President's Report - October 2024

Welcome to the October edition of LGAT News.

While I was unable to be there, I hear that the Annual Conference was a great success with many of you travelling from across the state to gather together in Hobart. A big thank you to Paula for stepping up to the stage while I was away.

It was good that the Minister, Nic Street, was able to provide an update on the Future of Local Government Review next stages.  Like everyone else in our sector I am eagerly awaiting the Government’s formal response to the 37 recommendations.

I was also pleased you were able to hear from outgoing Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) President Linda Scott regarding the important advocacy work ALGA is undertaking at the Federal level. I wish her success in the next chapter of her career. At the end of September ALGA elected Matt Burnett, the mayor of Gladstone Regional Council, as President. I look forward to working with Matt as we prepare for a federal election in 2025, with a focus on increasing untied funding to councils.

For those of you present at the September General Meeting you would recall we presented the LGAT Housing Position Statement, that draws together a number of LGAT’s housing policy positions that can be used by us and councils for broader advocacy.  I am pleased to announce that the LGAT team will be presenting the Statement to councils via a webinar on 5 of November.  So please keep an eye out for the final details.

Last week we saw the Government release the draft Land Use Planning and Approvals (Development Assessment Panels) Bill 2024.  The media release from the Minister was particularly disappointing, containing a number of comments that were unhelpful, not accurate and frankly insulting to the local government sector.

We have made it clear to the Minister that this was not appreciated by our sector, particularly given local government is not just another player in the development space, but the primary regulator of development in Tasmania.

Councils are at the pointy end of our planning system and all the planning legislation, of development industry players, and of communities. This makes us the primary managers of growth and change in the state and central to planning policy and should be respected for this role.

While LGAT is in the process of receiving feedback from councils to inform our position on the Development Assessment Panels, we also pointed out to the Minister that the gaps in our planning system that are causing local development problems are not who assesses development proposals, but is actually the lack of investment by the State Government in strategic planning, and particularly the Regional Land Use Strategies. Keep an eye on LGAT's website for our submission once it is released.