Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to speak for up to 20 minutes.

Leave granted.

Tonight I rise to speak about the Rudd government’s tremendous support for local government. I think we know—senators, members of the House of Representatives and members of state parliaments know—of the importance of local government in providing many of the services that are so necessary for our citizens and families in the various suburbs and towns throughout this country. It is always said that local government is closest to the people. It is also true that local governments end up bearing the brunt of many of the problems—and when they do that it sometimes takes the pressure off state and federal politicians.

The list of what local councils and municipalities provide is endless. It is not just ‘rates, roads and rubbish’ as the old saying goes; it is far more. I will just run through a quick list. Local councils provide planning, building inspection services, health inspection services, the provision of recreation and sporting facilities—whether they be ovals, parks, swimming pools or tennis courts and so on. They provide libraries, which are so important for everyone from the very young to the aged. They provide community support for child care and for the aged. They provide services and infrastructure for many local organisations, charities, chambers of commerce and so on. Those of us who live along the coast know that local councils maintain our beaches and provide funding for surf clubs—the great tradition of this country. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been protected or saved because of the work of our lifesavers. Often people do not know that local councils take a large part of the responsibility for that service.

When you go further out into the country and regional areas you find that councils often take on extra responsibilities that would be provided by bigger agencies or institutions in the cities—particularly water supply and sewerage services, and the provision and maintenance of bridges. Often these are services which are provided by local councils in the bush, and that differs from what happens in the cities. And of course the humble public toilet and other community amenities are provided by local councils.

I should declare a personal interest here. It is not a conflict of interest or a pecuniary interest; it is a personal one. My wife, as I think many know, is deputy mayor of the Sutherland Shire Council. This is certainly not a pecuniary interest because anyone who knows any councillors—some members of parliament have previously served on councils—would know that there is very little financial reward but there is a lot of hard work in being a councillor. Councillors often work every day. I think other than in the state of Queensland—or in the city of Brisbane—councillors are technically seen as having part-time positions, but they work the equivalent of full-time hours.

Why do I talk about local government? It has taken the Rudd government—I particularly want to compliment Minister Albanese tonight—to take the first real steps towards acknowledging the importance of local government in almost 40 years, since Gough Whitlam endeavoured to raise the status and importance of local government as the third tier of government in Australia with his proposed constitutional reforms. During the Howard years—those 12 long years—the government did continue the system of financial assistance grants to local government and funding for local roads through Roads to Recovery or black spot programs, but that was all they did. They just continued the previous system.

The Rudd government, through Minister Albanese, last year introduced the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. This is a program that has now provided over $1 billion to local government throughout this country. It has been a fantastic development for local government and it has provided much needed financial support to local government to deal with the backlog in local community infrastructure. Some of those items that I mentioned a moment ago—fundamental services and facilities provided by local councils—have been improved because of the funding provided under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program.

We know that each year the demands upon local councils have been increasing—as have the demands on state and federal governments, but I am dealing particularly with local councils tonight. It is natural: citizens want more and better services. When things are not working properly citizens want them fixed up straight away. If a particular facility—let’s say a toilet block or a stand at the local football oval—has deteriorated, the complaints come in pretty quick and people want it improved. Of course, they pay their rates and they believe they deserve a proper level of facility. Local governments have had to try to meet that ever-increasing demand despite ageing infrastructure. Of course the revenue base has not been keeping pace to ensure that councils can maintain even the basic demands that are placed upon them. The Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program recognises, for the first time in 40 years, the appropriate link between the federal government and local government.

It took Prime Minister Rudd and Minister Albanese to finally give local government a real voice here in Canberra. I know that last year many of us were very pleased to attend a function here at Parliament House, when the Australian Council of Local Government was established. Mayors and senior managers from councils right across the country came to Canberra and had direct access, over a couple of days, to the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and other ministers. That was a first, and they appreciated it.

I have spoken to many mayors and councillors in my travels throughout my state of New South Wales and I can assure you that whether they are Labor, Liberal, National Party or Independent I have not had one complaint that that was a terrible thing to do. They have been lauding this government because of the initiative of the establishment of the Australian Council of Local Government. They finally recognise that they now have a voice here in Canberra to present their case for increased funding and for greater recognition of the importance of local government. None of that was ever on the agenda in the previous Howard government—none of it. What was on the agenda was the sort of mickey mouse scheme like the Regional Partnerships and Sustainable Regions Program.

I know, Madam Acting Deputy President Moore, you were here during the years of the Howard government. I am sure you will recall the inquiry of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee into the Regional Partnerships and Sustainable Regions Program. I certainly recall it because I chaired the inquiry. We travelled around this country and whilst, in principle, the scheme had some very noble objectives, and quite a lot of projects received some support, there were some shocking scandals. There were cases such as Beaudesert Rail in Queensland, which received a grant for almost $6 million to establish a heritage railway tourism project. It did not pass the funding test at first. It did not meet the criteria—but that did not matter. From the former Prime Minister and others—I will use the word: there was interference, to ensure they got the funding because it happened to be in a National Party electorate. What happened? The project went bankrupt before the trains even started to roll.

There are many other examples, if you read the committee report, whether it be Tumbi Umbi Creek or projects up in the Atherton Tablelands or in other parts of Australia. There were some shocking examples of political pork-barrelling, where guidelines laid down by the department were often ignored and recommendations not to fund or prioritise a project were overridden by ministerial interference. That was a program that was never based on a fair and equitable assessment.

Contrary to that, the Regional and Local Government Infrastructure Program, which now amounts to around $1 billion, has ensured that every council in this country has received at least two grants. These grants are based upon the Financial Assistance Grants formula, which ensures fairness and equity in the program. There have been other moneys within that program which are available for large projects, where councils have to submit their proposals and have them rigorously tested against the appropriate guidelines. There is a stark contrast between the approach taken by our government and that of the previous government. I look forward to the continuation of this program. I know that local government, having established the direct link with the federal government, and having had the Australian Council of Local Government established, giving them a real voice here in Canberra, are looking forward to the federal government taking a more active and direct role in supporting councils to improve their local infrastructure and services.

I have had the benefit of visiting areas in my duty electorates. I refer to Cowper on the Mid North Coast, a National Party seat, where I was privileged to open some of the facilities there. I spent a day at the Coffs Harbour City Council and also at Nambucca, Bellingen and Dorrigo. I visited projects such as the improved surf club facilities at Nambucca beach, improved and new public amenities at Bellingen and improved pedestrian walkways and footpaths in the town of Urunga.

In many cases, these are not huge projects, but they are extremely important. For instance—and I am not sure if too many people know about this; certainly the people in the area know—they have been affected by up to five flood events in one year. Just as they were starting to recover from the first or second flood that came through the mid North Coast, they got hit with another one. This placed a huge financial burden on those councils. So they are grateful to this government for the assistance.

I want to conclude by referring to one important project that I was privileged to attend a couple of weeks ago, on 4 March. That was in Sydney at what everyone knows as The Gap. Under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, the government has provided two grants, one of $248,000 for the installation of CCTV cameras and emergency phones at The Gap. It is part of the Woollahra Council. It is on that beautiful headland at the entrance to Sydney Harbour. It is a place of magnificent coastal beauty. But it is also a place of great sadness and trauma for many Australians, and has been for many years. This is because The Gap, unfortunately, is famous as a suicide location. The installation of these CCTV cameras and these phones means that there will be an early warning system, if I can call it that, and a facility for people who are in distress and hopefully lives will be saved as a result.

It took a Rudd Labor government to provide these funds. I would not want to score political points out of this issue. Like you, Acting Deputy President Moore, I have been involved in inquiries and other debates in this chamber on issues to do with mental health. It is an area that should be above political point scoring. But I must say that I am very disturbed that, while it took the Rudd Labor government and Minister Albanese to provide any financial assistance for these facilities to be built at The Gap, we still have people like Piers Akerman—that sleazy, grubby journalist—attacking the Labor government. He wrote in an article on 15 February:

With at least one person a month taking their own life at The Gap, one of the nation’s most visited tourist destinations and the principal end point for suicidal individuals, the Rudd government is stone-walling attempts by concerned citizens, the parents of suicide victims, Lifeline, the Black Dog Institute and the local Woollahra Council to obtain funding to save lives.

The fact of the matter is that the first federal government that has ever done anything to provide these cameras is the Rudd government when it provided those funds under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program. John Howard never did it. There is no indication that Malcolm Turnbull, the member for Wentworth, who was the member for that area, took up the cause. And this is not a new issue; this is not a problem that has just arisen. So I reject the criticisms of Piers Akerman and some of the other public comment that I have read in the Wentworth Courier newspaper.

I am proud that we put the funds in to start this work. There is more to be work. The council is seeking more funding. That application will be considered, along with all the others that have been put in around the country. I want to finish on that note. There is nothing more important, obviously, than saving lives. But funding for things like surf clubs and a whole range of other facilities helps to do that too. This is a great program.