At the 2024 National General Assembly, the ALGA hosted four listening sessions where government representatives from across Australia discussed key areas of focus for local governments.
The sessions focused on four distinct areas:
- Roads and transport
- Emergency management
- Energy transition
- Housing and community infrastructure
Facilitated by the Melbourne Leadership Group, these sessions featured a free-flowing exchange of ideas and debate between more than 500 representatives from councils, the federal public service and other key stakeholders.
Roads and transport
Rural roads, particularly those with rising heavy vehicle road use, are an increasing burden for councils. Repeated flood events create ongoing pressures on road maintenance and the standard of road construction needs to ensure longer lifecycles. Currently the standard of road construction and maintenance is compromised by the funding received.
The unit cost of road construction used by departments for funding was not considered to have kept pace with increases in construction costs, nor the need to upgrade road construction techniques to withstand heavy vehicle access and extreme weather impacts. The speedier processing of funding allocations was expected to ensure more timely distribution following disasters.
Participants expressed the need for better coordination between levels of government for planning and budgeting for road and transport programs and initiatives.
Disaster resilience and recovery
A dominant theme in participant discussions was building for betterment and its role in disaster mitigation. It was noted by the listening panel that mitigation and betterment need to be incorporated as a preferred approach in the future.
There was a consistent message that building for betterment was heavily reliant on being able to access funding quickly, to meet immediate needs.
Some participants felt that consistency was not applied in the recognition of disasters. There were observations that having the ‘right type of fire or flood’ was needed to access appropriate funding. Receiving some types of disaster or emergency funding was only possible when disasters were recognised retrospectively after a second, well-publicised disaster hit months later.
Energy transition
The broader group discussion revolved around the transition to renewable energy and its impact on local communities.
Key themes included the need for equitable access to renewable infrastructure, especially in rural areas; the importance of tailored, place-based approaches rather than one-size-fits-all solutions; the urgency of developing clear transition pathways; balancing energy efficiency with renewable energy production; concerns about the economic impact on local communities, particularly job losses in fossil fuel industries; the need for better storage solutions and grid planning; the importance of community benefits and social license; challenges in funding and infrastructure development for local councils; and the potential for local manufacturing and economic opportunities in the renewable sector.
Housing and community infrastructure
Among other key themes the rising cost of housing was a recognised as a consistent issue throughout the discussion.
Participants noted the multifactorial reasons driving the cost increases. Labour shortages have an impact on housing costs, as due to these shortages, project timelines are often inaccurate, leading to increased expenses. Subcontractors are charging higher rates and taking longer to complete projects, further driving up overall costs. Industrial relations issues and enterprise bargaining outcomes have added to expenses, with some agreements causing a 20 per cent rise in costs and 100 days of paid non-working time.
Additionally, the cost of regulatory compliance has surged, requiring more administrative workers. Meanwhile, the rising material costs due to restricted resource extraction and freight challenges add to construction difficulties and cause overall input costs to rise.
To learn more about the discussions had during the listening sessions, read the full report at alga.com.au/2024-nga-listening-sessions
Featured image: One of the 2024 NGA listening sessions. Image credit: Australian Local Government Association.
