Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to report on a positive meeting here in the parliament this week with the energetic members of SEROC, the South East Regional Organisation of Councils. I was joined by my federal colleagues the member for Eden-Monaro and Zed Seselja as well as the ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher, and we met with the mayors and general managers of 12 local government areas: Young, Yass, Upper Lachlan, Snowy River, Queanbeyan, Palerang, Harden, Goulburn, Eurobadalla, Cooma, Boorowa and Bombala. Seven of those councils fall within my constituency of Hume. The main issue we talked about was funding from the federal budget for local infrastructure projects. While there were concerns expressed by several councils about pausing the indexation of Financial Assistance Grants—and I acknowledge these concerns—I was able to clarify the very significant financial benefits for local councils, Australia wide, from the budget. Through four key infrastructure initiatives—the Stronger Regions Fund, starting in 2015-16; the expanded Black Spot Program; the Bridges Renewal Program; and Roads to Recovery—local councils in my electorate of Hume have the opportunity to pitch for a bigger pool of infrastructure funding. On top of recent black spot funding approved for six projects in Hume—in the Upper Lachlan, Cootamundra, Goulburn and Wollondilly—I have pledged to work closely with local mayors and councils to secure a fair share of this additional infrastructure money.