National General Assembly Communiqué
At the conclusion of this year’s National General Assembly delegates endorsed a Communiqué covering their key resolutions. The following is an abridged version. The full Communiqué is available on the ALGA website at www.alga.asn.au/newsroom/communiques/22.nga/2009GACommunique.pdf
Delegates were united on key actions needed to address Cconstitutional reform, climate change, community infrastructure and Local Government financing.
Local Government welcomes the Australian Government’s intention to strengthen its partnership with Local Government, recognising that it is essential in addressing the challenges that face Australia at the local level.
Key outcomes from the NGA include:
Constitutional reform
The NGA welcomed the Australian Government’s continuing commitment to consult with Local Government on the development of a referendum proposal on Constitutional recognition of Local Government. Delegates also welcomed expressions of support and commitment to work with Local Government on this issue from the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Greens.
Delegates confirmed the need for formal recognition of Local Government in the Australian Constitution to improve its capacity to meet the needs of local communities and remove any uncertainty about the ability of the Australian Government to directly fund Local Government.
Climate change
Climate change represents one of the greatest challenges to Australia and will affect communities, economies and the environment across the nation. Early action on mitigation and adaptation will minimise future costs and consequences of climate change.
NGA delegates urged the Australian Government to strengthen the community’s ability to tackle the impacts of climate change by:
- extending the Local Adaptation Pathways
Program to encourage all communities
to undertake mitigation planning, to take
stock of the potential amifications
of climate change by undertaking risk
assessments, and to incorporate these risks
into climate change adaptation strategies • reinstating the funding to the International
Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
(ICLEI) Oceania - providing appropriate direction, support
and funding to ensure that councils are in
a position to implement their adaptation
plans to proactively address these
risks, particularly in vulnerable coastal
communities - ensuring that accurate scientific research
is undertaken and made available, so that
councils can base their risk assessment
plans on the best available data, with a
degree of certainty in relation to
environmental changes.
Infrastructure
The NGA reiterated its concern about the backlog of community infrastructure spending of $14.5 billion identified in a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2006. Community infrastructure, much of which was constructed 40 to 60 years ago, has deteriorated due to council funding constraints.
A long term national strategy is required to reverse the deteriorating trend and bring community infrastructure back to the standard expected by the community.
Delegates called on the Australian Government to:
- extend the Community Infrastructure
Renewal program to provide funding for
all councils for a further four years - make Roads to Recovery a permanent
program, with an appropriate indexation
factor linked to road construction costs - provide funding support for asset
management systems and quality data
provision across councils. Local
Government itself has placed priority on
strengthening asset management in recent
years, but many councils face great
challenges in terms of capacity and need
support from government. This is an issue
which has been pursued by Local
Government since the 2006 PwC report - introduce arrangements to provide Local
Government with medium to long term
funding for major infrastructure projects.
Financing Local Government
Local Government’s capacity to deal with the challenges it faces is dependent on adequate resourcing.
While Local Government generates a high proportion of its own revenue (the Productivity Commission estimated that more than
80 per cent of Local Government revenue across the sector is from own sources such as rates, fees and charges), Commonwealth general purpose funding is essential, particularly in many rural and remote councils, where grants make up to 80 per cent of total income.
Local Government is gravely concerned with State imposed limits that restrict the ability of Local Government to raise revenue, particularly rate capping, and the increased use of property taxes by State Governments, making it more difficult for Local Government to bring rates in line with demand for services.
NGA delegates urged the Australian Government to:
- conduct a review of the base funding and
indexation formula for FAGs - increase the percentage of Commonwealth
government taxation revenue to Local
Government from 0.76 per cent to a
minimum of one per cent as an appropriate
interim measure until a base and indexation
review is conducted and implemented - establish a permanent framework to address
cost shifting between levels of government,
which has placed significant pressure
on local councils, to be implemented prior
to the expiry of the 2006 Intergovernmental
Agreement Establishing Principles
Guiding Intergovernmental Relations of
Local Government Matters.
