Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barton, someone who has served her community as a member of the Georges River Council and a strong advocate for local council as well. Can I shout out all of the mayors and councillors who have been in Canberra this week for the national general assembly. There are some mayors from the Eyre Peninsula up there behind us. I know there was the mayor and councillors from Cocos (Keeling) Islands behind us too, which I know the member for Lingiari was keen on. It was a real honour to stand with local governments on Monday night at the national awards, talking about the incredible work that they're doing in their local communities, and I've had the pleasure of meeting many local councils across the country this week. They play a critical and trusted role providing services in our communities, and we know our communities rely on those.

The Albanese government has a longstanding commitment to local councils, and our budget reaffirms that. We've committed over $3.6 billion through financial assistance grants, and that's an increase of over five per cent from last year.

How does that compare with other options? Well, I heard the member for Parkes say it's not enough. He might want to remember that when those opposite were in government they froze indexation on financial assistance grants, ripping $1 billion out of a sector that provides services and infrastructure in communities that our members rely on. We want to help communities who have got cash-flow pressures now, which is why we've advanced financial assistance grants. In the budget, we've committed $2 billion through our Local Infrastructure Fund, and that's on top of the $1.5 billion from the Housing Support Program in the last term—things that fund footpaths, cycleways, lighting, bridges, culverts, stormwater, drainage works, water and wastewater infrastructure. We've doubled Roads to Recovery to $1 billion a year to support every local council to build, maintain and upgrade roads.

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