ALGA News

The Commonwealth Health Department has widened its public consultations to inform a whole-of-government approach to suicide prevention. It follows “Interim Advice” provided to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in August by the National Suicide Prevention Adviser, Christine Morgan. The advice, released this week, comprises 13 “in-principle” recommendations to improve the whole-of-government coordination and delivery of suicide+

Councils across Queensland have been involved in various campaigns and initiatives aimed at promoting awareness and prevention of domestic abuse.  In the City of Gold Coast, there have been campaigns via internal and external marketing platforms.  Residents have been provided with safety information cards and given the “Purple book” containing information about abuse and where+

Virgin Australia and Alliance Airlines have received authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to work together on 41 regional routes. The cooperative arrangement will allow the two operators to share information, and to agree on service capacity, schedules and potentially revenue sharing on the routes on which they operate, including for new routes+

Plans to introduce a road user charge for electric vehicles in South Australia have been criticised as likely to slow the take-up of EV technology nationally. State Treasurer Rob Lucas said the Government’s proposed charge would include a fixed component and a variable charge based on distance travelled, and would raise about $1 million per+

Dangerous fire weather days will become more numerous in future, and fire seasons for southern and eastern Australia will last longer. The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology are also predicting a continued decrease in cool season rainfall across many regions of southern and eastern Australia, shorter but more intense heavy rainfall events, and fewer+

Average voter turnout at last month’s Victoria’s local council elections was a record 81.4 per cent, the Victorian Electoral Commission said last week. Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately congratulated Victorians on their record turnout for the election – which was conducted entirely by mail ballot because of Covid-19. Campaigning was restricted during the lockdown with no+

A West Australian council that unleased its community’s entrepreneurial spirit to tackle unemployment has won Australia’s top award for local government. The City of Mandurah initiated a series of programs for budding entrepreneurs about six years ago to help create jobs and build local skills in a region marked by rising unemployment. These programs –+

Disaster assistance has been made available to eight NSW coastal and inland local government areas impacted by storms on 20 October. The severe thunderstorms and associated high winds and flash flooding caused widespread damage across the Armidale, Bega Valley, Central Coast, Eurobodalla, Mid Coast, Shoalhaven, Snowy Valleys and Tamworth councils, including to local roads, businesses+

Round 5A of the Mobile Black Spot Program is now open as the Federal Government looks to improve coverage along major transport corridors and in disaster-prone areas. Announcing the round on Wednesday, Federal Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government Mark Coulton said: “We want to support new ways of delivering mobile services+

Leading scientists and engineers have warned that National Waste Policy Action Plan goals will be “difficult to achieve without focusing on avoidance”. A new report from the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, Towards a Waste-Free Future, has found that while the plan prioritises avoidance in principle, its “measures are heavily weighted towards waste collection+

A settlement strategy and long-term vision would help restore Australia’s social and economic strength after the Covid-19 crisis. The Committees for Cities and Regions says Australia and New Zealand have managed the health crisis well – and should now capitalise on this by developing consistent standards for a common recovery roadmap. The independent network has+

An exposure draft Bill has been published as part of the Federal Government’s plan to make critical infrastructure assets more cyber-secure. The Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 seeks to amend the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 to implement an enhanced framework to “uplift the security and resilience of critical infrastructure”. New regulations+

The Grattan Institute has added its voice to calls for governments to shift their focus from large transport infrastructure projects to smaller local projects. The influential public policy thinktank this week cast doubt on the fast-tracking of transport projects by Australian governments to engineer an infrastructure-led recovery from the Covid-19 recession. “Spending big on transport+

The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience is hosting a webinar to showcase its newly updated Flood Planning for Disaster Resilience Handbook. Leading experts, including Floodplain Management Australia president Ian Dinham, will unpack the principles and practice of emergency planning during the special event. The AIDR says the significant risk posed to Australian communities by flooding+

The Federal Government has stepped up efforts to reduce the risk of exotic environment pest species entering and becoming established in Australia. Acting on a recommendation of the 2017 review of Australia’s biosecurity system, the Government this week published a National Priority List of Exotic Environmental Pests, Weeds and Diseases. The list prioritises national actions+

New guidelines to promote Aboriginal languages for place-naming in Western Australia have been published as part of NAIDOC Week – which this year recognises the continuous connection of Aboriginal people to language and country. The State Minister for Lands, Ben Wyatt, said the Aboriginal and Dual Naming Guidelines will help preserve and reawaken local languages+

National Road Safety Week 2020 is being launched to coincide with United Nations World Day of Remembrance for Road Victims on Sunday. The Yellow Ribbon National Road Safety Week – running from 15-22 November – is intended to raise public awareness about the level of road trauma, and to improve outcomes. While road deaths and+

Australia‘s urban canopy cover continues to increase, with the City of Launceston the stand-out local government performer over the past four years. In the period 2016-20, tree-cover in the northern Tasmania local government area increased 9.5 percent, according to the 2020 update of a national benchmark of urban canopy cover begun in 2013. The report,+

The National Homelessness Conference has been relaunched as an online event after the face-to-face event in Canberra was cancelled. Jointly convened by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and Homelessness Australia, the conference will feature policy makers, researchers and those with lived experience of homelessness discussing strategies and solutions. Among the speakers will+

How people use their mobile phones is changing rapidly – propelled by the rollout of 5G technology promising higher data access speeds, low latencies, and greater reliability. Local governments support more connected communities but often find themselves conflicted on the installation of facilities to widen 5G coverage. Processing applications for installing new equipment, including managing+

Nancy Pierorazio outlines the steps the council has taken to prevent violence against women. In 2013, the City of Melbourne developed its first Preventing Violence Against Women (PVAW) Strategy and action plan, which guided our work in the primary prevention and early intervention space. Actions included the development of workplace policies and procedures to promote+

Canberra has been rated as Australia’s most bike-accessible city using a new tool that local government can apply to making riding easier. The tool was developed by the Bicycle Transport Analysis (BTA) project – and uses open-source, publicly available data. Peter Bourke, who led the BTA project for We Ride Australia, says the tool can+

Plans for a Perth trackless tram service have received a boost, with the Federal Government tipping $2 million into a business feasibility study. Trackless trams do not require rails and can operate on existing roadways, making the technology easier and less expensive to incorporate into established transport systems. The Perth proposal is for a trackless+

Donald Shoup, the American urban planner who first drew attention to the true costs of off-street parking, will speak at a WA Local Government Association event next month. In his 2005 book, The High Cost of Free Parking, Mr Shoup argued that free parking has contributed to car dependence, rapid urban sprawl, wasteful energy use,+

Round 2 of the accelerated Fixing Local Roads program, funded by the Federal and NSW governments, opened on Monday. Projects that can start this financial year and be delivered within two years will be given funding priority, NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said. In June, the Federal Government committed $191 million+

Councils now have until 30 November to update their asset data details as part of the Australian Local Government Association’s National State of the Assets (NSoA) project. This long-term project is about enabling ALGA and its State and Territory Association members to reinforce a clear case to governments on how investment in local government infrastructure+

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has launched a new program to track the progress of national packaging targets. The 2025 National Packaging Targets Monitoring Program highlights seven areas across the packaging value chain considered vital to ensuring that the 2025 targets are realised. According to APCO, the Monitoring Program provides a “series of staged+

Applications have opened for local groups and organisations to secure federal funding to develop reskilling, upskilling and employment projects. The Federal Government intends the Local Recovery Fund to help boost employment prospects across 25 regions impacted by Covid-19. Local groups and organisations can apply to receive funding ranging from $10,000 to $200,000, to develop projects,+

Round 2 of the Commonwealth’s Regional Airport Program (RAP) has opened with new guidelines for small local governments and Indigenous corporations. Councils and corporations with projects valued at $300,000 or less may seek funding for 100 percent of eligible project costs. Eligible projects can include: upgrading runway surfaces; upgrading stormwater drainage; installing or upgrading runway+

It will no longer be mandatory to screen passengers at some regional airports under new Commonwealth rules being rolled out on 19 December. The new federal regulations follow a review of the risk profiles of airports conducted by the Department of Home Affairs. As a result, the department is introducing a new “tier” framework which+

 A new body – the Regional Activators Alliance – has been launched to help drive population to the regions. The alliance, whose members include councils and Regional Development Australia committees, is a  Regional Australia Institute initiative to promote living, working, and investing in regional Australia through a national awareness campaign. The institute’s CEO, Liz Ritchie,+

A grants program for digital-savvy businesses in regional Australia has been launched by NBN Co. Business-led initiatives in health, the arts, education, agriculture, tourism, women in regional business, and indigenous businesses will be eligible for $10,000 grants. In addition, NBN Co will award $25,000 to one regional/remote business or individual. Applications for the grants program+

BY VESNA ROZMAN Working collaboratively in the domestic and family violence prevention space was not new to the City of Charles Sturt. We had been working solidly with our local community, neighbouring councils and peak bodies to better the lives of women and children in our western region of Adelaide for the previous five years.+

An eco-friendly zero-cement concrete that all but eliminates corrosion has been developed by researchers from RMIT University. Concrete corrosion in wastewater pipes is a significant maintenance issue, as are residual lime leaks that contribute to the formation of fatbergs – congealed lumps of fat, grease, oil and non-biodegradable wipes and nappies. But RMIT engineers have+

The CRC for Water Sensitive Cities has released new tools to facilitate liveability and amenity in infill developments, particularly usable green space. Noting that infill development is promoted nationwide as a way of accommodating growing urban populations, the Cooperative Research Centre says current infill patterns “increase building footprint and thus imperviousness of the redeveloped lot,+

Waste industry stakeholders have generally welcomed Federal Budget spending measures designed to facilitate a circular economy. According to the new Parliamentary Library brief, the Australian Council of Recycling (ACR) expressed concerns in 2019 that “4.5 million tonnes of waste could end up in domestic landfill without major public investment”. The ACR stated that the COAG+

The Insurance Council of Australia is holding a webinar series next month to help councils make best use of the insurance industry’s post-disaster coordination arrangements. The ICA, the representative body of the general insurance industry in Australia, works closely with each level of government to ensure disaster recovery processes are harmonised and effective. To that+

The Greater Dandenong local government area has the highest rate of family-related violence offences in metropolitan Melbourne. So, to change attitudes and behaviours, the City turned to its youth and the power and immediacy of video in an innovative project that won it a 2020 National Award for Local Government in the category of “Addressing+