Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. How is the Albanese Labor government working with local councils to support communities, and how does this compare to other approaches?

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

I thank the member for Barton for the question because, before she arrived here, she was a councillor at Georges River Council, and she knows how important it is to fully fund local councils so that they can support our local communities. Our government strongly supports a sustainable local government sector because we know that a strong and sustainable local government sector supports our communities to thrive. Numbers matter, and those opposite are painfully aware of that. We on this side of the House are focused on different numbers, numbers that matter to the lives of Australians—like $3.4 billion of direct investment in local government this year through financial assistance grants, ensuring councils have access to funds to deliver the services communities rely on.

Those opposite froze indexation on financial assistance grants when they were in government, ripping nearly a billion dollars out of the sector. In contrast, we are doubling the Roads to Recovery Program, delivering a billion dollars annually to support councils across the country. We've increased road black spot funding to $150 million a year, meaning more money for those dangerous sections of our local roads, and we're delivering our new $200 million Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, with tranche 3 announced just last week. Most importantly, we're delivering transparent grant programs available to every council across the country, from Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs to the Regional and Urban Precincts and Partnerships programs.

The previous coalition government made reckless commitments that councils couldn't deliver—and we know of the colour coded spreadsheets for grant programs for everything from connectivity to infrastructure. Who could forget that doozy of regional grants being given to the North Sydney pool, which I don't think is open yet. As a former local mayor, I know how important it is to have productive relationships with all levels of government, and I take a very different approach to those opposite. We know that, when those opposite were in government, the member for Hume was forced to apologise to the Lord Mayor of Sydney after claiming she'd driven up carbon emissions by spending $15 million on travel. It turned out the councillors had only spent close to $6,000.

I'm no Rhodes scholar, and I didn't study economics at Oxford. I attended a humble but mighty public school. But, by my rough calculations, that's a $14,994,000 mistake. As I said, numbers matter in this place. I heard the member for Hume described as a numbers man this morning. Jeez, I hope he gets his numbers right this time.