LGAT President meets with Governor-General in Canberra to raise concerns facing local government

LGAT President Mick Tucker had a busy opening day at the National General Assembly in Canberra.

Yesterday, he was invited to meet with Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of Australia, to discuss current and emerging challenges facing local government.

They covered a range of topics, including the rise of online and face-to-face abuse of elected representatives, necessary changes to the Commonwealth's emergency management and recovery funding arrangements, and the need for better engagement between councils and the Federal Government across policy areas impacting local communities.

In the afternoon, Mick participated in the ‘Around the Grounds’ discussion, where association presidents report on what’s happening locally. Mick spoke about the struggle to maintain ageing roads, bridges and facilities, which has become the clearest sign of a deeper financial sustainability problem facing many of the state’s smaller and regional councils. These councils also face higher construction and maintenance costs due to remoteness and workforce constraints.

While councils are responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure across the state, they have limited ability to grow the revenue needed to support it. We believe that State and Federal governments should focus on providing consistent, long-term funding to maintain and renew existing assets, rather than announcing new projects.

Regional councils, in particular, will benefit from funding that can be directed towards local priorities, delivered in a predictable way, and distributed on a needs basis.

Our communities are also demanding more from local government, and our councils are often filling gaps in social services and community resilience. We need a genuine partnership across all levels of government to determine who is responsible for services, how they will be funded long-term, and how cost-shifting is managed.