By Julian Bajkowski Legislation to make a local government referendum on 14th September has finally cleared the Senate amid a widening split in the Coalition that resulted in seven members of the Opposition cross the floor to vote against the bill and at least as many abstaining. The last minute bid to shoot down referendum […]
25 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Opponents of Constitutional recognition for local government have accused the federal minister leading the multi-party push for a ‘yes’ vote of trying to buy the referendum result by giving $31.6 million to supporters and just $500,000 to opponents of direct funding for councils. Conservative dominated group ‘No Power Grab’ claims that the […]
18 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The electorally popular, multi-billion dollar Roads to Recovery program should be permanently funded and councils dealt into any new road-user charging schemes a pre-election list of demands issued by Australia’s peak body for local governments says. As the federal poll date draws closer, councils across the nation have put both sides of […]
18 June, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Local governments have come under direct pressure from Prime Minister Julia Gillard to use ratepayer’s money to buy Australian vehicles for their fleets to help keep the domestic car manufacturing alive – despite billions of dollars in government subsidies failing to keep factories at Ford and Mitsubishi operating. Ms […]
18 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski A referendum that could give financial uncertainty to federally funded local government projects like Roads to Recovery is again in doubt after another outbreak of internal attacks within the Labor that threaten to topple Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Less than week after crucial legislation to hold a referendum finally cleared the House […]
11 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Indefatigable Minister for Transport in New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, has again defied conservative critics of the state’s struggling public transport infrastructure and announced a big boost to Sydney’s revered but loss-making ferry services to finally make them more useful to commuters. The NSW government has finally unveiled its long-expected 20-year plan […]
22 May, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott has used his Budget reply speech to reaffirm a previous promise to eliminate 12,000 Commonwealth jobs from the public service if elected. The recommitment to slash public service positions comes just one night after Treasurer Wayne Swan allayed fears of mass redundancies by announcing that only around […]
16 May, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski Extensive changes to planning and development laws proposed by the New South Wales government have produced widely divergent positions among key stakeholders in the local government and property development sectors as negotiations with Macquarie Street start in earnest. NSW Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Brad Hazzard announced the proposed […]
18 April, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Australia’s local government sector has been left facing tough choices over how to deal with the release of Coalition’s policy on the National Broadband Network that would forgo fibre-to-the-premises in favour of recycling Telstra’s ageing copper lines in many regional areas. After decades of campaigning to get better internet […]
12 April, 2013
By Paul Hemsley Minister for Communications Senator Stephen Conroy’s frenetic rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) has been extended to the City of South Perth where the government says construction is reaching its final stages in the area. The City of South Perth announced that the first fibre cable was dug into the town […]
2 April, 2013
By Paul Hemsley Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) President Troy Pickard has condemned an election promise by the state’s Labor Opposition to cap council rates and align them with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Mr Pickard claims the rate pegging plan is likely to cause losses of local services and facilities. The […]
8 March, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The final report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government has recommended that a referendum be put to electors at the 14th September 2013 federal election despite the relatively short lead-time, but support within the Coalition could be fracturing along Liberal and National party lines. After previously reserving […]
7 March, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski In a strong sign that bipartisan support is mounting for a crackdown on transfer pricing tax schemes, Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has come out swinging against multinational technology companies that generate billions of dollars of revenue in Australia but pay proportionally miniscule amounts of tax here through transfer pricing arrangements. The […]
21 February, 2013
By Paul Hemsley South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has announced that an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) will finally be on the beat in the state by mid-2013 after enabling legislation was passed this week. The creation of a new corruption watchdog comes after years of government opposition to the establishment of the role and […]
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