Code of Meeting Practice

The Office of Local Government (OLG) has released a new Model Code of Meeting Practice and we’re now working through the details to fully understand its application in the sector.

We appreciate the NSW Local Government Minister’s intent to lift transparency and respect for councils. As someone who we know cares deeply about councils, we know he will welcome feedback from LGNSW and councils about the operation of the new code and whether any additional matters may arise as a result of putting it into practice that need to be more fully considered.

That said, we remain concerned about the decision to prohibit councillor briefing sessions. As we know, these sessions are not decision-making forums – they simply ensure elected representatives have the background technical information they need before a matter comes to the public chamber, where decisions are made openly in full view of the public.

LGNSW will continue to listen to councils, share their feedback with the Minister and OLG, and work constructively with the Government on the issues that matter most – including the ongoing urgent need for financial reform.

Read LGNSW’s media release

Code of Conduct

This week, the NSW Government announced that it will introduce legislation to ensure councillors accused of significant misconduct will face stronger penalties and faster hearings, with proceedings commenced against them in the Land and Environment Court (LEC), instead of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Reforms to streamline and speed up the process for dealing with councillor misconduct complaints and that increase the OLG’s capacity and ability to fulfil its role as regulator of the sector are long overdue.

However, LGNSW will be seeking further information from the NSW Government on the costs and processes of participating in this jurisdiction and will also be closely reviewing the legislation when it is released, particularly noting that the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales (IRC) will soon have an expanded WHS jurisdiction to deal with bullying and sexual harassment claims, which may in part overlap with the matters that could be also considered by the Land and Environment Court, again possibly incurring duplicate costs for councils and/or councillors.

LGNSW looks forward to ongoing consultation with the NSW Government as these important reforms progress.

State road funding

Last week, the NSW Government announced it would fast track $155 million of its existing funding for state road maintenance into the current 2025-26 financial year.

While this isn’t funding for local government roads, bringing forward improvements to these state roads will certainly benefit communities and economies across rural and regional NSW.

Across NSW, councils manage and maintain more than 168,000km of roads and bridges. LGNSW continues to call on the NSW and Australian governments to significantly boost needs-based road funding to councils. The Australian Government has been progressively increasing Roads to Recovery funding to councils, with funding to NSW councils for this program amounting to $222.8 million in 2025-26, an increase of more than $40 million from last year. This is a welcome step, but we know more still needs to be done to support councils in maintaining this essential infrastructure.

Local Water Utilities sector update

I’m very much looking forward to catching up with many of you next week in Albury for our Water Management Conference. This three-day conference is always an invaluable opportunity for robust discussions on shaping the future of our Local Water Utilities (LWU) sector.

In the lead up to the conference, the NSW Government has announced several measures relating to LWU reform, including a $15 million boost to the Town Water Risk Reduction Program

The NSW Government has also now responded to the Productivity and Equality Commission (PEC) report, with commitments on delivering key areas of reform including improving cost of living support, implementing a better funding model and establishing basic levels of service by 2027.

Overall, LGNSW broadly welcomes the NSW Government’s support for the majority of the PEC’s recommendations.

This includes:

Support for adopting the PEC’s six funding principles for (LWU) funding.
A commitment to establishing efficient minimum regulatory standards to support effective and efficient basic levels of service.
Support for reviewing government-funded customer affordability support schemes, including pensioner rebates.
Endorsement of the reform approach for Western NSW LWUs (noting that the consultation process for these reforms is under way).
Reiterating the NSW Government’s commitment to protect LWUs against privatisation, forced amalgamations and sell-offs, in line with the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Protecting LWUs from Privatisation.

It’s also welcome that the NSW Government is giving further consideration to developing Community Service Obligation (CSO) policies, and we would welcome timely action on this front.

LGNSW continues to call on the NSW Government to commit to a $1 billion renewal or replacement of the Safe and Secure Water Program to safeguard essential water supplies for rural and regional communities, and deliver on its commitment to develop legislation protecting LWUs from privatisation, forced amalgamations and sell-offs, in line with the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on this matter.

$200 million for council incentives and grants

The 2024-25 NSW Budget allocated $200 million for financial incentives for councils that meet housing targets, for infrastructure, roads, open space and community facilities.

Up to $200 million is available in local infrastructure grants over three funding rounds, with up to $67 million awarded to the best performing eligible councils across metropolitan and regional NSW after each financial year.

After a year-long wait, we’re pleased to see the publication of eligibility guidelines and key dates for Round 1 of this incentive program. The Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) advises that the Faster Assessment Incentive Program is available to medium- and high-growth councils across NSW.

All eligible councils will automatically be considered in this round, and councils don't need to formally apply to the program.

Successful councils will be contacted by DPHI following completion of the assessment process and asked to nominate an eligible infrastructure project.

Indicative timeframes for Round 1:

Sept-Oct 2025: Successful councils requested to nominate an infrastructure project within grant funding cap.
Oct-Nov 2025: Infrastructure nomination period for successful councils (six weeks)
Jan-Mar 2026: Assessment of nominated infrastructure projects
April 2026: Announcement of infrastructure projects to be funded
April-May 2026: Round one funding agreement execution and release of funds
June 2029: Completion of all Round 1 infrastructure projects.

Program eligibility and assessment criteria for Rounds 2 (2026–27) and 3 (2027–28) will follow but, in the meantime, you can find out more about the Round 1 program guidelines.

Sincerely,

Phyllis "signature" version 2.