President's Report - June 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of LGAT News.
The announcement of the state budget came with some short-lived good news for our sector. Through our advocacy, we secured $300,000 to develop a Planning and Development Capability Program, an additional $177,000 to continue our important work on safeguarding children and young people, and the continuation of funding for the local government health and wellbeing network at least until the release of Tasmania’s Preventative Health Strategy. However, with the calling of the State Election, this funding is no longer guaranteed.
Our advocacy work had commenced on round 2 of the Development Assessment Panels Bill, but now with the state election being called, our efforts have shifted to the development of an election campaign. I will meet with the General Management Committee next week to finalise the election priorities for the sector so we can begin engagement with all political parties and candidates.
Since we launched our Lift the Tone campaign in April, numerous councils have passed motions supporting the pledge and committing themselves to respectful debate. The pledge has also been signed by many Members of Parliament, councillors and community leaders. If your council hasn’t signed the pledge, I urge you to put forward a motion at an upcoming council meeting so we can stand united in supporting a constructive democratic environment. Raising awareness of the type of behaviour being experienced by elected representatives and council staff is an important part of Lift the Tone. After a very successful earned media launch, we are now running a series of social media videos featuring members from our sector detailing their stories of intimidation and abuse. We are grateful to those people for sharing real-world examples and the impact this has had on them and their family members. This aspect of the campaign will continue until the end of August.
Tasmania’s container refund scheme, Recycle Rewards, is well and truly up and running with over seven million containers returned since 1 May. This scheme is a major step toward resource recovery, reducing litter and community involvement in waste management. LGAT’s CEO detailed the benefits of Recycle Rewards in a recent opinion editorial published in The Mercury.
I look forward to seeing elected representatives at our Professional Development Day in July. This event is a valuable opportunity to gather together and build the skills we need to lead, make informed decisions, and adapt in a world of constant change.