Australia will become the 11th largest economy on earth within the next eight years. The forecast is from UK think tank the Centre for Economics and Business Research, and is contained in its World Economic League Table 2018 report. “One of this year’s themes is that countries depending on brainpower will generally overtake countries depending […]
11 January, 2018
The NSW Government’s disastrous council amalgamation plans, abandoned after public outcries and legal challenges, remain an issue to many in the state. The Labor Opposition says that the Government still has a hidden agenda, and many councils who spent millions of dollars on preparing for amalgamations are still trying to get compensation. The issue has […]
8 January, 2018
Who’s reading your health information now? There can be benefits from sharing health and other personal information among health care professionals and researchers. But any such sharing must be based on an understanding of potential risks. It must occur only within an effective legal framework, with controls appropriate for those risks. A ‘Trust me, I’m […]
8 January, 2018
The Australian medical Association is increasing its pressure on governments to ban the advertising of junk food and sugary drinks to children. It also wants a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages “as a matter of priority.” Its call has been echoed by the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA). Releasing the AMA’s ‘Position Statement on Nutrition […]
8 January, 2018
The Commercial Hotel in Heyfield The small Gippsland town of Heyfield, 200 km east of Melbourne, has been named Australia’s ‘Strongest and Most Resilient Community’. The award was given as part of the 2017 national Power to the People Conference, organised by the the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. “The […]
8 January, 2018
In the shadow of Christmas. Australia had a reshuffle of its Federal Government ministries. The big news was with the senior positions, such as the replacement of George Brandis as Attorney-General by Western Australian Christian Porter, but the process also saw a new Minister for Local Government. He is Queenslander John McVeigh, member for Groom, […]
4 January, 2018
Local government has an image problem – not enough young people rate the sector as a career choice. If we don’t find a way to make our workplaces more inspiring, there’s a real chance we won’t have enough people to run our cities in ten years’ time. There are fantastic careers in local government, […]
4 January, 2018
Treasurer Scott Morrison has announced a delay of more than three months in the release of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into how the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is distributed to the states. The distribution system, known as horizontal fiscal equalisation (HFE) has been widely criticised for giving too much to some states and too […]
4 January, 2018
One Of NSW’s largest local government authorities has criticised the state government for its plans to force councils to inspect home-based food businesses. Changes to the Food Regulation Partnership between local government and the NSW Food Authority (NSWFA) will see councils take on extra responsibility for inspection and enforcement. Currently it is the NSWFA’s duty […]
4 January, 2018
A spate of elections in 2018 could well change the Australian political landscape. There is the strong possibility of a Federal election, and the states of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania will definitely be going to the polls. There will also be local government elections in Tasmania and South Australia. The Federal Government does not […]
3 January, 2018
The diversity of the stories we cover in Government News never ceases to amaze. We try to stay away from the politics – that gets enough coverage in the mainstream media – which means we often look at topics that don’t get a lot of coverage elsewhere. We thought one way of taking a perspective […]
18 December, 2017
Government assistance to Australia’s regions has often been poorly directed, says the Productivity Commission in a major new report. It wants a more efficient system, which would admit that some regions are in decline and will remain so. The report, ‘Transitioning Regional Economies’ is the latest in a series of reports by the Productivity Commission […]
14 December, 2017
Increased discussion about immigration to Australia has done nothing to stem the tide of people coming to Australia. In fact, the numbers are rising, not falling. Overseas immigration into NSW alone last year exceeded the combined populations of Wagga Wagga and Tamworth, two of the state’s largest regional cities. Figures released by the Australian Bureau […]
14 December, 2017
The Queensland Audit Office (QAO) has delivered a damning report into the condition of the state’s roads. It says chronic underfunding by the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) threatens the viability of the entire roads system. “The underfunding has resulted in risks to the sustainability of the transport network,” says the report. “The […]
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