Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise in advance for my croaky voice, but I've been talking a lot to local government members this week and listening even more. It's important that those opposite recognise that, this week in Canberra, the Australian Local Government Association has been meeting. I want to thank the mayors from right across Australia who come here and inject a bit of commonsense into the debates in this place.

On this side of the House, we trust our local councils. We respect them. We believe they're well placed to have input into the public policymaking in this nation. We believe in acting in partnership with them and funding them in a way that allows them to make a real difference in their community. Sadly, what many of the mayors I spoke to told me is that, in the last two years, they feel like they've been ripped off. They feel like they've been deceived, and they feel like they have been treated with contempt. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised a fair increase to funding, and it hasn't happened. It's another broken promise by a prime minister who's big on announcements but very short on delivery. Instead of a fair increase in funding, what local government got was a committee inquiry. After two years, they got a committee inquiry instead of increased funding to allow them to deliver those projects they wanted to deliver in their local communities. We all know that when we announce an inquiry here it's just showing, 'We really, really care, but we're not going to do anything about it.' So I say to the Prime Minister that the message from the mayors was very clear this week: stop kicking the can down a potholed road, and deliver on your promise for a fair increase to local government in this nation.

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