President's Report - June 2024
Welcome to the June edition of LGAT News.
Since the State election, we have been busy meeting with key Ministers and MPs to further our advocacy priorities. I am pleased to report that we have had positive feedback on a number of our priorities from the Government, opposition and crossbench, so hopefully we can see a number of them progressed with the current Parliament.
At the end of May, we submitted our response to the Federal inquiry into local government sustainability. We were able to highlight the need for an increase in untied funding through a boost to Financial Assistance Grants and for project-specific grants to be indexed by using case studies from Tasmanian councils. You can read more about our submission in this newsletter.
Have you ever wondered who at LGAT is working on a specific policy area, or who the right person is to contact regarding procurement? We’ve put together a “Who’s Who at LGAT” on the Member Portal to showcase our highly dedicated and skilled team.
Just last week LGAT hosted a very successful workshop on Emergency Management and Recovery which I had the pleasure of attending. It was great to see so many councils represented at the event. We heard inspiring stories that recognised the impact local government has when our communities are dealing with an emergency – before, during and after. If you missed it, Members can access the presentations on our Member Portal.
Speaking of LGAT events, the Elected Members Professional Development Day is approaching soon, as is our Annual Conference. Please keep an eye on our events page for further details.
On a national front, I hope to see many of you at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly (NGA) on 3 and 4 July. And don’t forget that the Regional Forum is held the day before and the Australian Council of Local Government on the Friday. A big week, but worthwhile attending.
In addition to finalising details of the NGA, ALGA is busy preparing for the next Federal election, finalising the national priorities and developing the campaign materials. Once complete and ready to commence, the team at LGAT will forward all councils the materials that you can leverage locally to support ALGA’s national campaign.