In previous editions of Local Government – A National Perspective I have been keeping you up to date with progress on the Government’s response to the Hawker Report. I am very pleased to announce that one of the biggest achievements in this process came to fruition on 12 April 2006. At a special meeting of the Local Government and Planning Ministers’ Council in Canberra, an Inter-governmental Agreement between the Australian Government, the States and Territories and the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) was signed, thus completing many months of discussions and negotiations between these jurisdictions.
I am delighted to have been a part of this process and commend all parties to the Inter-governmental Agreement on the cooperative approach to the negotiations which enabled finalisation of the process begun with the tabling of the Government’s response to the Hawker Report in June 2005.
The Inter-governmental Agreement offers the possibility of a new relationship between Local Government and the other spheres of government. More details on the Inter-governmental Agreement are in the accompanying article on this page.
Following the signing of the Inter-governmental Agreement, I held my annual Roundtable with ALGA and the State and Territory Local Government associations. I find this forum valuable as it allows me to understand some of the significant issues being faced by Local Government and enables me to speak face to face with the most senior representatives of Local Government from across Australia. Some of the items on the agenda included Local Government financing, a national Local Government transport strategy, the government’s response to the Australian National Audit Office report on the Roads to Recovery Programme, the Australian Government response to the Hawker Report, the development of strategic Australian Government-Local Government partnerships, grants application and acquittal processes, and information and communication technology. Follow up work on these items will be undertaken over the next few months.
I launched the 2006 National Awards for Local Government on 28 April. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Awards and I would encourage Local Governments throughout Australia to consider entering successful projects or programmes they have implemented in their jurisdictions in the Awards.
Further details on the Awards, including the award categories, are included in this edition of Local Government – A National Perspective. I will be announcing the winners of the Awards in late November at a presentation dinner to be held in conjunction with the ALGA’s National General Assembly,
