What about us? Election campaign disappoints councils

Disgruntled councils say the major parties have sidelined local government in their election campaigns.

7 May, 2019

Next federal election will be fought ‘on local issues,’ say councils

Partnerships with local governments and an overhaul of funding are among 12 ways parties can deliver for local communities, according to a new campaign. 

18 September, 2018

Health brainstorms new IT system for Medicare and aged care payments

Digital Payments Platform.

9 March, 2017

Calls to slash pre-polling to just three days

The march of early voting.

11 July, 2016

Is it time for Australia to embrace electronic voting?

Pre-polling must change: expert.

5 July, 2016

Australian politicians unanimously vote down online voting

Hackers and threats to secrecy of ballots just too much.

20 November, 2014

Gartner examines post-election IT transitions

By John Kost* A change in the political leadership of government is often a time of high anxiety for public servants. Although it is unlikely that they will lose their jobs, it is still a time when the relationships and goodwill built up with the previous government may suddenly evaporate. As Australia heads towards a […]

23 January, 2014

Salary sacrifice confidence returns to government employees

By Julian Bajkowski Australia’s leading provider of public sector salary packaging services, Smartgroup Investments, believes that business and employee confidence has bounced back following the Federal Election, with government car lessees now shopping around again. At a briefing in Sydney on Monday, Smartgroup chief executive, Deven Billimoria, said inquiry levels for novated vehicle leases from […]

22 October, 2013

Few takers for post-election pole clean-up

By Julian Bajkowski The federal poll may be done and dusted, but councils and power utilities across Australia now have a new challenge to deal with: how to pull down and dispose of the literally thousands of election posters fixed to power poles and lamp posts across the nation. It’s an issue that occurs at […]

10 September, 2013

South Australian councils dial into Coalition’s mobile coverage promise

By Paul Hemsley The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) wants patchy mobile phone coverage to be a thing of the past after it welcomed the federal Opposition’s plan worth $100 million to improve cellular reception across regional, remote and outer metropolitan communities. The federal Coalition announced the plan as a campaign promise that […]

16 August, 2013

Economy predicted to lift after federal election

By Paul Hemsley A key economic indicator from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s securities arm Commsec has confirmed that continued political uncertainty ahead of the federal election this year is acting as a handbrake on business investment, which has been impeding the prosperity of the state economies. The latest quarterly

23 July, 2013

Newman laps-up Abbott’s $10 billion promise of Bruce Highway aid

By Paul Hemsley Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has warmly welcomed a funding pledge from federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott worth up to $10 billion to flood-proof the state’s Bruce Highway should the Coalition win government at the next federal election. The flood-prone Bruce Highway is a major artery stretching 1,700km along the Queensland coast from […]

19 July, 2013

Council resource bans cleared for referendum campaign use

By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet has moved to clear up confusion over whether or not strict new prohibitions on the use of council resources for partisan election campaigning would also capture local governments pushing for a ‘yes’ vote in the forthcoming referendum. According to a statement from the […]

28 May, 2013

Copper, loopholes and probes dominate Coalition’s cut-down NBN launch

By Julian Bajkowski The Coalition has gambled large on reviving Australia’s ageing copper telecommunications network to supply broadband download speeds of between 25 megabits per second and 100 megabits per second to deliver a heavily pared-down and cheaper version of the National Broadband Network (NBN) it claims will be completed by the end of 2019. […]

9 April, 2013