Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week marks yet another gathering in Canberra of local governments from right around Australia for their local convocation at the Australian Local Government Association Conference. It is probably appropriate to consider the very good work that local government does in this country. You, Mr President, as I often proudly remind everyone, were a very distinguished warden of the Clarence Council in Tasmania, so you well understand my admiration for local government generally.

More and more people are looking around this country and trying to work out the best way to set Australia up for the most progressive and most effective form of government. More and more people, without any ideological reason, are reaching the conclusion that state governments are becoming less relevant and that, more and more, federal governments should be working with local governments to achieve what Australians want to achieve from their governments in this country.

The conference of the Australian Local Government Association highlights some of the fabulous work that councils do. I very proudly say that two Queensland councils with which I am familiar—the Carpentaria Shire Council, which covers that part of north-west Queensland going up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Normanton and Karumba; and the Sarina Shire Council, a little south of where I live—were successful in being awarded national awards at the ALGA dinner on Monday night. My sincere congratulations go to those two Queensland councils on the good work they have done in particular fields, earning them these titles.

This week there are many councillors and mayors roaming around this building. ‘Roaming’ is probably not the right word—they are here with a vengeance and a purpose. I know they have all been using the opportunity of their time in Canberra for their national conference to come and see ministers, to speak to parliamentarians from all sides, to push the case for the things that are important to their constituents in their local government areas. At a breakfast this morning jointly held by the Local Government Association of Queensland and the coalition members of parliament in this place—which has been happening for about 10 years—again the good relationship and the good partnerships between local governments and the federal government were highlighted. As Councillor Paul Bell, the President of the Australian Local Government Association and also the President of the Local Government Association of Queensland, said today, this has been a significant year for relationships between local government and the federal government. Councillor Bell mentioned this morning—and I want to repeat—three significant areas in which the Commonwealth government and local governments have worked closely this year.

The Roads to Recovery program is a magnificent program for Australia and one which all councillors and mayors of local governments understand has done real things for the roads that people travel on—the local infrastructure that so desperately needed funding. It was a program that Mr Kim Beazley described as a ‘boondoggle’. For those who do not know what that means—I suspect that is most Australians—that means that it was a fraud. That is how Mr Beazley described it initially. I suspect he has probably changed his tune now as he has come to understand and see how popular this program has been, not just for popularity’s sake but because it has achieved a lot for users of local roads.

The original Roads to Recovery program is well regarded by local government and, being the local government minister at the time that program was implemented, I take some pride in that. I do not take all the credit for its implementation: it was very much a prime ministerial initiative and Mr John Anderson, at that time the transport minister, was also very involved in it. It was a program that we worked on and got right at the time. As has been mentioned, the regular Roads to Recovery money goes to each council direct. Forget about going through the state governments, which cream off anything from 10 per cent to 25 per cent; this goes straight to local governments, and that has been happening for some years.

This year, because of the good management of the Howard government, we were able to use some of the surplus achieved through that good management to give local governments an additional $300 million to spend on their Roads to Recovery program over the next two years. That was a huge boost to local governments right around Australia and is well recognised by local government. I am proud to be in a government that has made that contribution.

Councillor Bell also mentioned today the cost-shifting inquiry as being a very significant initiative that has meant real things between the Commonwealth, the states and local government. That inquiry was conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration, chaired by Mr David Hawker. I am proud that that inquiry resulted from an initiative we took to the 2001 election when I was minister, because we wanted to look at the effect of cost shifting: how much the federal government and particularly state governments were abrogating their responsibilities to local government but not funding local government properly to carry them out. State governments have been almost criminal in the way they have done that, though I might add that the federal government has not been without blame. The Hawker report, as it is called, led to action this year at COAG when the Prime Minister, all the premiers and local governments signed a memorandum of understanding about cost shifting indicating that shifting of responsibilities would not happen in the future without some provision of funds.

The third thing that happened this year with respect to local government was the motion of support passed in both houses of parliament recognising the role played by local government and more or less cementing the continued existence of local government in Australia. It is a forerunner to constitutional recognition. As I said in that debate, the state governments need to commit to that before it is worth having a referendum on it. If any one state government opposes it, it will not get through—we all know how referendums work. But that is a first step.

I do want to pay tribute to Councillor Paul Bell on the way he has led local government in Australia, and in my own state of Queensland, over recent years. I was delighted to record this morning—and I do so again now—that, whilst he has not yet been re-elected for the next two years, there has only been one nomination for that position so I assume he will be President of the Australian Local Government Association for another two years. He does a fabulous job. He is well supported by a secretariat here in Canberra. In Queensland he gets very good support from a very capable person, Greg Hallum, who just understands local government—he knows how to get the best out of local government; he knows how to get the best out of state and federal governments for local governments as well.

There are many fine people involved in local government right around Australia. Recently in Queensland I floated an idea that Queensland should reinstall an upper house in the Queensland parliament and that it should be comprised of the mayors of every shire in Queensland. That is something that I intend to continue to pursue. There are so many committed, able people involved in local government—Kevin Byrne, the Mayor of Cairns; Campbell Newman, the Mayor of Brisbane. I have been meeting during the day with mayors from all the south-east Queensland councils. There are a range of excellent mayors—from all political persuasions, I might say—who really are committed people and who make a great contribution to Australia. (Time expired)