On the road

16 August 2022

It was great to hit the road and visit a number of councils in person over the past week.

The road trip began in the State’s south with meetings at Carrathool, Hay, Edward River, Murray River, Berrigan and Murrumbidgee councils, before moving to Sydney where I met separately with Hornsby, The Hills, Blacktown and Parramatta councils.

I find these face-to-face meetings invaluable as they give us all the opportunity to discuss key matters of importance in detail with our members and hear what issues are impacting them the most.

I look forward to meeting with more councils right across NSW over the coming weeks and months.

Flood inquiry

Last week the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on the Response to Major Flooding Across NSW in 2022 released its highly anticipated report.

LGNSW welcomes the release of the report as it crucially supports our view that councils will need significant support to repair private and public roads impacted by flooding and heavy rainfall.

It was also heartening that the report’s recommendations aligned with those made by LGNSW in our submission to the inquiry.

Key recommendations include:

• That the NSW Government significantly increase its investment in flood mitigation and preparation, including its support of local governments to do the same, by increasing ongoing, long-term funding and access to technical guidance and assistance for local councils and ensuring that land-use planning and development takes a risk-based approach;
• That the NSW Government consider a restructure of the NSW State Emergency Service with consideration to realigning the focus of the organisation to harness local knowledge and networks;
• That the NSW Government advocate through the National Cabinet to widen eligibility under the Disaster Funding Recovery Arrangements to allow local councils to build back better;
• That the NSW Government work with local governments to identify alternative routes to vulnerable roads, and that the NSW and Australian Governments fund the construction of these important routes to improve evacuation and access options in times of disaster; and
• That the NSW Government prioritise support for the full restoration of sewage treatment facilities on the Richmond River, for the benefit of communities in the Northern Rivers region.

It is now essential that the NSW Government acts quickly on the recommendations to ensure councils are well positioned to manage future extreme weather events.

I look forward to further discussions with the NSW Government on this issue, including how we can continue to work together to plan, fund, and resource the work of councils to not only manage their communities’ capacity to recover and rebuild from disasters, but to also build future resilience.

Red fleet

Our campaign protesting over the notion that RFS assets are controlled by councils and should be recorded on their balance sheets continues to gather momentum.

Last week, the Member for Albury, the Hon Justin Clancy, told the Border-Mail newspaper that he shares the serious concerns about RFS assets being deemed the property of councils and that he would encourage the government to work with councils to address the issue

Mr Clancy’s comments came after Albury City Council was the latest council to put forward a motion expressing its strong objection to the NSW Government’s determination that councils control RFS equipment.

I thank Albury City Council as well as the many other councils for supporting LGNSW’s campaign and would once again strongly encourage any council that has not done so yet, to adopt the Mayoral Minute or take similar measures to express your opposition.

All the support we receive will continue to place pressure on the NSW Government to reconsider its position. 

Annual Conference update

A final reminder that you have until tomorrow (Wednesday 17 August) to register for the LGNSW 2022 Annual Conference and take advantage of discounted early bird rates.

This year’s conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley from October 23 to 25.

In addition, financial members are asked to submit motions for the Annual Conference by Monday 29 August 2022 to allow for the preparation of the Business Paper.

Under LGNSW Rules, the latest date motions can be accepted for inclusion in the business paper is Sunday 25 September.

More information is available online or by emailing LGNSW Policy Officer Elle Brunsdon.

Finally, those councils that are yet to elect conference voting delegates will need to include an item on their agenda in their August or September meetings to meet our 10 October deadline.

Climate Change Webinar Series

Our extremely popular Climate Change Webinar Series comes to a close this week, with the final event taking place between 10am and 11.30am tomorrow (Wednesday 17 August).

Held in partnership with the Office of Energy Climate Change, this webinar will provide a learning opportunity on financing greenhouse gas emission projects and is particularly relevant to small, rural and regional councils.

More information on the event

LGNSW Human Resources Summit

Registrations are now open for members to attend the LGNSW Human Resources Summit, to be held at Rydges World Square in Sydney between 16 and 18 November.

This three-day summit is not to be missed and has been specifically designed to provide councils with strategies and insights needed to address key workforce challenges that are facing local government today.

More information and pre-sale registration

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