Australian Local Government Association
 

Resolutions

Resolutions of the 2009 National General Assembly of Local Government

  1. Theme 1 – Climate Change
  2. Theme 2 – Local Government Finances
  3. Theme 3 – Infrastructure
  4. Motions that did not meet the selection criteria
  5. Special Urgent Resolutions

Theme 1 – Climate Change

Resolution 1

Council:

That this National General Assembly calls upon the Australian Government to work closely with the State and Territory Governments and local government to develop appropriate legislative policy and implementation frameworks, together with the necessary technical guidance and funding on mitigation and adaptation (including planning and development) to enable the effective and consistent management of the range of potential climate change impacts likely to affect communities, economies and the environment of Australia.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Pittwater Council, New South Wales, Penrith City Council, New South Wales, Murrindindi Shire Council, Victoria, Gosford City Council, New South Wales, Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales, Maroondah City Council, Victoria, Mid-Western Regional Council, New South Wales, Warringah Council, New South Wales, Knox City Council, Victoria, Shoalhaven City Council, New South Wales and Port Stephens Council, New South Wales.

Response:
Letter from The Hon Penny Wong PDF .

Resolution 1.1: Warringah Council, New South Wales

That State and Federal Governments make funds available to local governments to identify, protect and monitor areas of critical wildlife habitat and protect and restore wildlife corridors and plan development with a view to accommodate refugee species.

Carried

Resolution 2: Gosford City Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to enact legislation to indemnify local government from the cost of any voluntary buy back of coastal properties affected by sea-level rise caused by climate change.

Carried

Resolution 3

That this National General Assembly call for action by the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments to resource a package of measures to reduce carbon emissions in local areas and which also stimulates job creation and economic development at a time of global financial crisis.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Penrith City Council, New South Wales, City of Whittlesea, Victoria and City of Kingston, Victoria.

Resolution 4: Maroondah City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly encourage the Australian Government to continue to provide funding for the Local Adaptation Pathways Program until all local governments (or groups of local governments) have undertaken risk management assessments and developed climate change adaptation strategies.

Carried

Response:
Letter from The Hon Penny Wong PDF .

Resolution 5: Clarence Valley Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly lobby the Federal Government to establish a National Climate Change Adaptation Task Force in accordance with one of the recommendations of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in its November 2008 Report to the Federal Government.

Carried

Resolution 6

That the National General Assembly calls on the Australian Government to:

  • set more ambitious short-term greenhouse gas reduction targets so that Australia plays a leadership role in achieving the global greenhouse reductions that are necessary for minimising serious risks associated with climate change.
  • ensure that the design of the National Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and National Carbon Offset Standard adequately account for voluntary activities that achieve emissions reductions beyond national targets.
  • ensure that a proportion of the proposed Climate Change Action Fund be allocated towards local government so that it can inform and support local communities with responding to the National Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and adapting to climate change. This should involve local government as an active partner in the design and delivery of community programs.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Bayside City Council, Victoria and Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 7

That this National General Assembly call to:

  1. bring the high greenhouse gas reduction targets being adopted by local governments around the country to the attention of the Federal Government;
  2. bring the discrepancy between these local government targets and the proposed national 5-15% reduction on 2000 levels by 2020 target to the attention of the Federal government;
  3. seek both legislative and financial assistance from the Federal Government to achieving the more ambitious local government greenhouse targets;
  4. run a public campaign throughout 2009-2010 for national greenhouse reduction targets of at least 25-40% on 1990 levels, and similar state/territory targets,as these would:
    1. be more consistent with, and supportive of, targets set by local government, and
    2. better reflect up-to-date advice from climate scientists about what must be done to avoid dangerous climate change.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Yarra City Council, Victoria, Moreland City Council, Victoria and Maroondah City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 8

That this National General Assembly encourages the Australian Government to recognise voluntary emission reduction actions by the community and local government, for example the purchase of all green power, in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Maroondah City Council, Victoria, City of Kingston, Victoria and Darebin City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 9

That the National Assembly of Local Government calls on the Australian Government to:

  • develop a direct emissions measurement methodology whereby councils liable for participation in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme are liable for actual emissions rather than estimates based on the mass of waste to landfill;
  • remove the reduced threshold of 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents for landfills within a prescribed distance of an open landfill.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales, Albury City Council, New South Wales and Brimbank City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 10

That this National General Assembly calls on the Australian Government to review the adequacy of the targets included in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the application of the 'carbon cap'.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Manningham City Council, Victoria and Whitehorse City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 10.2: Whitehorse City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly urges the Federal Government to redesign the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme for Australia to address the following key issues for local government:

  1. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is badly designed and negates individual and community efforts at reducing emissions;
  2. Any Emissions Trading Scheme should cover the expense of upgrades to Municipal waste facilities to meet new emission targets; and
  3. Research funding for Renewable Energy should be treated with greater emphasis and therefore its annual funding should be increased to $100 million to the same level for Carbon Capture and Storage. As it is well acknowledged that the Carbon Capture and Storage is not the only answer to the climate change challenge, whereas the Renewable Energy sector will provide more options for the future.

Carried

Resolution 11: Brewarrina Shire Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly urge the Federal Government to commit substantial funding to research the benefits towards carbon emissons reduction from soil carbon sequestration in agriculture.

Carried

Resolution 12: Brimbank City Council, Victoria

That the proposed Commonwealth Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) includes provisions for the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and quantifies the level of assistance offered to low income families for a defined period of time in terms of value and years.

Carried

Resolution 13: Murrindindi Shire Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly request that ALGA support a strategic direction to make the internationally accredited technique of Life Cycle Assessment widely accessible and affordable for local government in Australia to enable local governments to better assess the environmental and carbon footprint of their actions and operations.

Carried

Resolution 14: Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales

The National Assembly of Local Governments calls on the Federal Government to develop and communicate a consistent approach to renewable energy generation which facilitates the establishment of de-centralised renewable energy generation. This approach could be undertaken through the Australia Council of Local Government and would be targeted at the local government level.

Carried

Response:
Letter from The Hon Anthony Albanese MP PDF .

Resolution 15: City of Burnside, South Australia

That this National General Assembly seek on behalf of its member Councils, an annual grant from the Federal Government for the next four years to every council in Australia.

The purpose of the grant will be to assist in the funding of renewable energy technologies including Solar, Wind and Geothermal Heat Exchange at a rate per head of council population with a minimum rate per council to facilitate the installation of renewable energy technologies by local government in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meet carbon reduction targets and provide an example to communities of what can be done.

Carried

Resolution 16: Warringah Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly:

  • note the crucial importance of adding a fourth pillar of climate change policy increasing renewable energy production and use and reducing reliance on centralised coal fired power plants in order to drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from energy production in Australia;
  • therefore urge the Australian and State Governments to reduced the reliance on centralised power stations and increase the reliance on domestic and non-centralised sources of power i.e. PV from homes, geographically disperse renewable energy sources and remove any regulatory barriers that prevent this from happening;
  • therefore establish regulations and incentives that facilitate the expedient transition of the Australian energy grid to a smart grid, which allows the decentralisation of energy production to small, localized energy production units, and small domestically generated electrical charges to be fed back into the electricity grid and used to cover the energy needs of Australian consumers; and
  • urge the all state/territory governments and the Federal government to facilitate, via building codes, legislative measures and financial incentives, the introduction of 'smart metering' along with new tariff arrangements to encourage energy conservation and localised, decentralised energy production.

Carried

Resolution 17: City of Canada Bay Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call for a moratorium on the construction of all new coal fired power stations unless these stations can achieve a reasonable reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions from day one of operation.

Lost

Resolution 18: Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to develop improved energy and water efficiency targets for all new housing including:

  • reducing energy consumption by 50% by 2015; and
  • a commitment that all new housing maximise solar energy systems and be carbon neutral by 2020.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria, City of West Torrens, South Australia and Shoalhaven City Council, New South Wales.

Resolution 19 Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to adopt a national 'gross feed-in' tariff to support the renewable energy industry.

Carried

Resolution 20: City of Burnside, South Australia

That this National General Assembly resubmit the following 2006 motion to the new Labor Federal Government to encourage the development of a National Energy Management Plan and to gain renewed momentum as part of the Government's Climate Change initiatives.

2006 Resolution: 39
This National General Assembly calls on the Federal and State Governments, to develop a national energy management plan for all Australians to ensure that adequate supplies of affordable energy remain available to all Australians. The time frame needs to focus on the short, medium and long term, in order to address the declining availability/affordability of petroleum based fuels, and to bring on line a planned program of reduction of our reliance on petroleum based fuels, and their replacement with alternative energy forms. As well the Federal and State Governments need to minimise and/or eliminate all legislative and bureaucratic impediments to the development of alternative fuels and methods of transport including Electric Vehicles and bio-fuels.

Carried

Resolution 21

That this National General Assembly calls for a nation wide research program into new recycling technologies, implementation of the best new solutions across the nation and a national education campaign be implemented by the Australian Government to promote these new and emerging waste management practices. Areas that require urgent attention are electronic equipment, incandescent lights, compact fluorescent globes heavy metals and tyres.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria, City of Marion, South Australia, Whitehorse City Council, Victoria, Mosman Council, New South Wales, Pittwater Council, New South Wales and Warringah Council, New South Wales.

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 21.1: Whitehorse City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly supports a national scheme for recycling compact fluorescent globes and write to the State and Federal Governments requesting commencement of such a scheme by 2009 with full implementation by the end of 2010.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 21.2: City of Marion, South Australia

That delegates of this National Assembly, recognising community concern about the potential adverse environmental impacts of continued disposal of e-waste to landfill, recognising the waste of rare and non-renewable materials when dumped in landfill and recognising that if Councils start to visibly underwrite costs associated with collection and disposal of designated e-waste (computers, TVs and peripherals) under any formal scheme or arrangement it will be exceptionally difficult to limit or eliminate that liability in the future:

  • Call upon the Federal Government to coordinate a national approach to introduce full regulation to mandate extended manufacturer responsibility for the collection and recycling of designated e-waste, being computers, TVs and periphera;
  • Call upon the Federal Government to investigate the coordination of a national approach for full regulation to mandate extended manufacturer responsibility for other forms of e-waste;
  • Call upon Councils across Australia to introduce bans on the disposal to landfill of designated e-waste (computers, TVs and peripherals).

Carried

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 22: City of Burnside, South Australia

That this National General Assembly redouble its efforts to enforce the introduction of compulsory composition labelling for all packaging materials as per the 2007 resolution in order to facilitate improved recycling practices, diminished landfill and carbon emissions, and reduced greenhouse gas emission and ecological footprint.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 23: City of West Torrens, South Australia

That the National General Assembly advocates for State and Commonwealth Governments to conduct research into the viability of alternative waste technologies including thermal technologies to address waste disposal in Australia. This research should include, but not be limited to, cost benefit investigation into the impacts of alternative waste technologies including thermal technologies on carbon emissions, energy production and landfill avoidance.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 24: City of Burnside, South Australia

That this National General Assembly redouble its efforts to ensure that compulsory recycling of paper from commercial and industrial sources be achieved at the earliest opportunity in order to reduce greenhouse emissions, reduce carbon outputs, and our nation's ecological foot print.

Carried

Resolution 25: Yarra City Council, Victoria

That delegates to this National General Assembly support representation to the Federal Government to legislate for the phase out of disposable plastic shopping bags.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the office of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts PDF .

Resolution 26

That the Australian Local Government Association makes representation to the Federal Treasurer to review the method of calculation of Fringe Benefit Tax in relation to vehicles which is currently based on kilometres travelled, to encourage the increased use of fuel efficient vehicles and public transport to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland, Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales and Manninghham City Council, Victoria.

Response:
Letter from The Hon Wayne Swan PDF .

Resolution 26.2: Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales

That the National Assembly of local government considers a submission to the Federal Government to allow the option of 'pooling' kilometres for FBT calculations, so that the organisation's FBT liability can be calculated based on the average kilometres travelled across the fleet.

Carried

Response:
Letter from The Hon Wayne Swan PDF .

Resolution 27

That this National General Assembly calls for financial support for Councils from both the Commonwealth and State Governments to change over residential street lights to more energy efficient street lighting thereby reducing emissions and ongoing energy costs to communities.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Knox City Council, Victoria, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland, Maroondah City Council, Victoria and Manninghham City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 28 Gosford City Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly lobby the Federal and State Governments for adequate funding for flood mitigation and a specific Commonwealth Flood Management Program be funded on a 2:2:1 Federal/State/Local basis of at least $30 million per year for the next decade.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the Attorney-General The Hon Robert McClelland MP PDF .

Resolution 29: Maroondah City Council, Victoria

That ALGA seek Federal Government support for any local government which chooses to adopt targets of carbon neutrality.

Carried

Theme 2 – Local Government Finances

Resolution 30

That the National General Assembly endorses the need to:

  • Establish a new $300 million per year 4 years Community Infrastructure Renewal Program;
  • Make Roads to Recovery funding permanent; and
  • Change the annual indexation of the Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) to an escalation formula that better reflects local government costs; noting that changes to the escalation methodology of FAGs would be an interim measure. Further, to address vertical fiscal imbalance (between funding sources and service responsibility) there is a need for the redistribution of national income through the Commonwealth providing local government an untied share of national income tax as base revenue.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Moreland City Council, Victoria, Albury City Council, New South Wales, Bankstown City Council, New South Wales, Whitehorse City Council, Victoria, Narromine Shire Council, New South Wales, Kiama Municipal Council, New South Wales, Forbes Shire Council, New South Wales, Gunnedah Shire Council, New South Wales, Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales, City of Whittlesea, Victoria and Brewarrina Shire Council, New South Wales.

Resolution 31: Gunnedah Shire Council, New South Wales

That as part of the revision of the Intergovernmental Agreement in 2010-2011 and in discussion through COAG a range of constraints on local government funding be addressed in an attempt to improve local government sustainability. These include but not be limited to:

  • Rate pegging and its impact on service delivery;
  • State Government reliance on property-based taxes and its impact on ability of local government to raise rate revenue; and
  • Mandated rebates and concessions including rate exempt land.

Carried

Resolution 32

This National General Assembly calls on the Australian Government to ensure that specific purpose payments paid to local government to deliver Home and Community Care (HACC) or other health services be funded adequately, taking into account the real costs of delivery and demand for services.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Moreland City Council, Victoria, Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria and Manninghham City Council, Victoria.

Response:
Letter from the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing PDF .

Resolution 33: Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly recommends that the Federal Government give an undertaking to include local government on any proposed governance structures to oversee the proposed national health reforms.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing PDF .

Resolution 34

That this National General Assembly calls on the Commonwealth Government to ensure that:

  • A partnership approach is taken with local government to develop and implement the national early years reform agenda;
  • Adequate financial resources are allocated to ensure the availability of the required numbers of appropriately qualified early years professionals to implement the reform agenda;
  • Adequate financial resources are provided to ensure that well designed facilities can be developed or refurbished to meet the expanded and integrated early years services needs, including the universal platform of 15 hours of preschool program per child per week; and
  • Appropriate transition timelines and financial support arrangements are in place to ensure local service and facility planning can be undertaken to successfully meet the goals of the early years reform agenda within local communities.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Knox City Council, Victoria, Boroondara City Council, Victoria, Darebin City Council, Victoria, Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria, Moreland City Council, Victoria and Shoalhaven City Council, New South Wales.

Resolution 35

This National General Assembly calls on the Australian Taxation Office to conduct a review of the tax deductibility arrangements applying to candidates’ local government election expenses. The review terms should examine the arrangements applying to state and federal election candidate, and how best to ensure local government candidates can be made aware of their entitlements.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by City of Marion, South Australia and Maroondah City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 36: Wyong Shire Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to support the rights of workers to receive:

  • Eighteen weeks maternity leave at full pay or 36 weeks half pay; and
  • Two weeks paternity leave at full pay or four weeks at half pay.

Lost

Theme 3 – Infrastructure

Resolution 37

That this National General Assembly:

  1. Commends the Australian Government on the National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative and its intention to ensure that state-of-the art broadband telecommunications and infrastructure incorporating Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and services are made available to all Australians;
  2. Assures the Australian Government that local government actively seeks to be involved in the roll out of this infrastructure and service delivery in greenfields and other sites;
  3. Calls on the Australian Government to establish a working group to establish best practice, including regulatory reform options, in telecommunications for local government to assist in the roll out; and
  4. Calls on the Australian Government to expedite the roll out of the NBN for all Australians, irrespective of the region or where they live.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by City of Whittlesea, Victoria and Darwin City Council, Northern Territory.

Response:
Letter from Senator The Hon Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy PDF .

Resolution 38

That this National General Assembly:

  1. Commends the Australian Government on the successful Commonwealth/local government partnership on the Roads to Recovery Program, which has been responsible for over 15,000 projects since 2001;
  2. Calls on Australian and State Governments to prepare and implement adequately funded strategies to ensure that road and rail infrastructure across the nation have the capacity to deal with current and future demands from both a community and industry perspective, and that this strategy is capable of facilitating infrastructure expansion beyond the current economic downturn; and
  3. Draws the attention of Australian and State Governments to the importance of adequate major road and rail infrastructure corridors (freeways, motorways, very fast train) to enable all communities and citizens to have equitable and quality transport choices and to mitigate the social and economic impacts of the global financial downturn.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Brisbane City Council, Queensland, Gunnedah Shire Council, New South Wales, Knox City Council, Victoria and Coffs Harbour City Council, New South Wales.

Resolution 38.1 Coffs Harbour City Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call for the future expenditure on national and state highway/railway corridors to be adjusted to achieve a balanced split of 50% for rail and 50% for highways.

Lost

Resolution 39

That this National General Assembly calls on the Australian Government to develop an integrated strategic plan to allocate appropriate, specific funding for the upgrading of public transport, infrastructure and systems across Australia. A similar level of funding to that provided for road infrastructure should also be provided to public transport infrastructure including rail, tram and bus.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Manninghham City Council, Victoria, Moreland City Council, Victoria and Yarra City Council, Victoria.

Resolution 40

That this National General Assembly:

  1. Welcomes the Australian Government’s injection of $800m into community facilities at local level through the fiscal stimulus packages;
  2. Encourages all levels of government to recognise the importance of community infrastructure - social, educational, cultural, sporting - in the achievement of the Australian Government’s social inclusion, preventative health, and economic stimulus agendas;
  3. Calls on the Australian Government to develop an intergovernmental strategy to develop national standards for the funding of community infrastructure, in the first instance to address the enormous backlog of infrastructure identified in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report in 2006 as a $14.5 billion dollar underspend on community infrastructure renewals; and
  4. Seeks to extend the establishment of the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Fund to support the continuation of the provision, up-grade and maintenance community infrastructure at a minimum level of $300m per annum for the next 4 years.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by City of Whittlesea, Victoria, Darebin City Council, Victoria, Gunnedah Shire Council, New South Wales, Brimbank City Council, Victoria, City of Burnside, South Australia, Port Stephens Council, New South Wales, Blacktown City Council, New South Wales, Gilgandra Shire Council, New South Wales, Moreland City Council, Victoria and West Arnhem Shire Council, Northern Territory.

Resolution 41: Brisbane City Council, Queensland

That this National General Assembly:

  • further discuss and investigate alternative arrangements to ensure medium-term funding of large-scale infrastructure projects; and
  • propose to the Australian Government that it introduce new arrangements to provide local government with direct access to funding for large-scale infrastructure projects.

Carried

Resolution 42: Warringah Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to explore the viability of offering interest-free loans or low-interest loans in advance to local Councils to fund critical infrastructure projects that create jobs during construction and post construction, generate income once established (ie a commercial building fulfuilling Council Requirements under legislation such as NSW Metro Plan to provide additional commercial floor space).

Further these loans could also provide for quality housing for low to middle income professions such as nursing and policing.

The possibilities are endless and put to bed public private partnerships.

Carried

Resolution 43: Narrabri Shire Council, New South Wales

That the Commonwealth and State Governments provide additional financial assistance for the operation of rural airline services and the upgrade of rural local airport infrastructure.

Carried

Resolution 44

That this National General Assembly call upon the Federal Government through its House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to:

  1. endorse a national approach to improving access to premises by adopting the Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards, on the basis of fundamental rights. supported by an enforceable regulatory framework;
  2. amend the draft Standards to include Class I and class 2 buildings to ensure a sustainable supply of accessible housing for life; and
  3. amend the draft Standards to cover small buildings especially where their use relates to essential or important community and business services.

Carried

Covers the substance of the motions submitted by Yarra City Council, Victoria, City of Mount Gambier, South Australia and Moreland City Council, Victoria.

Response:
Letter from The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services
Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction PDF .

Response:
Letter from The Hon Robert McClelland MP PDF .

Resolution 45: West Arnhem Shire Council, Northern Territory

That this National General Assembly lobby the Australian Government to ensure building and safety standards are applied throughout all Australian Communities and particularly indigenous communities.

Carried

Response:
Letter from The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services
Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction PDF .

Response:
Letter from The Hon Robert McClelland MP PDF .

Resolution 46: Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Queensland

That the National General Assembly lobby the Federal Government to urgently provide a series of ecologically sustainable measures to provide water supply certainty for Australia.

Further that the Federal and State Governments be urged to consider the transfer of water from plentiful areas to those areas that constantly face water shortage - i.e. from the far North of Australia to the far South - and that State Borders be ignored with any such scheme.

Further that the Federal Government be urged to consider the capture of water including the use of rain water tanks and re-injection of water to aquifers and reservoirs.

Further that this Australia-wide project be given a high priority in this time of financial downturn and the Federal Government Stimulus Package discussions.

Carried

Motions that did not meet the selection criteria

Resolution B: Warringah Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly calls for a review of all legislation relating to Developer Contributions (such as Section 94 legislation in NSW) and that such legislation be altered to allow for money generated from the developer contributions to be used for the building of new Council assets or for the maintenance of existing Council assets.

Carried

Resolution E: Yarra City Council

That the delegates to this National General Assembly:

  1. support the introduction a Container Deposit Scheme throughout the Commonwealth of Australia;
  2. write to the Federal Environment Minister urging him to legislate for and implement Container Deposit Schemes throughout the Commonwealth, because of the financial, social and environmental benefits; and
  3. actively promote the benefits of Container Deposit Schemes in the wider community.

Carried

Resolution F: Cabonne Council, New South Wales

That the National General Assembly seek a stronger outcome focused approach to reduce commercial packaging throughout Australia.

Carried

Resolution H: Albury City Council, New South Wales

That regional airlines continue to have access to Sydney Airport for regional passengers.

Carried

Resolution I: Alice Springs Town Council, Northern Territory

That this National General Assembly seek the Federal Government to introduce legislation to address the danger that the near silent operation of electric and hybrid vehicles (when operating on the electric engine) poses to pedestrians, especially those who may be vision or mobility impaired.

Carried

Resolution K: Forbes Shire Council, New South Wales

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to develop a national health strategy to address the current crisis within State Hospital and Health systems incorporating incentives to attract allied health and medical professionals to rural areas of Australia.

Carried

Response:
Letter from the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing PDF .

Resolution L: Moreland City Council, Victoria

That the National General Assembly agree on the need for all spheres of government to address the issue of Housing Affordability and call upon the Federal Government to lead and resource a collaborative response to the issue through a National Housing Strategy that examines possible solutions to increase housing affordability and accessibility by all sectors of the market including public housing. The strategy should investigate all options including both supply and demand of a range of housing alternatives and financial assistance strategies including but not limited to taxation reform, grants and rent assistance.

Carried

Resolution O: Maribyrnong City Council, Victoria

That this National General Assembly call on the Federal Government to expand the current Terms of Reference of the Productivity Commission Review of Gambling to include the examination of 'capping' and other demand management strategies to minimise the impacts on problem gambling.

Carried

Resolution Q: Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland

That the Australian Local Government Association give consideration to amending the date of the National General Assembly from June each year to a later date in the year.

Lost

Special Urgent Resolutions

Resolution 1: City of Yarra
  1. 1. That the National General Assembly of Local Government calls upon the Australian Government to continue funding of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Oceania to promote and support the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Australia Program for local government around Australia; and
  2. 2. That this continuation of funding be assessed as a matter of urgency given the pending termination of the ICLEI staff due to the loss of funding at short notice.

Carried

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Page last updated: 19 January 2010