A national approach to kerbside recycling will help Australia’s 537 councils to reduce the five mega tonnes (MT) of waste sent to Australian landfills every year – equivalent to the weight of about 31 Sydney Opera Houses. Through its 2024-25 Federal Budget submission, ALGA is seeking $120 million over four years to standardise kerbside bins across Australia’s cities, towns and regions and implement a new national education campaign. ALGA President Councillor Linda Scott said confusion around which products can be recycled – and which kerbside bin should be used – remains a significant barrier ..read more

Win! Four week extension for local government inquiry submissions I am pleased to announce that ALGA’s request for a four-week extension for all submissions to Parliament’s inquiry into local government sustainability has been granted, with the new due date being Friday 31 May. ALGA will provide a comprehensive, evidence-based submission on behalf of all local governments. However, it’s important that the Parliamentary Committee have a full understanding of the challenges facing Australian councils – as well as how we could support our communities to thrive with more sustainable funding – so I ..read more

The Office of Road Safety is interested in how local governments in Australia can be better supported to undertake network safety risk assessments to prioritise infrastructure investment. As a result, all councils are invited to participate in a new survey to help identify the skills, support and capabilities local governments need to help in the development of a supporting framework. The aim is to increase the impact councils can have on reducing the road toll, which remains unacceptably high. The survey can be found here. The post New survey on road safety risk assessments appeared firs ..read more

ALGA has provided a submission to the Federal Government’s National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper. The submission makes a number of recommendations from the local government sector focusing on key role councils can play in adaptation for assets and services in local communities. ALGA highlighted that climate change has the potential to damage local government assets, cause serious disruptions to the delivery of council services, generate unbudgeted financial impacts, and affect the overall wellbeing of communities – particularly those most vulnerable to weather extremes. We look forward to a co ..read more

As many local governments interact with and provide direct services to older Australians, CarerHelp provides free and trustworthy online information and resources to Australians caring for someone with a life-limiting illness. CarerHelp addresses end of life topics including managing common symptoms, emotional care, financial matters, caring for the dying person, and managing grief.  There is also information in other languages, for Indigenous families, and for support workers. We urge you to share CarerHelp with your communities. For more information or to order free CarerHelp promotiona ..read more

Local governments are invited to join the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM) to measure the Australian Night Time Economy (NTE) for the 2022-2023 period. Do you represent a council with ambitions to better understand and support economic activity after dark? Are you interested in understanding the performance trends of your NTE over time? This research offers an affordable and low-cost opportunity to gain insights into your NTE’s performance. The CCCLM night time economy research provides: Access to comprehensive data on the number of NTE businesses, employees and amount of sales tur ..read more

ALGA provided a submission to the Federal Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was lodged in December 2023. The detailed submission highlighted that as the closest level of government to the community, local government was in a unique position to identify community needs and make sure that those needs were met in the most appropriate way during the COVID-19 response in Australia. Our submission also outlined local governments’ digital transformation, which delivered efficiencies and deepened community engagement. It was also the impetus for many councils to rethink business as ..read more

New Governor General appointed I was delighted to see Sam Mostyn AO announced as the next Governor-General of Australia last week. Sam is a humble, dedicated servant of the public good, and a wonderful appointment by the Albanese Government. Thank you also to outgoing Governor General, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley DCE FTSE and his family for their service.  We were honoured to work closely with him, noting in particular his support for leaders and communities recovering from natural disasters was unprecedented and especially warmly welcomed by Australian local govern ..read more

The Federal Government’s Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) is heavily oversubscribed and needs to be increased by at least $250 million per year to better protect Australian communities from future natural disasters. More than 300 applications seeking $460 million were submitted in the first round of the DRF in 2023, with 187 of these projects successfully funded, including 100 by councils. ALGA President Councillor Linda Scott said while councils have welcomed the $200 million DRF, which was secured through local government advocacy, the latest figures show it’s vastly insufficient given the number o ..read more

Local governments are invited to attend an information session on 18 April to better understand new strengthened aged care quality standards in Australia. The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA SA) and Local Government NSW (LGNSW) are jointly hosting the session, via MS Teams, with representatives from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. The free workshop is being held from 1:30 pm-2:30 pm (AEDT) with support from the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care. It’s important for councils providing aged care services, particul ..read more