The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) held its 28th meeting at Parliament House in Brisbane on 7 December.
The Prime Minister, Premiers, Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Councillor Geoff Lake, were joined by Treasurers for the meeting.
Health and, in particular, hospitals were the focus of the meeting, with COAG agreeing that national health reform will be a central priority for 2010.
COAG also announced that States and Territories will have capital city strategic plans by 2012 that meet national criteria for transport, housing, urban development and sustainability.
State and Territory planning systems will be independently assessed by the COAG Reform Council, and from January 2012 the Commonwealth will link future infrastructure funding to States and Territories meeting these criteria.
Importantly, the COAG criteria acknowledges the need for coordination across all three spheres of government and ALGA is seeking input into the process for supporting the review of capital city strategic planning.
On the issue of housing, COAG is keen to keep a focus on affordable housing, generally from a supply side, but has flagged that Treasurers, rather than Housing Ministers, will lead the reform agenda.
COAG also discussed Natural Disaster Arrangements, including a Disaster Resilience Statement aimed at encouraging individual and community resilience, and Critical Infrastructure Protection.
Other issues discussed were the renegotiation of the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, a new National Quality Agenda for early childhood education and care, and national transport reform, including progress on national regulators.
The full communiqué is available at www.coag.gov.au
