This weekend Mayors Matt Burnett and Jack Dempsey will travel to Canberra with myself and head of advocacy Alison Smith to attend the annual Australian Local Government Association strategy meeting.
Federal advocacy is critical to local government with the bulk of our funding coming via Canberra.
Queensland councils, through the LGAQ, contribute the best part of $600,000 a year to ALGA to help support the Federal advocacy ALGA delivers on your behalf.
This annual strategy meeting comes at a pivotal time with a new ALGA president in Sydney City councillor and former Deputy Mayor Linda Scott and the pending retirement of CEO Adrian Beresford-Wylie.
Our own Mayor Burnett has also been elected Vice President while Mayor Dempsey serves as an ALGA board member. Redland Mayor Karen Williams is an alternate director.
Not only will the meeting seek to set the agenda for the year but it will also discuss the findings of a strategic review into ALGA and how it should operate into the future.
This review will ensure the body is in the best shape it can be in to fight on your behalf on issues like roads and infrastructure funding, disaster assistance and, importantly the need to restore Financial Assistant Grant funding to one per cent of federal taxation.
As mentioned last week, the LGAQ has sent its pre-Budget submission to the Commonwealth. A copy has been sent to members and is also available online for members via LGOnline.
ALGA’s pre-Budget submission has also been lodged and is available here.
I look forward to updating you on the outcomes of the meeting in due course.
New Rockhampton Mayor sworn in
I want to extend our congratulations to the new mayor of Rockhampton Regional Council, Tony Williams who was officially sworn into the role on Thursday, replacing long-time Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow.
Mayor Williams has been a member of the local government family for more than 16 years.
A by-election will now be held to fill Mayor Williams’s division 3 spot on council.