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The Federal Government has confirmed funding of $85 million over 10 years to establish the Natural Hazards Research Australia (NHRA) centre. The centre will deliver “evidence-based research to better inform natural disaster preparation and to develop technological solutions to mitigate risks”. A series of workshops and meetings with potential end-users and research partners are planned+

Local government needs to be involved in decision-making about services, infrastructure, and population growth management, the Federal Treasury says. The 2021 Intergenerational Report released by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week points to a decline in Australia’s population growth triggered by Covid-19 border closures, but projects the population will continue growing faster than most other+

Industry players say insufficient capacity to deal with extra recyclable plastics generated by a halt in exports may lead to more plastics being landfilled. As of 1 July, mixed plastic can no longer be sent overseas for processing. Plastic waste sorted into single resin or polymer types can continue being exported, but it too will+

Victoria’s state government has earmarked $127 million in funding to help councils to move to a four-bin household waste and recycling system. The new system will add a purple bin for glass recycling, as well as green for food organics and garden waste, yellow for mixed recycling, and red for rubbish. The Victorian government wants+

The Local Government Association of Tasmania and member councils have raised concerns about land banking’s impacts on statewide housing supply. LGAT President Christina Holmdahl told local media this week that solutions to the issue were needed. She said councils could work with the government to release land that can be made available for affordable housing,+

Australians continue to be avid consumers of news, underscoring the important role newspapers play in the democratic life of local communities. The finding is contained in the 2021 Digital News Report, a survey coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism based at the University of Oxford. The report found 81 percent of+

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley has given the solar industry until June 2022 to finalise a nationwide product stewardship scheme. In a speech to the National Press Club last week, Ms Ley said the lack of an industry-wide approach to collecting and recycling solar panels across the country was concerning given the massive popularity of+

Elected member conduct and CEO remuneration in South Australia will be overhauled after state parliament passed a new Amendment Bill last week. Under the Statutes Amendment (Local Government Review) Bill 2020, a new conduct management system will be set up to help councils deal quickly with low-level matters, while an independent Behaviour Standards Panel will+

Single-use plastics will be phased out in NSW by 2025 under the state’s new Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 released last week. The plan, backed by $356 million in new funding, will also include: financial incentives for manufacturers and producers to design out problematic plastics; requirements for government agencies to prefer recycled content; mandating+

Australia’s solar panel industry has been put on notice and told to step up and embrace product stewardship. Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the uptake of millions of solar panels across the country from rooftops to solar farms has been vital to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “[However], the explosion of retailers and importers+

An emissions reduction project that’s claimed to be Australia’s largest local government scheme will be implemented next month. From 1 July, 46 Victorian councils will begin taking wind energy supplied by retailer Red Energy to power their town halls, sports grounds, community venues, leisure centres, streetlights, and other infrastructure. Under the terms of the Victorian+

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner wants people back in Australia’s major central business districts and using public transport again. Addressing National Cabinet last week as the chairman of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM), Cr Schrinner said that while office occupancy rates had increased from the historic low experienced last year, there was+

Copyright laws should be amended to give consumers and independent repairers access to information and tools enabling product fixes, a new draft report says. The Productivity Commission’s draft report on the “right to repair” found the three main sectors where it was becoming harder to get repairs were mobile phones and tablets, motor vehicles, and+

A prototype website providing information about traffic volumes, congestion, road condition, and rest area usage has gone live. As well as supporting the day-to-day operations of the transport industry, and providing enhanced freight data across all supply chains, the National Freight Data Hub will enable a data-driven approach for future strategic planning and investment. Deputy+

The current accommodation shortage in many regional towns and cities will take time to reverse, the Regional Australia Institute has said. Twenty regions ranging from Port Hedland to Ballina and Townsville to Burnie have residential vacancy rates of 0.5 percent or lower, a situation that threatens to delay work on infrastructure projects aimed at bolstering+

Luke Hartsuyker will chair an independent review into the state of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia. Mr Hartsuyker, pictured, is a former Member for the Federal seat of Cowper in NSW, and will be joined on the review committee by Kristy Sparrow, Sue Middleton, Hugh Bradlow, and Michael Cosgrave. Announcing the appointments+

The City of Sydney Council wants to include energy targets in development applications in a bid to make new buildings more energy efficient. Under a proposal now before the NSW state government, development applications for new office buildings, hotels and shopping centres, and major redevelopments of existing buildings will have to comply with minimum energy+

Victorian councils may face “difficult” financial decisions in coming years if revenue growth does not resume post-Covid-19. The warning is contained an Essential Services Commission report on the impact of rate capping on local councils. The Local council outcomes report 2021 found that the sector’s financial health remained strong in general, “putting it in a+

Federal Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud has reignited his stoush with Telstra over its regional telecommunications services. In February, Mr Littleproud accused the telco of abandoning its rural customers, particularly in his central Queensland electorate of Maranoa. This week, in an opinion article published in the Weekly Times, Mr Littleproud again said Telstra had “given+

Matt Pinnegar has been appointed the next chief executive officer of the Australian Local Government Association, succeeding retiring CEO Adrian Beresford-Wylie. Mr Pinnegar is currently CEO of the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA). Before taking the helm at LGASA in 2015, Mr Pinnegar was the external affairs manager for BP in South Australia+

West Australian councils have raised concerns about more recyclables ending up in landfill when a federal export ban on some waste plastics comes into force in July. The state’s biggest recycling plant, operated by Cleanaway in suburban Guildford, burned down in late 2019 and is scheduled to re-open just days before stage one of the+

A new organisation to “lead efforts” to eliminate plastic in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands was launched in Sydney this week. The ANZPAC Plastics Pact comprises 60 founding members from across the plastics supply chain, including corporations, packaging manufacturers and retailers, resource recovery leaders, governments, and NGOs. Its members have pledged to work+

The regions have been major winners from this week’s Federal Budget with significant initiatives aimed at sharpening their appeal as places to live and work. Issues of disaster resilience and water security in regional areas have also been addressed with new money, including $50 million in co-funding for 22 projects under the National Flood Mitigation+

Rockhampton Regional Council’s bid to lure Alliance Airlines to its regional airport has been boosted with a $25 million Community Development Program grant. Tuesday’s Federal Budget committed $25 million (under the Community Development Grants Program) towards the construction of a maintenance repair and overhaul facility at Rockhampton airport for Alliance’s use, a move which could+

The Federal Government’s waste and recycling funding initiatives from Tuesday’s Budget have drawn a mostly favourable response from stakeholders. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced $77.9 million in new investments to reduce waste impacts on the environment, with $67 million of that to be directed to new food organic and garden organic waste (FOGO) initiatives. A Food+

Local governments provide a vast array of services, functions, and amenities according to individual state government legislative frameworks. Last night’s Federal Budget contained measures of varying relevance to local governments, depending on their jurisdiction or location. They include (with Budget Paper references): Home Ownership – First Home Super Saver Scheme (BP2 P17) and First Home+

This year’s Federal Budget further recognises Local Government’s essential role in supporting local communities, employment and businesses. It also addresses many of the priority issues that ALGA has been advocating and campaigning for over many years. The level of Financial Assistance Grants is estimated to be 0.6 percent of Commonwealth taxation revenue. This is unchanged+

Insurance costs for flood and cyclone-prone communities in northern Australia are expected to fall when a reinsurance pool is set up next year. Announcing the initiative this week, the Federal Government said insurance premiums for households, strata, and small businesses north of the Tropic of Capricorn should drop by a combined $1.5 billion over 10+

The Morrison Government will earmark an additional $250 million for a Sixth Round of Building Better Regions Fund in next week’s Federal Budget. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack made the announcement in a speech at Rockhampton on Wednesday, where he thanked local government for the job “you are doing on behalf of your local communities”.+

A new federal agency will support local community responses to major natural disasters and administer a $600 million “Preparing Australia Program”. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new program will enable the Commonwealth to directly fund disaster mitigation and risk-reduction projects. These projects will include flood levees, hardened telecommunications infrastructure, and bushfire and cyclone-proof housing.+

The Federal and Victorian governments are investing a combined $24 million in Australia’s first drum pulper to recycle mixed waste paper and cardboard. To be installed at a Visy paper mill in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the drum pulper will process an additional 95,000 tonnes of kerbside waste for manufacture into a range of paper products,+

Electric scooters will be trialled for up to a year in three Victorian council areas, the Victorian Government announced last week. Starting later this year, the trial is seeking to ascertain out how e-scooters could be integrated safely into the transport network. It will be conducted in two metropolitan LGAs and one regional LGA. The+

Journalist and author Gabrielle Chan knows a thing or three about regional Australia, having moved from Canberra to rural NSW with her farmer husband in 1996. She has described her home town of 25 years, Harden-Murrumburrah, as “the place in which I first understood a sense of belonging, of community, and the impulses to protect+