The most recent Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting took place the same week the US congress was grappling with ‘would it or won’t it’ pass a multibillion dollar bail out package for its financial institutions. With the ongoing upheaval reverberating through global financial markets, and the oscillating reactions from share markets, the COAG communique reaffirmed that the strong capital position of Australia’s banks and other financial institutions will provide a buffer for our domestic economy. However, it acknowledged that a prolonged global financial crisis will impact our economy via financial and trade links and through its effects on confidence.
Perhaps a more telling indication that times ahead could get worse before they get better, COAG has announced that it will bring forward Infrastructure Australia’s interim report on its National Infrastructure Audit and the Infrastructure Priority List to the end of this year. This will speed up decisions on the Government’s $20 billion Building Australia Fund for national projects, including roads, railways, ports and telecommunications infrastructure, in what would appear to be a fillip to stave off any slow down in our economy
Apart from these major national projects, the Rudd Government’s commitment to ‘a new local infrastructure fund’ is also gaining momentum.
In his recent announcement of the inaugural meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) scheduled for 18 November, Kevin Rudd pointed to the PricewaterhouseCoopers report finding of a $1.1 billion per annum underspend in local community infrastructure renewal.
The Prime Minister has now invited all Mayors and Shire Presidents to travel to Canberra to discuss with the Federal Government how it can partner with Local Governments to meet their local infrastructure needs in the future.
In spite of criticism such as “yet another talkfest”, and one media commentator suggesting that this will be akin to “565 Bob Jellys descending on Canberra”, it is evident that the Federal Government is very much aware of the importance of Local Government in delivering for local communities and the vital issue of adequate funding to enable councils to do so.
Australian Local Government Association President, Councillor Paul Bell, is right to call for Local Government to take a strategic approach as it plans for this first ACLG meeting, to ensure it sticks to some key policy lines and does not slip into a fragmented message of 565 parochial local agendas.
