Australia Day | LGA services and savings | 2019 OGM | Planning reforms No Images? Click here Vol 4: Issue 2 - Monday 21 January 2019 We’re getting closer to the next Federal Election, and we need to stay focussed on what’s going to make a real difference for SA. Discussions around Australia Day are a distraction – the key issue for our State is supplementary road funding, and increasing the total pool of Financial Assistance Grants provided to councils. ALGA are keeping a database of shovel-ready infrastructure projects, so please make sure you let them know how your council could use additional Commonwealth funding to benefit your community. LGA President Sam Telfer Australia Day
These events bring our communities together, recognize the contributions of our local citizens of the year, and often welcome new Australians through citizenship ceremonies. Hosting citizenship ceremonies is a tremendous honour, and one of the true privileges of being a mayor. Not all councils hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, but their reasons for doing so are practical – not ideological. Sometimes councils don’t have enough demand to hold these events, and other times it is more cost-effective to hold them away from public holidays. The Federal Government are moving to obligate councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day,but the risk is that additional responsibilities and costs are being put onto councils. Only the Commonwealth can change the date of Australia Day, and there haven't been any South Australian councils move to do so. LGA services and websiteOur goal is to do things once, so that 68 councils don’t do the same thing 68 times. The services and resources provided by the LGA cover almost every area of council operations, and include training, events, model policies and documents, research, and advice. You can find out more about the many LGA services and resources available to your council by downloading a flyer here. We believe that the value of being a member of the LGA should only be available to members. That’s why we have secured our time and cost saving resources in a special members-only section of our website. It’s easy to create your own account using your council issued email address – click here to set this up. How much does the LGA save your council?The value delivered by the LGA to its members has been independently verified as $139 million per year – or an average of $2 million per council. This week we are going to be sending out personalized value propositions to all elected members that will provide a dollar figure on the value of your council’s membership, based on your involvement in LGA programs. Please take a moment to take a look at this, and let me know if you have any questions or feedback. We are serious about continually improving our services, and making sure that we deliver even greater value to members every year. Work has started on our next annual update of the Value Proposition and I look forward to sharing this with you in March 2019. 2019 LGA OGMThe LGA’s Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) is an opportunity for our sector to come together and consider items of strategic importance, and set the Association’s advocacy agenda and work priorities. This year’s meeting will be held on Friday 12 April at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and we are currently seeking items of business from members. All councils are invited to propose an item for this meeting, either through SAROC, GAROC, or the LGA Board. Proposals must be received by 5pm on Friday 22 February 2019 in order to be considered for inclusion on the OGM agenda, which will be provided to councils at least 30 days prior to the meeting. Please complete the LGA General Meeting Proposed Item of Business form to submit a proposal. Proposals should be accompanied by sufficient information to assist SAROC, GAROC and the Board of Directors to make informed decisions and recommendations. For further information please contact Lisa Teburea, Executive Director Public Affairs at lisa.teburea@lga.sa.gov.au or on 8224 2068. Planning reforms The Government is continuing to push ahead with reforms to our State’s planning system, and last week we started consultation with members on the State’s new Development Assessment Regulations. The proposed changes would see communities provided with more time to respond to development applications, while also allowing for new homes to be automatically approved if councils don’t make a determination within a set timeframe. We will be taking a close look at the proposed changes, and I would encourage you to also do so, and provide us with your feedback. As a sector we support reforms that are going to make processes more efficient, and save councils and their communities money. However, it’s important that any increases in speed do not come at the expense of the quality that South Australians expect and deserve from their planning system. In our submission to the Government’s discussion paper on the new Planning and Design Code (subscriber link) last year, we warned that the proposed Code – which would replace 72 council development plans – must be stronger on design, and maintain council input into local planning policies. We will continue to advocate for members on this issue, to make sure that councils have the framework and tools they need to support good planning in their communities. For further information or to submit All SA council members are automatically subscribed to receive this e-newsletter. To unsubscribe please click the link below. |