East coast floods bill tops $3.35b | Remote roads upgrades | Labor’s EV charging network pledge | ALGA News 6 May 2022

President's column

In a big win for our communities, Federal Labor has committed to a $250 million expansion of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) Program, if elected later this month. This is in addition to the $500 million expansion announced by the Government in this year’s Federal Budget. Securing more funding for this highly successful+

Insurance payout from east coast floods ‘will reach $3.35b’

The February/March floods in South-east Queensland and coastal NSW look set to become Australia’s single costliest flood event. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says that based on 197,000 claims filed across both states, the event will rack up $3.35 billion in insured losses. This makes it the most expensive flood in Australia’s history, and+

Tally of uninsurable property set to reach 520,000 by 2030

One in 25 properties in Australia will be effectively uninsurable by 2030 because of worsening extreme weather, a new Climate Council study says. The federal Victorian electorate of Nicholls has the highest number of properties – around 26,000 or nearly 27 percent of total numbers – considered to be at high risk of being uninsurable+

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ALP pledges to work with LG on EV charging network

Federal Labor says it will build a national electric vehicle (EV) charging network and make EVs cheaper and easier to buy if it wins the election. The $39.3 million commitment, which the NRMA will match, will involve partnerships with state and local governments to install 117 charging stations across the national highway network. This will+

$300k Cwth boost for Muswellbrook recycling facility

Muswellbook Shire Council is getting a $300,000 Commonwealth grant to expand its organics recycling facility to include food organics. The NSW council project was one of eight organic processing facilities to secure co-investment of $10 million from the Food Waste for Healthy Soils Fund. NSW is the first state to have projects approved under the+

Qld councils to benefit from remote roads upgrade program

Thirty-three projects, including 13 in Queensland, are getting a share of the Commonwealth’s $150 million Remote Roads Upgrade Pilot Program. Eleven Queensland councils will benefit from the more than $62 million in grants to upgrade unsealed roads to improve safety, connectivity and freight productivity, a result welcomed by the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ).+

RAI looks to fill regional development framework ‘void’

The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has issued a consultation paper to help develop a “national regionalisation framework”. The RAI says the lack of a single national framework to unlock regional Australia’s potential risks future growth and prosperity. “This is a clear void, one which we want to fill by creating a national regionalisation framework.” “[It+

Wraps come off community-led resilient house project

A project enabling people to build affordable disaster-resilient houses has been launched by the Bushfire Building Council of Australia. The Fortis House Project offers free architectural drawings, construction specifications and handbook guides to anyone wanting to improve the resilience of homes against bushfires or other weather disasters. It was motivated in part by calls for+

LG share of total tax revenue in 2020-21 down to 3.4pc

Local government taxation revenue accounted for about 3.38 percent of the $593.2 billion in total revenues collected by all governments in 2020-21. In statistics released last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said local government raised $20.06 billion in taxes in 2020-21. This was an increase of 2.6 percent on the $19.55 billion collected in+

New toolkit to boost community sports fund-raising efforts

A suite of resources has been launched to help community sporting organisations maximise their end-of-financial-year fund-raising activities. Over 50 percent of tax-deductible donations are received from April to June, making this the ideal time of the year to boost fund-raising efforts, according to the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF). To help those efforts, the ASF has+

Tax Office reminder that STP Phase 2 reporting has begun

The Australian Taxation Office is reminding local government payroll managers to transition to the new Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 reporting requirements. STP Phase 2 reporting began on 1 January 2022, however individual transitions will depend on the readiness of your digital service provider (DSP). Either they are: ready for you to start reporting+

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