The highlight for me this week was a fantastic four days attending the Western Queensland Local Government Association Conference in Longreach and the gathering for the equivalent association of south west councils in Roma.
It might sound practiced, but I do love heading west. Good people doing good things. Just having the time to talk face to face with local government colleagues is priceless. It beats emails, letters and five-minute phone calls by a long way.
The country looked great in the central west and there was a tinge of green around which always lifts spirits.
Then back to the Big Smoke and the news of a federal election scheduled for 18 May.
The Australian Local Government Association and the LGAQ were straight out of the blocks, pitching our 7-point plan with the prime ask a restoration of financial assistance grants to 1% of federal taxation revenue.
Advocacy general manager Sarah Buckler and media executive Craig Johnstone and their teams were ready to go with a host of main stream and social media initiatives. Look out for our election report card on how the parties are performing on these proposals next week. We have recruited a panel of mayors to help craft our assessment of the parties and pursue our key messages.
In the meantime, start following Craig’s daily blog on our election page at www.lgaq.asn.au/election2019.