The Australian Local Government Association is rallying councils nationwide to provide input on the Commonwealth Government's White Paper on the Reform of the Federation.

The White Paper on the Reform of the Federation is set to re-evaluate the responsibilities of different governments.

The Federal Government says this will be done with the aim of ensuring the States and Territories are “sovereign in their own sphere”.

New issues papers aimed at informing the reform were released yesterday.

The second and third issues papers deal with health and housing, and recognise that local government does play a role in both of these areas alongside its state and territory counterparts.

Issues Paper 2; Roles and Responsibilities in Housing and Homelessness, and Issues Paper 3; Roles and Responsibilities in Health acknowledge that local government is centrally involved in these areas and perform a diverse range of duties.

ALGA will make its own submission and continue to provide comment on both issues papers, but President Mayor Troy Pickard is encouraging all councils to think about their own involvement as well.

“It is important that councils who are involved in the areas of health and housing take time to review the Issues Papers and think about what they want to see in terms of reform in this area,” he said.

The papers are accessible here.