Dear LG Focus,
The 12 percent increase in the Solid Waste Levy announced by the South Australian Government in the State Budget will be an added burden on families with no benefit to communities.
Increasing the solid waste levy, to $47 a tonne for metropolitan waste and $23.50 per tonne in the regions, is a money grab, pure and simple and will place further strain on our families and communities already hit with dramatically increased costs for watering local sporting fields and parks.
If the Government was spending up big in the waste management environment there could be justification for taxing South Australians to pay for it. However, when they will have $59 million unspent in the Waste to Resources Fund, it’s a cynical move.
South Australian families should be angry at a budget measure that is not designed to improve the environment, or improve living standards for the State’s families but is purely about revenue raising.
Councils can’t absorb this increased impost, of $5 per tonne for metropolitan councils and $2.50 per tonne in the regions, it will have to be passed on to every ratepayer. Where will it stop?
This increase will cost councils and their communities in excess of $20 million next financial year.
At the same time we are informed that Zero Waste SA will no longer exist and a proposed replacement waste entity would be expected to operate with about $1 million in funding, a decrease of $7 million on current waste management funding to assist communities.
We can only assume that the $7 million will also be swallowed up in the Government’s revenue vacuum, however there is no clarity around the loss of services to the community.
Currently, only $1.4 million is provided to help councils, in the form of recycling grants and this will increase next year to about $1.9 million which has to be compared with the more than $140 million spent by councils on waste and recycling each year.
Yours sincerely,
Mayor David O’Loughlin
President
Local Government Association of South Australia
Dear LG Focus,
Like just about all referendum questions, bipartisan support is essential for success and it’s not clear that the Coalition position is whole-heartedly behind the Constitutional recognition of Local Government.
Given the realpolitik and poor track record of referendum questions being passed, what will be the responses of ALGA and State-Territory Associations if there is failure of the proposition at the forthcoming Federal election?
How then would our political system find alternative mechanisms to enhance local governments’ role in the Australian system of government?
Options include:
- ensuring a flow of funds that are not dependent on State-Territory decision-making such as seeking a formal agreement with the Commonwealth to receive a fixed percentage of the GST rebates.
- lobbying to change local government legislation of States that constrain local government’s capacity to undertake particular activities or restrict them in ways they can operate. This is especially so in those jurisdictions where local government can be overruled by the relevant Minister without needing to refer matters to their parliament. The removal of Ministerial veto would enable councils or groups of councils to pursue new and innovative programs and services including arm’s length bodies or public enterprises. This would also be a practical introduction of the principle of subsidiarity, an emerging underlying value in state-local relations in many countries.
Not all councils in Australia have the ability to take on a wider range of services or to innovate in service delivery arrangements. However, the removal of constraints on those councils that have the capacity with a local mandate would greatly enhance the role and position of local government.
Regardless of being ‘constitutionally recognised’ or not, these would be worthwhile pathways for local government in better servicing their communities.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Bateson
Project Manager
Sustainable Development
ANZSOG Institute for Governance
