Archived News for Professionals in Local Government - GovernmentCareer

The Queensland Government has released the $125 billion Connecting SEQ 2031 transport plan, which outlines the region’s transport vision for the next 20 years.

Connecting SEQ 2031 will guide all levels of government in prioritising investment in public transport, roads, active transport and freight, delivering the maximum benefit across the whole transport system.

The plan outlines the following key goals:

doubling the share of active transport (such as walking and cycling) from 10% to 20% of all trips
doubling the share of public transport from 7% to 14% of all trips
reducing the share of trips taken in private motor vehicles from 83% to 66%.

New LGA officials appointed

The Local Government Association of NSW has elected a new president, office bearers and 20 executives at the annual LGA conference.

State of Australian cities report released

The Federal Government has released its State of Australian Cities 2011 report, finding that residents of Australia’s major cities are using less electricity, leaving their car in garage more often in favour of catching public transport, producing less household waste and raising children who are staying at home until an older age.

Digital Local Government program guidelines released

The Federal Government has released the final program guidelines for the Digital Government Program, which will make funding available to councils in the first 40 communities in the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) rollout.

Albury City Council releases sustainability strategy for public comment

Albury City Council has released a public consultation draft of the Our Future: a community sustainability strategy document.

Councils to oversee SA wind farm planning

The South Australian Government has released the Renewable Energy Plan for South Australia, providing an agenda for future growth of the state’s renewable energy sector.

WA to clarify council lighting tariff changes

The Western Australian Local Government (WALGA) has welcomed commitments made by the State Government to clarify street lighting tariff changes and introduce a more transparent billing process.

Crisis Coordination Centre opens

The Federal Government has opened the new Crisis Coordination Centre (CCC) in Canberra, which will serve to improve the government’s capability to respond to large-scale natural disasters or acts of terrorism.

Illawarra Region Innovation and Investment Fund launched

The Federal Government has launched the $30 million Illawarra Region Innovation and Investment Fund, which will support businesses with innovative projects in and around the Wollongong area.

NSW moves to reinstate councils as body corporates

The Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW (LGSA) have praised the NSW Government for meeting its election promise to remove the concept of a 'body politic' from the Local Government Act (NSW) 1993.

City of Geelong to develop new Environment Management Strategy

The City of Greater Geelong will commence work on a new Environment Management Strategy to provide strategic direction on environmental management in the Greater Geelong region.

City of Melbourne signs Environmental Upgrade Agreement

The first Environmental Upgrade Agreement has been signed under the City of Melbourne’s 1200 Building Program, opening the doors for significant investment in retrofitting Melbourne’s commercial building sector.

Queensland passes waste management reforms

The Queensland Government has passed its Waste Reduction and Recycling Bill through parliament that will aim to halve the amount of rubbish directed to landfill within a decade while creating thousands of green jobs while seeing millions of dollars invested into recycling and resource recovery programs.

WA urges local government voting participation

The Western Australian Government has urged a greater participation rate in local government voting after recent figures released by the Western Australian Electoral Commission shows that just 26 per cent of ballot papers issued have been returned from the 1,122,309 voting packages sent out.

Hays quarterly report highlights public sector skill demand

Recruitment specialists Hays has published the October Quarterly Report, finding a number of hotspots in public sector labour demand.

Report finds whistleblowing key to public sector integrity

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has released the ‘Whistling while they work: A good-practice guide for managing internal reporting of wrongdoing in public sector organisations’ guide which argues that the public sector would benefit greatly from the establishment of best practice guidelines for whistleblowing.

Queensland legislation to grant councils direct water management

The Queensland Government has introduced legislation before parliament that will allow direct management of water and wastewater services to be returned to the Gold Coast, Logan and Redland Councils.

Victoria announces broadband innovation funding

The Victorian Government has opened the second round of the Broadband-Enabled Innovation Program (BEIP), inviting applicants to apply for funding for projects that develop innovative broadband solutions to boost productivity.

Federal Government opens applications for support housing

The Federal Government has announced applications for the Building Better Regional Cities will be open for local councils in regional centres across the country.

Local government inquiries leave much 'unfinished business': report

Over the past decade numerous state and national inquiries have recommended major changes in the operations of Australian local government but only limited progress has been made in implementing those changes, according to a paper by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG).