By Paul Hemsley The South Australian Local Government Association (LGA) has hit out at a strategy from Premier Jay Weatherill to kickstart inner-metropolitan property development, warning elements of the move will strip planning powers from city councils. Known as the Housing in the City policy, Mr Weatherill announced the changes last week as a way […]
4 November, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government has instructed the state’s councils to hold off issuing fines to backyard pool owners that fail to register on the new compulsory Swimming Pool Register after a last minute deluge of online traffic put the regulatory website underwater. Pool owners in the state had been given until […]
30 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss given an important concession to councils and ratepayers by acknowledging that the Commonwealth will now pick up the tab for costs related the junked referendum on Constitutional recognition of local government. A spokesman for the for Department Infrastructure and Regional Development (which oversees […]
29 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has announced that the central council will replace many of the city’s streetlights to use more energy efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology as well as upgrading traffic signals to improve rush-hour flows. The illuminating plan includes 32 lighting projects to be put in place over […]
29 October, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Price rises in bills to consumers from council rates and state energy suppliers have helped nudge-up Australia's official inflation rate, the quarterly figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week have revealed. The stronger than anticipated rise in the ABS’ Consumer Price Index of 1.2 per cent in the September […]
24 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) has commissioned Adelaide University to run an independent survey on people’s views about corruption, misconduct and maladministration in councils. The study will be conducted through the state government’s Local Government Research and Development Scheme to give the LGA an insight on public attitudes towards […]
22 October, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The City of Sydney is again ramping up its promotion of trigeneration as a viable alternative means of producing energy in the heart of the city. Having parked a wider electricity overhaul critics claimed would cost up to $5 billion, the CBD council is now pushing the New South Wales Parliament to […]
22 October, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Beverage companies have rolled out the heavy artillery in an escalating war of words aimed at councils and consumers over the proposed introduction of a National Container Deposit Scheme. In a new advertising campaign the drinks industry likens the idea of putting a price on bottles to reduce rubbish as the equivalent […]
18 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Microsoft may not be shouting it from the rooftops, however its latest operating system release, Windows 8.1, looks like it will increasingly be heavily discounted for local governments in New South Wales under Volume Software Pricing arrangements more commonly used by state and federal governments. As the mega vendor […]
17 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The Western Australian government’s ambitious and controversial plan to “create fewer, bigger, stronger councils” by amalgamating Perth’s metropolitan councils is quickly taking shape after 19 local governments submitted their own merger ideas to the Independent Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB). The council submissions are the latest step in Premier Colin Barnett’s wider […]
15 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley Low energy light bulbs might be a bright idea to cut household electricity bills, but the City of Sydney is now being forced to come up with innovative new ways to keep literally tonnes of the otherwise toxic lamps out of household rubbish bins. As the volume of small scale e-waste explodes, […]
15 October, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski A controversial move by Victoria’s Napthine government to have an appointed board run a new statutory state agency tasked with helping to coordinate urban renewal so that another two million will eventually live in Melbourne has drawn a sharp and immediate response from the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). The group that […]
15 October, 2013
By Keryn Curtis The big opportunity for innovation and change toward building more multigenerational liveable communities resides at the local government level with an embedded partnership approach, according to a veteran of the age friendly cities and communities concept. Paul McGarry, the senior strategy manager, public health, for the City of Manchester in the UK, […]
15 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) has hit out at Brookfield Rail’s planned closure of two grain freight lines in the state’s Wheatbelt, claiming that the shutdown will force thousands of heavy trucks onto local roads which can’t deal with the big-wheeled burden unless councils are allocated new funding for upgrades. […]
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