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A new Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment app places decades of science and research into local governments and residents’ hands, allowing them to assess homes and measure how they would perform in a bushfire. The free app also provides households with a customised action plan, specific to their individual property and local risk. As tasks+

Australia’s local governments are invited to attend a webinar on 29 November about the challenge of managing diverse needs and communicating a shared vision of urban conservation with key stakeholders. Hosted by ICLEI Oceania and targeting elected officials, leaders, and officers from municipal, metropolitan, and regional councils, the CitiesWithNature webinar will provide tools and approaches+

Local governments managing or operating remote airports can apply for the latest round of funding from the Federal Government’s Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program. Under round 10 of the program, $12 million is available for airport upgrades in remote areas of Australia with grants between $5,000 and $3 million available. The funding supports projects that enhance+

Nominations are open for elected representatives, including Australian councillors, for the 2023 McKinnon Prize. The McKinnon Prize is Australia’s independent, non-partisan award for outstanding political leadership. Elected representatives can be nominated for demonstrating outstanding and impactful leadership through their vision, collaboration, ethical behaviour and courage.  Nominees must be an elected member of a local, state+

Local governments are invited to provide feedback on draft new planning rules to include consideration of mobile coverage in new housing developments in Australia. The Federal Government is proposing amendments to the Telecommunications in New Developments (TIND) policy to place an expectation on developers to consider the inclusion of mobile infrastructure in new developments. In+

A range of free and subsidised courses about road safety and safer cycling are available to councils through the Amy Gillett Foundation (AGF). The Safe Roads for Safe Cycling program, offering face-to-face training and online training options through until mid-2024, is part of the AGF’s mission to stop cyclists being killed and hospitalised on Australia’s roads. +

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is seeking feedback from local governments for the next round of Australia’s Disaster Ready Fund (DRF). The Disaster Ready Fund survey has recently been extended by the Government to enable councils to have their say. The Government has invested $200 million a year over five years in disaster resilience+

Councils are invited to provide feedback on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023 which has been referred to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry. The Bill will support the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and improve the transparency and integrity of water markets in the Basin. The Murray-Darling Basin Plan+

Boosting road and infrastructure funding to better support communities was a major focus of ALGA’s 2023 National Local Roads, Transport and Infrastructure Congress held in Canberra from 6-7 September. Attended by around 250 delegates, including mayors, shire presidents, councillors and council works and engineering staff from across Australia, the Congress had a broad focus on+

Local governments located within 5.5 km of a controlled airport or in an approach and departure path may be eligible for free drone safety signage. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has pre-cut aluminium drone safety signage available to order. Drone safety signage aims to help drone flyers know where they can and can’t fly+

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is calling for councils to provide feedback on a new Discussion Paper about finding alternative long-term options to calling in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to assist with disaster response. The recent Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements highlighted the need for alternative capabilities for response to disasters.+

ALGA News sat down with Cities Power Partnership Director Dr Portia Odell to discuss how our local governments are supporting Australia’s transition to a clean energy future by embracing new technologies and innovative solutions to reduce their emissions. ALGA: We know Australia’s 537 local governments are at the forefront of creating a more sustainable and+

The Federal Government is seeking feedback from community stakeholders for its National Consumer Engagement Strategy for Health and Wellbeing. The strategy is designed to strengthen partnerships between health policy makers and the community, as outlined in one of the priorities under the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030. The aim of the new strategy is to+

High-profile guest speakers and experts will discuss the latest insights and innovations for roads and community infrastructure at ALGA’s 2023 National Local Roads, Transport & Infrastructure Congress from September 6-7 in Canberra. We have just released the registration brochure for our popular annual event, which provides a detailed outline of the two-day program. ALGA has+

Expressions of interest are being requested for the Priority Languages Support Project through First Languages Australia. The program aims to support critically endangered languages where no language revival activity is currently being undertaken. Funding through this program averages about $15,000 per project, and only languages that are not being supported through other services are eligible.+

Local governments can submit projects for the first round of the Federal Government’s new $600 million Growing Regions program with expressions of interest now open. The program offers grants of between $500,000 and $15 million to local governments and not-for-profit organisations for capital works delivering community and economic infrastructure projects across regional and rural Australia.+

Local governments have been given more time to apply for the Federal Government’s $160 million regional communications co-investment schemes – the Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP) and Regional Connectivity Program (RCP) grants. Applications were originally due by 12 July, but stakeholders, including councils, indicated they needed extra time so the deadline has been extended until+

Local government is invited to comment on a new proposal by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for regulating waste from small electronics and solar photovoltaic systems (or e‑products). The latest statistics show each Australian produced an average of 20kg of e-waste in 2019 compared with the global average of 7kg.+

Countdown to the NGA The countdown is on for ALGA’s annual conference – the 29th National General Assembly (NGA) of Local Government from 13-16 June. In about a week’s time, more than 1000 people will converge in Canberra for the NGA at the National Convention Centre, including around 450 delegates for the 2023 Regional Forum+

ALGA has welcomed the release of new guidelines for the Federal Government’s Growing Regions Program, as part of local government’s ongoing advocacy for more money for regional Australia. The program provides grants between $500,000 and $15 million to local governments and not-for-profit organisations for capital works projects that deliver community and economic infrastructure across regional and rural Australia.+

Councils are reminded that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has now included all government entities in their new agent nomination process. The process is a new requirement to help ensure only chosen authorised tax agents, BAS agents or payroll service providers can access your government entity’s accounts, and act on your behalf for tax and+

ALGA News sat down in Canberra with former ALGA President David O’Loughlin, who was recently appointed to the Federal Government’s new National Housing Supply and Affordability Council.  As a former Mayor of Prospect in South Australia, Mr O’Loughlin is also a Director of the Urban Renewal Authority in SA. ALGA:  Tell us about your new+

Thank you for NGA motions A sincere thank you to everyone who has submitted motions for our 2023 National General Assembly in June. We’ve had a tremendous response for both motions and registrations for this year’s Conference, which is shaping up to be the biggest on record.  So a reminder to get your early bird+

ALGA recently submitted its 2023-24 Pre-Budget submission to the Treasury outlining key national funding priorities for Australia’s 537 councils. These major priorities include: Restoring Financial Assistance Grants to at least one percent of Commonwealth taxation revenue; Making the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) Program permanent with ongoing funding of $500 million per year, with+

Win! ACLG set to run after NGA Conference In a historic win for local government, the Federal Government has announced the return of the Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG), which will meet in Canberra for the first time in more than a decade on 16 June. The ACLG will provide a valuable opportunity for+

Local government can access a new Recovery Exercising Toolkit developed by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR). The toolkit has been designed to be a user-friendly resource applicable across all state and territories, and can be used to support exercise management programs to include a recovery exercise+