the Local Government Managers Australia website at www.lgma.org.au and click on the red ‘Rural’ button on the left hand side of the screen.
