Debate resumed, on motion by Mrs Moylan:

That the House:

(1)

notes:

(a)

that the Area Consultative Committees (ACCs) were first formed by the Hawke Labor Government as regional advisory bodies to Federal Parliament;

(b)

the Howard Government gave them real purpose by restructuring their activities to act as a ‘shop front’ to assist regional communities through the process of applying for Commonwealth government grants;

(c)

the ACCs had an advisory role in regards to community benefits and assessed the viability of proposed projects;

(d)

there were 54 ACCs Australia wide and they were not for profit incorporated bodies under the relevant State associations incorporation Acts, operating with around $300,000 per ACC of operational funding from the former Federal government;

(e)

the Boards are voluntary with a ministerially appointed Chairman and Deputy Chairman; and

(f)

that by contrast to Regional Australia’s loss of national resources and control over development, the Government has established a Better Cities unit in Sydney;

(2)

condemns the Government for:

(a)

its decision to eliminate ACCs;

(b)

its lack of commitment to locally generated initiatives through the ACCs;

(c)

the loss of about 150 jobs around the nation;

(d)

its failure to facilitate a seamless transition of staff to the new State based bodies despite an assurance from the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, earlier last year;

(e)

its failure to value and recognise the volunteer effort, including the unpaid skills and abilities of community members;

(f)

its lack of leadership and clarity of decision making in the handling of the transition process;

(g)

for the disingenuous way the Minister has treated the chairmen and executive officers of ACCs over the past 18 months; and

(h)

being willing to pass to the Government of Western Australia the total operational funding for ACCs in that State without any process of transparent accountability;

(3)

recognises:

(a)

the tremendous work carried out by the ACCs and the important role they played in business development and job creation in regional and rural Australia;

(b)

the work carried out by the executive officers, staff and the Board chairmen and the voluntary contribution by members of the board;

(c)

the value of the decentralised nature of the ACCs and the capacity, therefore, to consider the needs and interests of local communities and local areas in rural and regional Australia; and

(d)

through community effort, the relatively small amount of funding of $300,000 granted to each of the ACCs was multiplied many times due to the voluntary effort by the committees, local governments and members of the community; and

(4)

calls on the Government to:

(a)

reconsider its decision to ignore staff of the ACCs and take steps to re locate them in the new arrangements; and

(b)

recognise and acknowledge the detrimental effect the current Government policy is likely to have on the development and job creation capacity and the fair dispersal of funding for projects across the regions.

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