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Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online | |
| Editions > 2005 > December | Saturday October 11, 2008 - Melbourne Time: 23:30:55 |
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2005 has been another challenging year for Local Government. The following highlights our opinion on how Local Government has continued to raise the bar. In each edition we feature the views of a Local Government Association President. The following is from Councillor Genia McCaffery, President of the Local Government Association of New South Wales. Cook Shire comprises of over 115,000 square kilometres, making it the largest Council in Queensland and one of the largest in Australia. Accessing the majority of it requires a long trip. Each year Cook Shire invites Local Government Association of Queensland officers, Natural Resources and Mines officers and journalists to join Councillors and Council officers as they embark on a journey uncovering many of the hidden treasures and challengers that residents and visitors encounter everyday as they head north into Cape York and the Cook Shire.
About five years ago I wrote in this column that all three Federal parties were like kittens playing with a ball of wool – with Local Government representing the ball of wool. Things are changing. While one shouldn’t read too much into politicians’ speeches at last month’s Australian Local Government Association’s National General Assembly, phrases like the winds of change were bandied about.
A regular feature, this month we present two Councillors from South Australia. The Ballina Coast and Hinterland Visitor Guide is a high quality, fresh, vibrant, modern and easy to read publication promoting the Ballina Coast and Hinterland. Launched in October, the new look publication has a print run of 10,000 copies and a shelf life of around 12 months.
The first national economic development awards for Local Government were presented at a ceremony held in Melbourne and attended by more than 120 Council and community representatives. Known as the National Economic Development Awards, the competition to locate outstanding performances by Local Governments, community groups and individuals attracted nearly 60 entries and was coordinated by the Economic Development Association of Victoria (EDAV).
Skateramps Australia, well known for its fixed and mobile skating facilities, was recently commissioned by Sydney City Council to design, supply and install a replacement facility at Federal Park in Annandale. The new ‘lip ramp’ has been very well received by local skater groups and is in constant use by a range of age groups across the various skills levels.
Queensland’s Maryborough City Council has signed an agreement with national development company, Maryborough Investments Pty Ltd, to develop the Fraser Coast Marine Industrial Park and re-establish the marine industry in the region. Maryborough Investments Pty Ltd have agreed to invest an estimated $20 million into the area.
A computer support service program for small to medium sized businesses is enhancing the sustainability of community minded initiatives in Victoria’s City of Yarra. Yarra Assist was set up through the eACE (Electronic Atherton Community Enterprise) project, a project of Infoxchange.
Northern Territory Minister for Tourism and Chief Minister, Clare Martin, has released an action plan to boost tourism in the Alice Springs region. According to the National Visitor Survey, there was a 39 per cent growth in interstate holiday visitors to Northern Territory last financial year. |
| FEATURE - FOCUS on Business and Sustainability |
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With Brisbane in its worst drought in living memory, Brisbane’s Sofitel Hotel is leading by example in its efforts to reduce water usage. Brisbane Lord Mayor, Councillor Campbell Newman, said since September Council’s water conservation experts had been working with staff at the Sofitel to devise innovative ways of reducing the amount of water used. There is a television program in England called Stars in Their Eyes where aspiring singers imitate famous stars. It’s very popular and provides people with a particular type of talent (singing in other people’s style) with recognition. Another very popular show has emerged based upon a real talent contest, called the X Factor. In the X Factor contestants have to be themselves and to prove their own real talent. For some this leads to real fame; for many a realisation that they do not have the X factor.
Hepburn Shire Council, located in Victoria’s popular spa country region, has won the Victorian Risk Management Excellence Award for 2005. The award recognises innovative risk management practices and principles that have guaranteed the survival of key community activities and events.
Is your Local Government driving efficiency?
Burnie City Council in Tasmania has been awarded a commendation in the 2005 National Awards for Local Government for its new Regional Broadband Community Network. eBurnie Connect aims to strengthen the local economy by establishing advanced broadband telecommunications services.
Irrespective of size, location and resources, all share the problem of how to allocate the rate burden across their rate base to effectively meet Council’s objectives. Yankalilla District Council, located an hour south of Adelaide in South Australia, is one of several Councils using the IBIS Information Systems Rate Modelling and Valuation Analysis application to quickly model the impact of a particular rating proposal on the total rate bill and individual properties.
Engineers at the City of Melbourne can now work to become chartered engineers by undertaking a new training program. Lord Mayor John So said Council had signed an agreement with the engineering industry’s peak professional association to allow employees to complete Engineers Australia’s Professional Development Program. John Ravlic has been appointed the new CEO of Local Government Managers Australia’s national office and will commence duties on 14 December 2005.
Kiama Municipal Council is leading the way in sustainable development in New South Wales. Council was a finalist in the Environment and Heritage category at the recent Engineering Excellence Awards for its project, Leading by Example – Best Practice Sustainable Development and Water Management.
Shrinking budgets and increasing community demands for higher services levels with fewer people and resources is impacting on all governments. Keeping up with infrastructure demands, in particular taking a strategic approach to maintenance planning, including the ultimate replacement of that road, footpath or community facility, requires state of the art geospatial technology.
Pittwater Council in New South Wales has been recognised by the State’s peak professional body, the Planning Institute of NSW, for its electronic assessment process. The innovative approach reduces the administrative burden associated with the processing of development applications. The project won the Urban Planning category at the 2005 Awards for Excellence for an outstanding contribution to current urban planning practice. You do all this environmental work on the farm but how do you know it really makes a dent? This was one of the burning questions that prompted South Australia’s Eastern Hills and Murray Plains Catchment Group to trial an Environmental Management System (EMS).
In September, Darwin City Council commissioned Northern Territory’s first methane gas power plant at the Shoal Bay Waste Disposal Deposit site. The Darwin Renewable Energy Facility will produce enough energy to power approximately 1,000 homes and save more than 46,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is equivalent to removing 9,000 cars from the road each year or using 101,500 less barrels of oil.
The health of Redland’s waterways is expected to improve significantly following a $17 million investment into the Capalaba, Thorneside and Victoria Point Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs).
Forty-one Councils across Sydney, the Illawarra and Blue Mountains have joined Sydney Water’s Every Drop Counts (EDC) Business Program to identify and achieve substantial water savings. These Councils are working to prove their commitment to managing water as a valuable community asset and a sustainable business resource. The action and lead taken by Federal Minister, Peter McGauran, in advocating more money for infrastructure upgrades as apposed to water ‘buy backs’ is also the cornerstone to the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Murray Darling Basin.
The Victorian Local Sustainability Accord was launched on 7 November by Environment Minister, John Thwaites, and its cosignatories including the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) on behalf of its members, Victoria’s 79 local Councils.Signatories to the Accord include the Minister for the Environment, MAV, Victorian Local Governance Association, Environs Australia, Metropolitan Environment Forum and ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability – Aust & NZ).
The Communiqué from the ninth annual national Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA) conference staged in Yeppoon, Queensland last September is calling on government at national, state and local levels to act in six key areas in the interests of sustainable economic growth for regional Australia.
At the November 2003 meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Crime Prevention Ministerial Forum, Ministers agreed to a Strategic Framework for Crime Prevention and Community Safety 2003–2006, for Australia and New Zealand. One of the priorities in achieving crime prevention and community safety, articulated in the Framework, was ‘workforce development’.
Derwent Valley Council’s Real Jobs program is designed to assist young people at risk of becoming welfare dependent, to become skilled and job ready. Collaboration with a number of government and private sector sponsors has added to an initial contribution by the Derwent Valley Council to fund the project.
Kimbriki Recycling and Waste Disposal Centre is a solid dry waste landfill and recycling centre operated by Warringah Council in collaboration with Manly, Mosman and Pittwater Councils. Over one million tonnes of waste have been saved from landfill since recycling began in 1990.
In one of the first formal partnership of its kind in Western Australia, the City of Melville and the Shire of Quairading have entered into a mutually beneficial agreement designed to share and exchange a broad range of experiences, skills and resources. Melville is located just over eight kilometres from Perth General Post Office and has a population of 96,000 residents. |
| 2005 National General Assembly of Local Government |
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Keynote speaker, Jim Soorley, former Lord Mayor of Brisbane City Council urged Councils to look at partnerships as a means to achieve their goals. Using the Regional Organisations of Councils (ROCs) as a prime example, he said that Local Government has for many years been good at forming partnerships. Some of the key resolutions debated and carried. A full list of all Resolutions is available on the ALGA web site at www.alga.asn.au A snap shot of key issues raised in the addresses by various Federal MPs at the General Assembly.
At 7:58 am on 26 December 2004, a devastating tsunami hit various places in the Indian Ocean. In Indonesia it took the lives of 250,000 people, and displaced a further 500,000. The earthquake that caused the tsunami measured 9.3 on the richta scale, but delivered only slight damage considering its velocity. However, the 34 metre wave that followed was not so kind.
Leading commentator and adviser on consumer, cultural, and demographic trends, Bernard Salt, said our current population trends are underpinned by lifestyle seeking baby boomers. |
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