In each edition we feature the views of a Local Government Association President. The following is from Councillor John Legoe, President of the Local Government Association of South Australia.
As we move closer to a Federal election, the opportunity for influencing key directions at the national level are naturally increased.
There has also been significant interstate interest in the new State-Local Relations Agreement I signed with the SA Premier, Mike Rann, in March. There is no doubt in my mind that the citizens we all serve expect their governments to work together. This does not mean that our responsibilities to advocate on their behalf from a local, state or national perspective should be compromised.
What it does mean, however, is that one government, including a council, should not make key decisions that will impact on another government without being aware of their views and plans. We should also work as hard as possible to coordinate our service delivery.
The thrust of the State-Local Government Relations Agreement is focused on a clear commitment by the SA Government, through Premier Rann and by the LGA of SA, through myself that we will work together and seek to ensure our spheres of government consult and that we focus on priorities. It provides for a jointly negotiated schedule of annual priorities and provides a formal role for the Local Government Forum that comprises five SA Cabinet Ministers and LGA representatives.
The agreement provides that the State will support national representation of Local Government on appropriate Ministerial Councils and that we will work together with the Commonwealth on national issues.
Local Government has done well in SA recently on the national front with the Prime Minister’s ‘interim response’ to the Hawker Report bringing this State $26.25m additional local road funding over three years and a national commitment to extend the Roads to Recovery program to 2009. I was particularly pleased that we were successful in gaining additional local road funding for SA to partially redress an anomaly in the distribution formula without any impact on Local Government in other States.
Equity is an imperative at the national level – otherwise it undermines the federation, undermines our common push to raise Local Government’s status nationally and threatens to divide Local Government resources away from these central tasks. The Hawker ‘Fair Share’ report soundly backs these propositions of improved intergovernmental collaboration, a more significant national status for Local Government and equity in funding.
The detail of the report in relation to Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) requires much more significant work before anyone can commit to a new model. However, there is no doubt that the current model is inequitable and therefore undermines national interests, Local Government’s combined capacity to lobby nationally and the objectives of the FAGs legislation. I believe that whether or not SA Councils would benefit financially, we have a responsibility to support a fair distribution of the funding.
As with the road funding, a smart Federal Government will boost the overall level of funding for the program when it implements a new system, to minimise potential political issues with funding redistribution as well as addressing fiscal imbalance. The Australian Local Government Association and State Presidents have been working hard with State Ministers for Local Government and the Federal Minister to encourage a leadership on this issue and will meet in a roundtable shortly.
The question for us all – Councils, State/Territory Governments, Local Government Associations and the Commonwealth is not “who wins?” but “what is in the long term national interest of Australian communities?”
