Our Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) campaign to maintain FAGs and restore indexation of the grants is gaining momentum on a few fronts, which is fantastic and welcome news. On the one hand, more and more councils are passing resolutions acknowledging the importance of the FAGs in facilitating the delivery of essential services for their communities. We promisingly now have close to 30 per cent of councils nationally that have passed this resolution. If your council hasn't yet passed this important resolution, we urge you to support the campaign by passing a resolution sooner rather than later.
On the political front, the FAGs campaign is already yielding positive results, with the Opposition in June drawing a direct link between the freeze to FAGs and its Government-supported proposal to provide a $1.105 billion boost to Roads to Recovery funding over the next two years using revenue from the reintroduced fuel excise indexation during that period.
This is a major achievement of the FAGs campaign showing the effective cut-through and influential quality of our messages but we can't stop there. It is important that each council acknowledges the receipt of FAGs from the Commonwealth in their council documentation. With another financial year winding up not long ago and many councils planning the preparation of annual reports, this is an excellent opportunity to ensure FAGs are acknowledged within your council's annual report to demonstrate to both government and your community the significant role of FAGs in the long-term financial sustainability of your council.
By acknowledging the importance of FAGs to the delivery of your council's crucial services through your annual report and by passing a resolution, you will be helping to lay the critical groundwork for this important national campaign.
Mayor Troy Pickard
ALGA President