Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

With the federal budget being delivered tonight, I would like to place on record the importance of maintaining financial assistance grants to local government authorities across Australia, in particular in my electorate where the funding is used to deliver community facilities, upgrade local roads, minimise traffic congestion and improve road safety. During the 2017-18 year, the City of Joondalup received financial assistance grants from the federal government totalling $5.4 million, which included $3.2 million in general purpose funding and $2.1 million for local roads. Similarly, the City of Wanneroo received $3.8 million in general purpose funding and $2.9 million for local roads, totalling $6.6 million in the 2017-18 year. It is important that a strong level of federal funding to support local government is maintained in the current budget to deliver services and amenities for local ratepayers.

I wish to thank the Prime Minister for visiting Perth last week and announcing a $3.2 billion infrastructure package for Western Australia to partially alleviate the inequity in GST distribution for our state. This positive outcome has been achieved through the advocacy of Western Australian members and senators.

See this speech in context