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Queensland Councils meet at the Gold Coast

Gold Coast City Council hosted the recent 104th Annual Conference of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ). In officially opening proceedings, Premier Peter Beattie told delegates that he believes Queensland has the best and strongest Local Government system in Australia.

Working together as partners to make Queensland a great State, Peter Beattie said that he has enormous respect for Local Government as leaders of the community.

"In promoting Queensland as the 'Smart State', the Government has set seven targets," he said.

"To achieve these, working closely with Local Government is paramount."

Listing these aims as more jobs; building regions; skilling Queensland; safer, more supportive communities; improved quality of life; environmental sustainability; and better government, the Premier said that knowledge is the way of the future.

"We need to be at the leading edge of e-commerce and looking at what new opportunities this will provide," Peter Beattie said.

With Councils now having four year terms, he said that they need to have a clear view of where they are taking their community over this period.

"You must take the community with you, open the lines of communication and involve people in your decision making," the Premier said.

"At the end of this period, will your community be better off from what you have done in your four years of office?"

Acting President of LGAQ, Councillor Peter Taylor, said this first LGAQ Conference of the millennium focuses on the new century and the challenges ahead.

"The conference enables us to sharpen policy, to network and to learn from the successes of others as well as their failures," he said.

"To maximise the benefits for your Council and community, you must challenge, plan and then get out and do it."

Queensland Minister for Local Government, Terry Mackenroth, said that in planning for the future there is always scope to do things better.

"In four years, your community will judge your performance," he said.

Pointing to the new Local Government Act, he said that this provides Councils with the legal framework for them to maximise their contribution to the social and economic wellbeing of Queensland.

"By promoting computer and Internet skills, Councils are ideally placed to encourage their communities to share in the benefits of this, the Information Age," Terry Mackenroth said.

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