President's Report - February 2025

Welcome to the first edition of LGAT News for 2025.

I hope that you enjoyed a break over the festive season and have returned feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the year ahead. It’s a federal election year and we’ve been working with the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and other state associations on a national campaign with a focus on putting our communities first. It outlines five funding priorities for local government, including housing, roads and emergency management. We will share campaign materials with our member councils once the election has been called.

Locally, we submitted our State Budget Priority Statement for 2025-26 to the Tasmanian Government at the end of 2024. We’ve asked the government to work with LGAT on supporting councils to better appreciate and plan for local population changes and also establish a central pool of planners to support councils when their local resources are stretched. We also asked for funding to expand CCTV coverage and continue our health and wellbeing program. Additionally, we are seeking funding to support the transition of the Government’s Learning and Development Framework (the Framework) for elected representatives across to LGAT.

At the December Premier’s Local Government Council meeting, the Government indicated that it felt it was appropriate for the operation of the Framework to be handed over to LGAT, with administration to be transitioned at the start of 2025 and full financial responsibility, through councils, beginning in July 2025.

While LGAT's General Management Committee was reluctant to take on this additional responsibility, it was acknowledged that our sector having the ability to develop and deliver its own training had many advantages. During the discussion concerns were raised by some industry members of the planning and approval process, which we were able to support, noting that these issues rest with the legislation and not with councils’ performance in administering it.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Building and Construction Roundtable with LGAT's CEO. The Roundtable brings together State and local government and key industry players to discuss opportunities for increasing the supply of housing for Tasmanians. LGAT representative at the Building and Construction Roundtable which will meet quarterly.

The local government sector has been on the receiving end of increasingly poor behaviour by some members of the community. This includes bullying, harassment and intimidation which can have a significant impact on some councillors and staff.  In response, LGAT will be launching a community awareness campaign at the end of March to lift the tone of engagement between members of the public and elected representatives and council staff. As you know, respectful dialogue and debate can foster stronger connections with our communities. We look forward to sharing this campaign with you all soon.