Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

(1) recognises the important role that local government plays in Australia;

(2) notes the continuing support that the Australian Government provides to local governments around Australia including:

(a) Black Spot Program funding;

(b) the Bridges Renewal Program; and

(c) the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative; and

(3) recognises that strong local government is important for strong and healthy communities.

Many of us in this place, including me, have served our local community by representing them on council. In my case, I was a councillor on the former Warringah Council from 2008 to 2012, and what fond memories those four years hold.

Our first tier of government is instrumental to communities right across Australia. As I saw and learnt during my time in local government, you are on the ground; you are in and amongst the people you serve. It teaches you to listen and it teaches you to bring everything that we do in this place back to a local level. In fact, I often muse that when I was a local councillor the thing that everyone wanted to talk to me about was Julia Gillard's carbon tax, and now that I'm a federal member everyone wants to talk to me about footpaths.

Local government is often considered the closest to the community. Councils focus on the basics: roads, rates and rubbish. As outlined in this year's budget, the Turnbull government will continue to support local councils in doing just this. Thanks to the economic management of this government, we have committed to $2.4 billion in untied funds to over 500 local councils—councils from Tasmania to the Northern Territory, from Perth to Sydney—$4.8 billion to our Roads to Recovery Program; $744 million for the Black Spot Program, a program that has saved countless lives; $480 million for our Bridges Renewal Program, with over 160 bridges having already been updated, and the economic benefits that this has provided to rural and regional areas, where farmers can now get their product to ports to export and sell overseas has not been fully calculated; and $3½ billion for our Roads of Strategic Importance initiative.

The Roads to Recovery Program is a program that has significantly improved local roads in the Northern Beaches. We have been able to secure almost a million dollars for our local roads. This includes upgrades to Darius Avenue in North Narrabeen, Darley Street in Forestville, Government Road in Beacon Hill, Jacksons Road in Mona Vale, Matthews Street in Davidson, Old Barrenjoey Road in Avalon, Victor Road in Dee Why, Wheeler Parade in Dee Why, Charleroi Road in Belrose, Bower Street in Manly, Clontarf Street in Seaforth, Cross Street in Brookvale, Ernest Street in Balgowlah Heights, Kirra Road in Allambie Heights, Manning Street in North Balgowlah, Morgan Road, where I grew up, in Oxford Falls in Belrose, Oxford Falls Road, also in Oxford Falls, Victoria Parade in Manly, Wyndora Avenue in Freshwater and Clearview Street in Brookvale. These are all significant and important projects to members of my local community.

Recently, the New South Wales government amalgamated 45 councils to 20 new councils, in which my former council of Warringah merged with Manly and Pittwater to create the Northern Beaches Council. That is unlike a previous New South Wales Labor government—truly the most inept and corrupt government in the history of our Federation—which, in 2003, forcibly merged and sacked over 30 councils through a Friday afternoon fax, with no support and no funding, just a 'thanks but no thanks'.

We on this side know that this is not a surprise. Those opposite do not support the aspirations of local communities. The same former Labor government forced councils in my electorate to prepare for an influx of 100,000 people, all the while closing two schools and a TAFE and with no investment in infrastructure—nothing like the investment this government is making, as I have mentioned. It seems nothing has changed since those times, as those opposite and their counterparts in New South Wales continue to push for the axing of much-needed infrastructure, like the Beaches Link tunnel. So sick and tired are they of cancelling their own projects, they're now beginning to cancel ours.

The difference cannot be starker. My local council was provided with $15 million for infrastructure and investment in community projects and $10 million to help with the set up and formation of the council. At this point I should congratulate great councillors like Rory Amon, Kylie Ferguson, David Walton, Pat Daley and, of course, Stuart Sprott. (Time expired)

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, we see the government trying to sugar-coat the massive cuts while hiding the truth behind more and more of their misleading rhetoric. Last year I gave those opposite a lesson in basic mathematics, because they failed that with their so-called school-funding increase, and now it looks like we've got to do the same, because clearly it didn't sink in. So for the member for Mackellar I'll speak slowly in the hope that you can keep up.

This is basic mathematics: if you remove $1 billion over three years with a freeze on indexation of financial assistance grants and then put half of that back, that's still a cut; that's still a negative for our councils, and that's exactly what this government has done nationwide. In Liberal terms, if you have $2, take $1 out and put back 50c, you're still 50c short. And that's the bit they don't understand. They seem to think you can put a little bit of money in and say, 'Oh, look how great we are.' But they're not.

Local governments in our region play a critical role in regional development, improving many streets, towns and suburbs, but something that the member for Mackellar, who is pushing this motion today, doesn't understand is that local governments can't build strong and healthy communities while the Liberal Party and the National Party are diving their hand into local governments' pockets and taking all their cash.

Labor has been a proud partner of local government, and we have been since the beginning. We've shown our support through various programs, such as the financial assistance grants under the Whitlam government. When we were last in government, we worked tirelessly alongside local governments to keep our economy moving and keep tradies in work. We substantially boosted funding to the Roads to Recovery Program, and we listened to the needs of communities. Through the GFC, we partnered with local governments to keep economies moving, keep jobs going and build much needed infrastructure.

This Liberal-National government has put our local governments through brutal cuts and freezes to funding. While the recent budget brought forward half of the funding cut for this year, it's simply not enough. I represent one of the fastest growing regions, the city of Whittlesea, which is amongst the top 10 fastest growing local governments in the whole of Australia, yet somehow this government is pumping money into its own electorates rather than addressing the hard-hitting issues within municipalities like Whittlesea.

Last week I met with representatives from some of the local governments in and around the seat of McEwen. Chatting to representatives from the Murrindindi Shire and the Macedon Ranges, I saw the hard work being undertaken to deliver on infrastructure priorities to keep up with the rapid growth in our region. Wherever we look across McEwen, whether it be Panton Hill, Macedon Ranges, Sunbury to Mernda and all points in between, the roads are not up to scratch with the increased demand being put on them with more and more development and more and more people wanting to move in.

While our councils work day in, day out to enhance liveability, sustainability and efficiency in our region through key infrastructure projects, this government continues to rip much needed funding out of their budgets, and they can't always rely on the Victorian government to fill that void. This federal government has an obligation, and it should meet it. It should meet its commitments and do the right thing. As I said, we have hardworking local governments that are trying to do more and more in trying to keep up with growth while getting less and less in resources through this government.

Some of our smaller councils are doing it really tough, servicing huge geographical areas with disproportionately low resources. Some of our local councils have to fund 80 metres of road per residential property, servicing some of the largest road networks in the country while working with smaller rate bases to spread this cost around. The extra funding pressure on road networks and council services is not sustainable, and the government has to step up and do its job instead of pork-barrelling its own electorates.

We're waiting on black-spot funding programs for Stotts Road and Clonbinane Road in Wandong. There have been six crashes due to dangerous curves in the road. Now more than ever we need equitable Black Spot Program funding not only in Wandong but at Hurstbridge and Panton Hill as well. Meanwhile, this government has committed nothing to Doreen, Mernda, Hurstbridge, St Andrews, Wallan or Kilmore. There isn't one Black Spot Program road or Road of Strategic Importance—nothing. This government has left Victorians high and dry.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 18:3 6 to 18:41

Damian Drum (Murray, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to applaud Mr Falinski's motives for bringing this motion forward. It's a very important role that local governments play in all of our electorates. I have five in my electorate but, in a previous life as a state member, I had a very strong connection to 48 regional councils around the state of Victoria. We were able to work with each of those councils to assist them at a state level with programs that included a Regional Growth Fund. Inside that $500 million, we allocated $100 million for a fund where local governments could leverage their own projects and take up to $2 million each for the 48 regional councils. They were able to then leverage up it themselves and use that $100 million to build a whole range of infrastructure projects. The local government infrastructure fund was another $100 million shelled out to the 48 regional councils. We had a local Country Roads and Bridges Program where we gave each of our regional councils $4 million, so it was a $160 million program in that regard. Again, we were helping these councils with the funding that they need so they can provide the services that they're expected to provide to their people.

All of those programs were immediately taken off the table when the Labor Party came to govern in Victoria in 2014, saving the then government $360 million in that instance. So it was very, very disappointing. But the Andrews government in Victoria at least positioned itself where it was happy to spend money in Melbourne but it was totally disinterested in spending money for infrastructure projects with local governments or partnering up with local government in regional Victoria.

What we have now is one of the best programs that has operated across all federal parties and governments, and that is the Black Spot Program. It is something that every local government that we talk to praises, whichever side of politics is in government at the federal level. It gives our local councils the opportunity to fix up those roads that are in desperate need of attention. In my electorate alone in the last few years, the Shire of Campaspe has had over $18 million allocated through the Roads to Recovery Program. The City of Greater Shepparton has had $13.5 million allocated, the Shire of Loddon has had $15.5 million, the Moira Shire Council has had $16.3 million and the Shire of Strathbogie has had $9.4 million over the last four to five years, so it's a really important program. It gives the councils the autonomy to make the decisions themselves. It provides the money but lets the councils choose where that money can be best spent.

I applaud the City of Greater Shepparton, which was able to keep pushing forward for additional funding for a significant bypass for the city that needed to be funded. Again, they are waiting for the state to do the work that it needs to do in the feasibility studies and in the preworks phase that have to happen before we can actually start building stage 1 of the bypass. That's going to be a very important project in the next few years. The first stage of the Shepparton bypass is going to cost in the vicinity of $260 million. That's going to be a very, very significant project, and it will require some very serious funding from the federal government to proceed. I'm expecting to have the mayor, Kim O'Keeffe, and the CEO, Peter Harriott, in the parliament this week. We all know that we had a lot of local governments in the parliament last week as they came together for their conference, which they do every year.

Whether the funding comes from the federal government or the state government, one way or another, we need to ensure that we fund local councils properly. Certainly, the big city councils can make a lot of money from their parking fines and so forth. However, in the regions, it's very difficult for councils to actually become financially viable. We need to make sure, between the states and the feds, that we fund local government adequately.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the set-up that we have here in the ACT, I imagine that some would question why the member for Canberra is talking about this private member's bill. The reason I do so is that Norfolk Island is part of my electorate. It is a great honour and a pleasure to have Norfolk Island as part of my electorate, and I get up there at least twice a year to talk to the community and hear about their issues. I commend the role that local governments play and the hard work they undertake to ensure programs, facilities and infrastructure can be delivered to their communities. As the member for Canberra, I have, as I said, the proud honour of representing a community that does actually have a local council, and that is the Norfolk Island community and the Norfolk Island Regional Council.

My involvement in Norfolk Island deepened in 2016. Prior to 2016, Norfolk was part of my electoral division, but it wasn't compulsory for those on Norfolk Island to vote and it wasn't compulsory for them to vote in Canberra. Canberra was the default electorate for them to vote in, but they could choose where to vote. But, since 2016, we've made significant changes, which were supported on a bipartisan basis, to integrate Norfolk Island into the Australian system. Up until these changes, no-one on Norfolk paid tax under the Australian system, but they also didn't get Medicare, the age pension and the PBS. They had their own separate system for a community of 1,500 or 1,600 people. With bipartisan support, and as a result of a bipartisan effort, significant reforms have been introduced to Norfolk Island since 2016 to integrate them into the Australian system. As part of that, it is now compulsory for them to vote in federal elections and to vote in the seat of Canberra.

As part of the reform process, a new local government body was established: the Norfolk Island Regional Council. The council is led by Mayor Adams with the support of her four councillors, General Manager Jackson and her executive team. It's great to work with two strong women fighting for the island's future. I had the pleasure of hosting the mayor and the general manager last week, when they were in Canberra for the local government convention. Unlike local governments across the mainland that have the support of state governments, Norfolk Island's funding model is unique and relies solely on the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities, supplemented by federal grant funding. This, needless to say, creates a good deal of uncertainty for the council when it comes to planning projects, because when you're reliant on grants funding can fluctuate.

The council is currently trying to secure funding from the Building Better Regions Fund grants for four projects that, if implemented, will bring significant benefits to the island. The first is an upgrade to the airport runway. At the moment it's uneven. There's a dip which means that, when the planes need to push back for take-off, they need extra power to get the plane over the rut. For an island reliant on tourism, this is very important; this matters. The second project or request for funding is to assist with waste management and sewerage management, which are essential upgrades to essential infrastructure. As you can imagine, Mr Deputy Speaker Hogan, waste management on an island in the middle of the Pacific is challenging, and Norfolk has a number of challenges on the waste management front. That's why I am very keen for the government to announce, as quickly as possible, this latest round of BBRF funding. Norfolk is desperate to hear the news, particularly in regards to the waste management. The third is an application to fund a communications infrastructure upgrade. There is currently 2G mobile coverage, and the community wants 3G to 4G.

These are just a number of the issues that the island is pushing and advocating for. I do encourage the government, if it is serious about ensuring that Norfolk Island has the opportunity to grow and prosper, as we all do, through this reform process, to please announce these BBRF grants as soon as possible. I know that the people of Norfolk Island are on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's no secret that there are issues on which the Sunshine Coast Council and I disagree. In particular, I'm strongly opposed to the council's efforts to encourage the construction of a casino in the SunCentral Maroochydore CBD. I've campaigned strongly and publicly against this proposed development on behalf of local residents, and I will continue do so until my last breath. While I appreciate the council's desire to encourage investment in our region, the evidence suggests a casino would hollow out our local economy and bring with it disastrous social consequences.

It's also no secret that I also disagree strongly with the Sunshine Coast Council on their approach to the federal government's grant of $140,000 to the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce to install CCTV cameras on Bulcock Street. The Turnbull government provided the chamber with this grant under the Safer Communities Fund last year to construct 23 CCTV cameras around Caloundra. While council have approved the chamber's application to construct these cameras, they've done so with many onerous conditions. Despite their previous support for the project, this puts the completion of this camera project under direct threat.

However, despite these differences of opinion that I have with some, but by no means all, of the current elected representatives of the Sunshine Coast Council, I acknowledge the vital day-to-day role that council plays in our community, and the value of the projects that we have collaborated on during my time as the federal member for Fisher. Despite our occasional disagreements, I know that, like me, they as a council have grand ambitions for our region and, like me, they want to see the coast get the infrastructure that it needs.

In Fisher, the Turnbull government has provided a great deal of support for the work of the Sunshine Coast Council over the past two years. In last year's federal budget, for example, we allocated $3 million under the Building Better Regions Fund for upgrades to the council's Events Centre Caloundra. The events centre is getting improved acoustics and upgraded foyer, bar, cafe and box office facilities, as well as new air conditioning throughout the building. Importantly, the grant is also allowing the centre to increase accessibility at the main entrance and install facilities for patrons with a disability, which is extremely important. I was actively involved in supporting this application from the beginning, and its success remains a testament to the hard work of council staff in maintaining such a valued community facility.

Sunshine Coast Council also benefited to the tune of $2½ million from the Turnbull government's Roads to Recovery Program. In Fisher, this has led to the Commonwealth government paying for upgrade works for Currimundi Road between Buderim and Farlow streets, as well as the resurfacing of a stretch of Coonowrin Street in Battery Hill. Under our Black Spot Program, the Turnbull government have delivered a further $17,000 in funding to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians by installing a fully controlled right-hand turn with arrows at the intersection of University Way and Chancellor Village Boulevard.

We also delivered a $205,000 federal grant under the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program for a collaboration between the Sunshine Coast Council, the University of Queensland, QUT and Stockland to install cutting-edge bioacoustic monitors in the new Aura development. This project will help engage local community groups and schools to assess if threatened frogs can be preserved through restored and newly created habitat. I'm grateful to the then Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation and the Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security for coming to Fisher to launch this initiative.

Just this month, the Sunshine Coast Council handed down their draft integrated transport strategy. This draft strategy lists projects which are, by a very great deal, not the responsibility of council, but which are widely accepted to be important to providing an efficient transport system on the coast. The Turnbull government has delivered unprecedented funding for many of these projects. We've delivered $390 million towards the duplication of the north coast railway line and millions of dollars in funding towards a business case for the North Coast Connect faster rail project. Of course we've also contributed more than $3.2 billion to upgrades to the Bruce Highway between Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.

The Turnbull government appreciates the value of local government, and in the electorate of Fisher we are delivering record Commonwealth funding to support that work. I look forward to continuing to work with council, with its elected representatives, to continue to provide good outcomes for the Sunshine Coast people. I'm sure we can work past these differences of opinion we have on some issues.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Indeed, the week after we had the Australian Local Government Association here in Canberra, it is somewhat ironic that the member for Mackellar has brought forward a motion to this parliament supporting the role of local government. What used to happen when the Australian Local Government Association gathered here, when I was the minister for local government, was that we would have them meet with the entire cabinet, as well as members of parliament, and we would have discussions with the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the finance minister, as well as the local government minister and people directly involved. They would meet for two days, with a function in the evening which would involve every single mayor and shire president around the country, regardless of what their politics were.

This was an initiative that was welcomed by local government, and in spite of some reticence, it must be said, from some of my colleagues when it was proposed. They recognised that it was extremely valuable to get that direct input here in Canberra over that period of time. We also created the Centre of Excellence for Local Government to drive best practice. We created the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, whereby every single council in the country benefited, including—in the council which the member for Mackellar spoke about—the upgrade around Narrabeen Lakes, the upgrade around the Manly foreshores, and the upgrade of the cricket pavilion at Manly in the electorate of Warringah.

We actually delivered infrastructure funding for communities, not just in marginal electorates as electoral fodder, but in every electorate around the country. We treated local government with respect. That's why we wanted to recognise local government in the Australian Constitution. To give credit where its due, Barnaby Joyce strongly supported that, as the then federal shadow minister for local government. But the Liberals we couldn't get across the line to recognise and enshrine respect for local government so that they didn't exist solely at the whim of state governments, who now can cut their funding and can amalgamate councils without any reference to the actual constituents.

That's what happened to my council, the Inner West Council. Three effective local governments in Marrickville, Leichhardt and Ashfield were amalgamated without any reference to the voters whatsoever. Indeed, we had an appointed administrator of that council, elected by nobody—no previous involvement in local government—who was effectively a dictator for the Inner West for 18 months before elections were held. That was of course under the New South Wales Liberal government, of which Mr Falinski, the member for Mackellar, is of course a great supporter.

This motion also supports the Black Spot Program, which we support, but there's a 33 per cent underspend in that program. It mentions the Bridges Renewal Program but doesn't mention that there's a 53 per cent underspend in that program. It also mentions the Roads of Strategic Importance initiative. What it doesn't mention though is that 85 per cent of that funding flows after 2023. So it will be this term, the next term and really even most of the term after that before all but 15 per cent of that funding flows.

I am a genuine supporter of local government. I think that local government, as an area of government that is closest to local communities, can play a great role in determining what the priorities of those local communities are. That's why, under our program, the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, projects had to be nominated by local government. Under this government's regional program, a few cabinet ministers sitting in a corner—three cabinet ministers—get to determine where all the funding went. There is no reference to the community whatsoever. Local government deserve proper respect. They deserve the sentiments in this motion, but they deserve much better from this government.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank my colleague for his contribution in highlighting the absurdity of this particular motion, whilst recognising and supporting local government and saying that we wanted to have it constitutionally recognised. I'll just refer to local government in my own electorate for a moment. We have nine regional councils, three shire councils and three municipal councils, covering 1.34 million square kilometres. That's a heck of a slice of Australia. There are also 63 local authorities, 135 elected members and over 3,200 employees. These organisations are crucial to communities across the north and are the primary employers in the majority of remote communities. Local government employs and trains over 1,500 Aboriginal people throughout the Northern Territory.

One of the things that they're obviously concerned about and participate in is a major component of their work—the maintenance of roads, culverts and drains. They do this well, but they need more resources to adequately provide for the immense roadworks that exist, with a road network around, I think, 35,000 kilometres across the seat of Lingiari. When you contemplate that, along with more than 220 bridges, and thousands of rivers and creek crossings, the sort of money that we're talking about here from the federal government is mystifying, to say the least. The black spot funding has been referred to, with an underspend of 33 per cent, and, for the Bridges Renewal Program, an underspend of 53 per cent. How do we expect to address the needs of communities like mine and to help those regional councils, who have the distinct challenge of making sure that people drive safely and arrive safely? The Australian government committed $744½ million to the Black Spot Program from 2013-14 to 2021-22 to improve road safety across the nation. In the case of the Northern Territory, it's $1.87 million for the whole of the Northern Territory for 2018-19—how bizarre is that? Of this, 33 per cent was allocated to the City of Darwin. This left only three projects to be funded in my electorate of Lingiari. This is simply not good enough.

We've heard about the underspends and the commitments being made. In this recent budget, the Treasurer announced funding for the Central Arnhem and Buntine highways totalling $280 million. You would have thought, given that announcement, that that work would be imminent. But of course the great majority of it, 70 per cent or thereabouts, won't be seen until 2022 or 2023.

The people of my electorate and the people across Australia have been conned into believing—at least the government has tried to con them—that somehow or other they'll get some immediate reprieve in terms of investment in their roads by this government as a result of that budget announcement. We clearly know that's false. There's no funding for the years 2018-19 for either of these road projects—nothing; not a jot; not a cent. What sort of world do they think we're living in? This funding, if we're to get it, is very important because those roads need work to be done.

When we contemplate these roads, we know that in the national road productivity package, there's $3 million for the Roper Highway but, in the south, there's no money to continue work on the sealing of roads to Santa Teresa to the east of Alice Springs. The beef roads package is just a joke in terms of providing opportunities for increasing investment in the roads of the Northern Territory. Territorians who use the Plenty Highway and the Titjikala road will have wait to until the 2020 to receive any significant work upgrading.

The federal government has failed Territorians by not partnering properly with them on their vital needs. It's given the local government communities in my own electorate, which I've described and which cover 1.34 million square kilometres, a very raw deal indeed. It's about time the Commonwealth fronted up to their responsibility to fund local government for their roads obligations.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers the debate is adjourned and will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.