As drought tightens its grip on so much of Queensland, is it time for local government's role to be re-drawn?
The LGAQ has created an eight-point ‘drought action plan’ that would place councils at the centre of their communities’ drought preparedness and management.
The plan provides scope for financial assistance to be made more widely available – not just to primary producers – and for an innovative, science-based matrix for drought declarations through a ‘drought severity index’.
The plan will be a key issue for debate at next week’s LGAQ Annual Conference and AGM in Cairns.
Here, the LGAQ’s Regional Development Lead, Kirsten Pietzner, tells ABC Southern Queensland how an implemented plan might work.