Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Financial Assistance Legislation Amendment Bill 2009. I welcome the contribution to this debate by the member for Cook. I suspect his saying that he believes the government’s economic stimulus and the unprecedented level of investment we have made to local government has really just been a vending machine is going to go down just a treat with local government.

This bill amends the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 to provide greater flexibility in assisting local government. The bill provides greater flexibility in the way in which grant payments can be made to local government through the states, increasing the capacity of the Commonwealth to respond to unique or special circumstances by making payments timelier than is currently allowed. Recent examples of the need to do this have included the bushfires in Victoria and the floods in Queensland.

More broadly the global recession is placing added pressure on local governments. We have reports from the Australian Local Government Association that councils are facing increased defaults on rate payments, putting pressure on councils’ revenue base and capacity to invest in infrastructure, particularly those sorts of projects which we know will stimulate local economies, ensuring that they are making their way through what is an unprecedented global recession. Local governments have a critical role to play in supporting local economies through this recession.

Local government is a large employer, employing council workers from planners to rubbish collectors—around 168,000 people nation wide. Local government engages hundreds of independent contractors. Local government builds and maintains large- and small-scale social and community infrastructure and local government delivers vital social services from child care to home help and Meals on Wheels.

This government has already made unprecedented levels of investment in financial assistance to local government, whether it be through increases in the Roads to Recovery program and in the Black Spot Program, where funding has nearly tripled, or through the one-off $800 million Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, with councils receiving a direct share of 137 strategic large-scale projects now being rolled out across the country. The act that provides Commonwealth funding for local government has, however, lacked the means to allow the Commonwealth to bring forward payments from a future year to the current year—a measure which, in times of crisis, helps local government to manage cash flow.

As I stated earlier, the recent bushfires in Victoria and floods in Queensland are examples of a time when local communities need increased support and flexibility from the Commonwealth to help them deal with an unprecedented crisis. The councils affected warmly welcomed the opportunity to have funds brought forward to assist them.

This bill seeks to address a new challenge—that is, the global financial crisis. The proposed amendments in the bill increase the government’s flexibility to provide additional funding in a particular year, including by, in effect, bringing forward funding from a future year, when economic or other special circumstances arise.

In the 2009-10 budget, the Rudd government has allocated $1.9 billion in financial assistance grants to assist councils and shires across the country to provide local infrastructure and other services. As a result of this bill, $479.7 million will now be brought forward and paid in the 2008-09 financial year to support local government jobs in this time of global recession. Local councils and shires will now be able to use these funds when they need them most to support their local economies, which are doing it tough in the global recession.

Already across my electorate, and those of all members of parliament, councils and shires have been taking full advantage of the increased funding that this government has provided. A perfect example in my electorate is the progress of many projects that are already well underway. Across my electorate of Ballarat we have allocated unprecedented levels of funding: $2.2 million towards a community recreation facility at the Doug Lindsay Reserve in Creswick; $5 million towards the Eureka Centre for Democracy in Ballarat, which will form a partnership with the Australian Centre for Democracy in Canberra; $5.3 million extra to fix 18 black spots across the Ballarat electorate; $563,000 for 21 local infrastructure projects across Moorabool shire; $425,000 for four local infrastructure projects across Hepburn shire; $1.5 million for 11 local infrastructure projects across the City of Ballarat; and, under Roads to Recovery, $4.8 million for Ballarat,  $3.5 million for Hepburn, $4.5 million for Moorabool and $4.9 million for Golden Plains.

This funding is not just being rolled out across my electorate but in every electorate across the nation. The amount of funding which has been channelled through local government for local and community infrastructure, for road projects and much needed black spot funding, is unprecedented, more than we have seen in a very long time. It is on top of the financial assistance grants that are also provided to every council and shire across the country.

With the introduction of this bill, councils and shires will now have Financial Assistance Grant payments accelerated. In my electorate this means over $2 million for the City of Ballarat, around $800,000 for Hepburn shire, over $1 million for Moorabool shire, and over $1 million for Golden Plains shire—much needed funding coming into the local economy, once again from the federal government, to stimulate our local economy. These funds are untied and can be used as determined by shires and councils on local priorities. The spending of these funds is in the hands of local government.

This is good news for councils and shires right across the country. It will provide local economies with a boost in funds in the short term to assist in tackling the global recession. This government has introduced these changes because we know that no community is immune from the impacts of the global recession, and this is no more evident than in rural and regional Australia. We know that by assisting local councils and shires in a time of need we can support local jobs and local economies right across the country.

The government showed in last night’s budget that we are working to support every local economy across that nation. On top of the $1.9 billion in financial assistance grants, we also announced a record $350,000 for Roads to Recovery and $310 million to be allocated to major community infrastructure projects being delivered by councils and shires. Let me reiterate that no community is immune from this global recession. The government understands this and I will continue to support measures that move to address this challenge right the way across our economy. I commend the bill to the House.

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