Issue 5, July 2011
Together with the rest of the local government community, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Wellington Shire’s CEO, Tim Johnson earlier this week. Tim was a widely liked and respected leader, who had a passion for his community. The Council’s statement is a great tribute to Tim and can be read here.
Save Our Libraries – Fairer Funding Campaign
Our Save Our Libraries – Fairer Funding campaign kicked off this week with an overwhelming response from councils, libraries, Members of Parliament, other associations and the community all eager to get involved.
The first template materials have been developed by the MAV and circulated to all members following last week’s meeting of councils. A united sector response is well underway to oppose the State funding cuts to recurrent library operational grants, and to protect the longer-term viability of public libraries by negotiating with the Government for future funding that properly supports libraries and grows in line with population and core library costs such as wages, books and technology.
I encourage all councils to use the template campaign resources developed so far to:
pass an urgent resolution to write to the Premier and Minister
ask your local Member of Parliament to raise library funding cuts during the next sitting of Parliament
promote the
facebook campaign widely within your community
roll out the template petition at all your libraries and customer service counters.
In recent days community opposition to the cuts in public library funding has mounted rapidly through facebook and twitter. At the time of writing there were already 687 people supporting the facebook campaign. Councils, councillors and council staff on facebook and Twitter are encouraged to ‘like’ the Save Our Libraries facebook page and follow the MAV on Twitter @Viccouncils to help spread the word among online communities. We’d also welcome you posting any relevant links, press releases, news items, comments, events, photos and video of local campaign activities to the Save Our Libraries facebook wall and let your community know how they can help voice their opposition to the cuts.
The Library Campaign Advisory Group that was set up following the MAV’s meeting of councils will get together next week to discuss further opportunities to engage communities in this campaign. As I said at the meeting, library funding is the holy grail. Half of all Victorians are members and this service is much loved by our communities.
In the past three weeks alone, we’ve seen more than 150 print news stories on this issue – with all reporting and some great editorial coverage supporting better funding for libraries. Many radio and TV reports are also promoting this campaign. This is something that people are clearly passionate about and together we hope to achieve a more sustainable funding model for such a great and essential community service.
Meetings with ministers
This week the MAV again met with Minister Powell to further our discussion and negotiations on library funding. I also raised with the Minister the need for Local Government Victoria to conduct another round of conflict of interest workshops across the state given a number of recent high profile court cases, and the updated State guidance materials to be released in printed form shortly. I hope all councils will take the time to familiarise yourself with this material and ensure a good working understanding of the conduct and conflict provisions.
Earlier this month I attended the launch of the Reagional Growth Fund at the invitation of the Deputy Premier, Peter Ryan. Funding allocations from the four-year $100 million Local Government Infrastructure Program have been determined, and the competitive grants process and application guidelines for the $100 million Putting Locals First Program were released. These are great initiatives by the Government to provide vital infrastructure funding for rural and regional councils and townships.
Last week I also met with the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy to discuss how State and local government can better work together on wind farm development processes. The Minister confirmed his willingness to meet with the Wind Farms Working Group to progress issues of common interest such as permit applications, monitoring and enforcement issues. This meeting is currently being organized and councils will be provided with further details as soon as possible.
The Government’s review of the planning system was also discussed at our meeting and the MAV’s work with councils on this important reform opportunity is detailed further below.
Planning system reform
There is a great opportunity for local government to improve Victoria’s planning system with a review underway by a Ministerial Advisory Committee to look at the legislation; State and local policy provisions; zones and overlays; the use of incorporated and reference documents; permit and amendment processes.
The MAV has met with the Committee and last week circulated by email to councils some scoping and background information, a discussion paper and a proposed ‘conceptual model’ about how planning could work better for councils, applicants and the community. These documents summarise our preliminary thoughts and are intended to inform our discussions with members on the development of a sector submission.
I hope you can make it along to one of the six sessions we’re conducting in August to discuss this important matter further. Officers and councillors are all welcome and you can register online. The meeting dates are:
3 August: Colac, 3 – 5 pm
5 August: CBD – MAV, 1 – 3 pm
8 August: Traralgon, 10 – 12 noon
9 August: Benalla, 12 noon – 2 pm
10 August: CBD – MAV, 9 – 11 am and 5 – 7 pm
The Committee is accepting submissions until 31 August. In response to the MAV’s request for an extension of time for those councils whose meeting cycle does not allow Council approval of a submission by 31 August, DPCD has advised that they will negotiate a suitable extension with councils, but each council must make contact with DPCD to finalise arrangements. In particular, DPCD is encouraging councils to submit a draft by 31 August noting that it is ‘not yet adopted by Council’, and that the final date (as agreed between DPCD and the council) should not extend beyond 16 September.
Carbon price impacts
Earlier this month the Australian Government announced its ‘Securing our Clean Energy Future’ framework, including details of the proposed carbon price, investment in renewable and low pollution energy technology, energy efficiency and compensation for households and certain industry sectors.
For local government, the Carbon Price Scheme will include municipal landfills where they omit more than 25,000 CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) from old and new waste; as well as emissions from smaller landfills within a prescribed (but as yet unknown) distance from larger landfills. While we are pleased that legacy waste will be excluded, there is currently a lack of standard, cost effective methods for measuring waste emissions and estimation methods are unreliable. This will be a considerable challenge for the sector and the MAV is working with the ALGA and the other local government associations in pushing for a training and support package for local government to meet this challenge. Further, the waste industry is seeking a transitional period for landfill, through to the commencement of full emissions trading, to allow the finalisation of estimation methodologies and skills development within this complex area.
Like everyone else, councils will also face higher electricity and gas costs so it’s pleasing to see an increased funding commitment of $200 million to assist local government to implement energy efficient lighting and retro-fitting of buildings. There’s also likely to be an impact on council fuel costs, particularly for construction and capital works projects.
The MAV will soon be releasing a more detailed Members Brief and an updated Carbon Price cost impact survey for councils. This will help to inform our ongoing discussions with government to ensure appropriate support and transitional arrangements are in place.
Fire services levy
The State Government released its options paper on the transition to a property-based collection model for fire services in Victoria, in line with the recommendations from the Bushfires Royal Commission.
The options paper raises several key issues that will require a local government response. It proposes that councils should collect the levy, despite the Government’s paper recognising many strong arguments in favour of the State Revenue Office undertaking this role. The MAV will need to develop a position on this matter, including an estimate of the costs of administration, should councils be required to undertake this responsibility.
The MAV also has strong concerns that there are serious deficiencies in the paper as it fails to provide any modelling which would help guide an assessment of individual options. This is the Government’s key opportunity for stakeholder and community input into the development of a property-based fire services funding model before it drafts legislation, so the absence of this vital information makes it particularly difficult to understand the consequences of the various design options available.
To inform the MAV’s submission to the options paper, the MAV will be engaging with member councils and then circulating a draft submission for feedback prior to the submission closing date of 30 September. Councils are also encouraged to make your own submission to the paper.
Constitutional recognition
Today I participated in the ALGA’s Constitutional Recognition sub-committee teleconference, where we discussed the campaign’s progress. Given the Australian Government has recently appointed an Expert Panel to examine the support for constitutional recognition of local government and provide advice on the forms that could take, it’s vital that the sector presents a united show of support.
Over the coming weeks I will be getting in touch with the Victorian councils that have not yet adopted formal resolutions and advised ALGA of your support. Any council wishing to receive advice or further information on this issue should visit the ALGA’s dedicated website or contact oharvey-beavis@mav.asn.au.
Regards
BILL