News & Events

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+

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).+

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+

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+

A conference exploring how planners can build more inclusive and sustainable cities post-COVID-19 will be staged in Melbourne next month. The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is convening the Smart Urban Futures Conference  which will cover five themes: Transport integration and better street design; Climate change response, including how to deliver emissions reduction through travel+

New federal government guidance has been published on how smart street lighting can be metered under the National Electricity Market. The federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources (DISER) briefing paper provides an update on progress with the rule change proposal and next steps, and also provides information on other approvals that smart lighting+

The federal Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment’s draft National Established Weed Priorities (NEWP) Framework has been opened up for public comment. A key feature of the framework is its recognition of the interaction between weed management and other land and biodiversity management issues. It proposes a new Weeds Issues of National Significance (WINS) stream+

A process to break plastic down to its core elements, enabling it to be recycled time and again, has won a 2022 Banksia National Sustainability Award. Developed by start-up company Samsara Eco in conjunction with the Australian National University, the technology depolymerizes plastic waste and allows for the reuse of the monomers to produce food-grade+

Australia’s national asbestos watchdog is surveying councils to obtain best-practice interventions and case studies for inclusion in a new toolkit. The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency (ASEA) says the toolkit will enable local governments to help prevent asbestos exposures and contribute to a more effective and consistent approach to asbestos safety. Participation in the survey+

Existing approved routes for Australian Defence Force vehicles on public roads are being transitioned to online mapping systems. The National Transport Commission (NTC) project will see 175 pages of textual route descriptions replaced with references to online geospatial maps. Discussions between the ADF and jurisdictions about which online systems are most appropriate are ongoing, with+

The Hay Shire Council will receive more than $900,000 in Commonwealth and state funding to build a $1.8 million material recovery facility. The MRF will be equipped with a new sorter, crusher, shredder and baler, enabling it to recover and recycle plastic, glass, paper/cardboard, and tyres from across the local government areas of Hay, Balranald,+

The Australian Local Government Association’s initial submission to a productivity review has highlighted councils’ ability to deliver positive economic outcomes. The Productivity Commission inquiry will canvass potential reforms to lift this key economic indicator, focussing on workforce skills and training and how business and regulatory environments can be shaped to spur new technologies and innovation+

A new state body set up to oversee rebuilding in flood-devasted northern NSW communities will be given compulsory land-acquisition powers. The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) will also have the authority to sub-divide land and consider proposals to shift services and utilities in riverside communities to higher ground to avoid a repeat of the devastation+

Charleville’s levee banks will be upgraded after the Murweh Shire Council last week won a $300,000 share of Commonwealth mitigation funding. The levee remediation project was one of 15 awarded Round 2 funding of $50 million through the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program (NFMIP). The NFMIP is funded through the Commonwealth’s $4 billion Emergency Response+

The Federal Government is providing $837,500 to extend national wild dog, feral deer and feral cat and fox management coordinator programs to the end of June 2023. The coordinators help lead the fight against feral pests by supporting and coordinating action by farmers, natural resource management groups, Indigenous groups, and environmental non-government organisations. They will+

Capped airfares have gone on sale in WA in a new state government-backed scheme subsidising air travel from regional centres to Perth and return. The $19.8 million program will see a $299 one-way cap for destinations more than 1000km driving distance from Perth. Regional destinations under 1000km driving distance from Perth will have a $199+

Regional businesses that support their local newspaper through advertising should get a tax rebate, a parliamentary inquiry has urged. The inquiry into Australia’s regional newspapers which was prepared by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts, also recommends the Australian Government develop a targeted grants program aimed at small, independent titles+

New funding of $15.4 million has been earmarked for a second round of the oversubscribed Agricultural Shows Development Grant Program. The new funding to support show societies to upgrade or repair showground infrastructure follows an initial disbursement of $20 million in 2019-20. Announcing the new funding this week, Federal Agriculture and Northern Australia Minister David+

The Safer Communities Fund will receive an extra $50 million to enable new programs that help reduce crime, violence, and anti-social behaviour. Federal Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood said the fund’s expansion was due to overwhelming demand from the community. “[The] extra $50 million [will] support organisations with demonstrated+

Nearly 100 dangerous crash sites in Western Australia, Queensland, and South Australia will be fixed under the 2022-23 Black Spot funding round. About $13 million will be invested to fix a further 30 dangerous crash sites on WA, while SA will receive $8 million for 13 Black Spot projects. Queensland, meanwhile, will receive $22.1 million+

The Federal Government has commissioned further research on construction and demolition waste management and resource recovery. It is also assessing current and future waste management and resource recovery infrastructure capacity focusing on volume and potential markets. The commitments were outlined in the Government’s response to the From Rubbish to Resources: Building a Circular Economy report+

A public inquiry will look at allowing greater third-party access to mobile towers and how these assets might host temporary roaming services in emergencies. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry will look at the costs of providing towers and associated infrastructure, including land access, and how these translate into the fee structures for firms+

The Federal Government has endorsed nearly all of the 12 recommendations of the 2021 Regional Telecommunications Review. These include the need for local government, consumers, and businesses to have accessible and independent information on telecommunications services in outer urban, regional, rural and remote parts of Australia. The review, A step change in demand, set out+

A Yarra Ranges Council project to help communities better understand and deal with hazardous bushfires has won $10 million in federal mitigation funding. The project is one of 158 to have successfully won a share of $150 million in grant funding under Round One of the Preparing Australian Communities Program – Local stream. A corporation+

A new CSIRO bushfire research facility is set to begin work on developing a better understanding of how bushfires behave and the best ways to respond. Built at a cost of $2.1 million, the new National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory in Canberra will house the CSIRO’s Pyrotron and Vertical Wind Tunnel (VWT). The Pyrotron is+

A new Infrastructure Australia report has identified 479 regional infrastructure gaps across sectors such as housing, education, public transport, and water security. The Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gaps report is the first by the by independent infrastructure advisor that looks solely at Australia’s regions and provides a snapshot of their key strengths and infrastructure deficits.+

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry wants the state government to advocate for a greater proportion of Commonwealth revenue to be allocated for councils. The inquiry into Commonwealth Support for Victoria conducted by the Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee noted that councils in regional and rural Victoria rely heavily on Commonwealth Financial Assistance Grants to provide+

The Council of Mayors of (SEQ) has signed off on a South East Queensland City Deal with the Commonwealth and Queensland state governments. Implementation of the 20-year deal signed on 21 March is expected later this year. In all, around $1.8 billion will be invested in projects to drive jobs growth across SE Queensland, enhance+

Regional growth and development must be given higher priority to secure Australia’s future prosperity, a new federal parliamentary report has found. To that end, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Regional Australia has advised the Australian government to develop a nationwide regional development plan focused on current and future infrastructure needs. The committee’s Pride+

NSW’s state planning agency will hold an independent inquiry into how effectively governments and their agencies responded to the February/March floods. The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) inquiry will report on the causes of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from the catastrophic floods and will be headed by NSW Independent Planning Commission+

Local and state governments should be incentivised to streamline planning and regulatory approvals and increase housing supply, a parliamentary inquiry has said. The Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue’s report on the contribution of tax and regulation said that while land use policy is a state and local government responsibility the Australian government can play+

The Federal Government will draw down on the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) to inject an additional $150 million into flood-ravaged areas of NSW and Queensland. Queensland and NSW will each receive $75 million to spend where it is determined it is most needed, with the flood disaster affecting at least 81 local government areas across+

A new Regional Airports Program (RAP) funding round with $29 million available for airport and aerodrome upgrades has opened for applications. Under Round 3, grants of between $20,000 and $5 million are available to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of eligible projects. These include runway resurfacing to ensure safer landings, drainage works+

The Federal Government will invest an additional $10 million each year for the next four years in the successful Bridges Renewal Program (BRP). The pre-Budget announcement means annual funding disbursements from the BRP will rise to $95 million. Last year, the Commonwealth revised the program to enable state, territory and local governments to lodge grant+

Local government’s integral role in disaster recovery has been featured in a new podcast produced by the Creative Recovery Network. The podcast details how the Scenic Rim Regional Council worked with community members to develop the ReGeneration Creative Bushfire Recovery Project after the Black Summer bushfires. Scenic Rim Councillor Virginia West and cultural coordinator Bronwyn+

Industry forums that support transformative technologies will be in the spotlight at next month’s IPWEA International Public Works Conference in Adelaide. The event, Australasia’s largest infrastructure asset management conference, will include panel discussions on deploying asset tracking, smart lighting, and smart parking systems. Marcos Arizti, whose asset tracking technology start-up was funded by the EU’s+

A Commonwealth grant program supporting community and elite sports events in rural and regional Australia has opened for applications. The Regional Sport Events Fund will disburse up to $1.9 million through two funding streams, with grants of up to $50,000 available to eligible local governments. These grants will enable councils to partner with their local+

Over 540 mobile network resilience upgrades will go ahead after another Mobile Network Hardening Program (MNHP) funding round. Optus, Telstra, and TPG Telecom will undertake the upgrades, having successfully applied for a share of $10.9 million Under Round 2 of the MNHP program. The successful projects include installing permanent power generators, boosted battery reserves, transmission+