FOR PRESS 7 NOVEMBER 1977
ADDRESS To AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATIONS
I particularly welcomed your invitation to speak to you today as
At provides me with the opportunity to congratulate you on the
way in which local government in all States is adapting so well
to the changing needs and demands of our society. This occasion
also provides me the opportunity briefly to speak of the
increasingly important role of local government in our Federal system.
The advantages of a properly functioning Federal system to a
country as large and varied as Australia are many: diversity in
government services to satisfy local preferences and needs;
decentralisation of decision-making; greater proximity of
administrators to the people they serve.
At the same time, the national Government retains sufficient powers
to enable management of the economy, and to implement uniform
policies for all Australians where social or economic factors
so require.
Alongside the Commonwealth and the States local government is the
third arm of Australian Federalism. It is only through active,
efficient and sensitive government at the council or shire level
that the full advantages of a decentralised, Federal system of
government can be fully realised. Local government on the
whole has been responding well to this challenge in the range
of services offered, in the willingness of councils and shires
to cooperate . voluntarily on a regional basis to provide
a particular service which is beyond the means of any one body,
and in greater awarenessof the need to prote-ct our environment.
The capacity of local government to meet its responsibilities and
provide expanded services has been greatly assisted by the new
tax sharing arrangement introduced by my government.
General revenue assistance to local government in 197 6/ 77 was
percent higher than the previous year, and this year,
funds have increased a further 18 percent to over $ 165 million.
All these funds are of course untied, with no strings or conditions.
In addition, we have sharply increased funds for local government
roads, particularly in rural.. areas. In 1976/ 77, $ 109 million
in Commonwealth funds were allocated for rural roads.
This year, an additional $ 52 million has been provided, raising
the total to $ 161 million.
It is because of our commitment to a strong Federal system
in which local government forms-an integral and essential part
that we have sharply increased funds, to local government,
even though the last two years have necessarily required great
restraint in government expenditure.
one pleasing result of these policies has been the increased
capacity of local government' to hold back rate increases.
Initial estimates bythe Bureau of Statistics show that in 1976/ 77
average rate increases have been sharply reduced. For example,
in Victoria,. in the three financial years from 1973/ 74,
to 1975/ 76, rates rc: 3e byan average of 20 percent,. 30 percent
and 19 percent respectively. In 1976/ 77 the average increase
in rates was contained to 10.2 percent.
Similar financial benefits have been received by each of the States
as the recent State budgets so clearly show: no State has
b~ udgeted for a substantial deficit; all states have introduced
some new programmes or extended existing programmes; and every
state , without exception, has provided substantial tax concessions.
I am aware of representations which have been made for an increase
in local government's percentage tax share, the present entitlement
of 1.52 percent of the previous year's income tax collections
is not an immutable figure. But on the whole local government
has been treated generously in the last two years, and it should
not be forgotten that, as the economy strengthens, the value of
the present entitlement will rise significantly.
Our Federalism policies have not only increased the financial
strength of local government. The status and recognition
of local government as an integral part of our Federal system
has also been enhanced, principally through local government
representation on the Advisory Council for Inter-Government Relations
which met for the firsttime in June.
Local government,--trougb__. trhd P-emthir. Conference, has theopportunity-
to sugrgest. subj-ects--to be referred to the
Advisory Council, and the Advisory Council reports directly to
this Council as well as to the Comm~ onwealth and each State.
We see the Advisory Council as making a most valuable
contribution in improving coordination and cooperation between the
three spheres of government. one of the first references to be
considered by the Advisory Council an examination of the
relationshipos which should exist between Federal, State and
local goverrnments should be of considerable interest to all of
you here. In its first annual report, the Advisory Council
comments that it acts " as a kind of continuing committee of
inquiry into problems of Australian Federalism". That strikes
me as a very apt description.
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3.
The Government is determined: to strengthen our Federal system
of government, and the increased financial reponsibility of
the States and local government is a major step in achieving this
goal. The interests of local government will never be overlooked
by my government.
Mr Chairman, I have great pleasure in opening this annual
conference of the Australian Council of Local Government Associations.