Mayor Troy Pickard
ALGA President
In my final column as President of ALGA, I would like to reflect on my past two years as President as well as consider the priorities for local government in the future.
When I began my tenure as ALGA President, the issue at the top of my agenda was to restore the indexation of Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs). The pause on FAGs indexation implemented in the 2014-15 budget was unexpected and had a severe impact on the sector. Our campaign as a sector made it clear that the restoration of FAGs indexation was a political priority, and this year’s Federal budget and election confirmed that the indexation pause will end after this year. The sector’s campaign on this issue was also the major factor behind the agreement of the Opposition and Government, in June last year, to announce an extra $1.105 billion in Roads to Recovery funding, the biggest single funding injection local government has ever received from the Federal Government.
Another success was the agreement between ALGA and seven other peak bodies to undertake collaborative work on a Joint Infrastructure Statement, which was launched in May this year. This partnership was important, particularly in the lead up to this year’s Federal election, in providing a concise and succinct call for a long-term, strategic view of infrastructure investment to ensure Australia’s cities and regions remain competitive and sustainable.
Looking ahead, I see some important challenges for local government, particularly in the areas of road user charging and disaster relief.
The national conversation on road user charging is shifting and local government must engage in this conversation to determine how we identify the revenue streams to fund our roads in the face of declining excise revenue and how we manage the move to direct road user charging.
In addition to this, given the scale and continued impacts of recent natural disasters and warnings that more frequent and more severe natural disasters can be expected in the future, the sector will face a challenge in making our communities more resilient. Support from the Government will be vital in assisting councils to reduce the escalating relief and recovery costs of disaster events as well as adapt to climate change impacts.
A stronger partnership between local government and the Commonwealth will become increasingly important as local government will play a key role in preparing our communities for these big challenges.
