Council Advocates for Local Representation on National Cabinet

28 Aug 2020 12:20 PM -

In May 2020, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the National Cabinet whose focus would be on job creation, would replace COAG and would meet monthly once the coronavirus crisis has abated.

Councils have been represented by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) at every

COAG meeting since COAG’s inception in 1992.

In lieu of a seat on the National Cabinet, the ALGA has been given a seat on the National Federation Reform Council (NFRC) which will meet just once a year. This decision has been met with great disappointment by Leeton Shire Council’s Mayor Paul Maytom and the wider local government sector.

Mayor Maytom says decisions about how our Federation works and how it can be improved or reformed require all three levels of government working together to align their policies and programs.

“Local government representation was included at COAG (now National Cabinet) because all parties recognised that Australia has three levels of government and that local government has the most impact on people’s daily lives in terms of the provision of local services and infrastructure,” said Mayor Maytom.

“Australians expect the decisions of government affecting them to reflect their grass roots views and to be implemented at the local level as well as the state and national level,” said Mayor Maytom.

Mayor Maytom highlighted that getting it right on the ground is local government’s area of strength and that economic development has always been at the core of Council.

“Councils support economic growth through regional development policies and initiatives, strategic and land use planning, targeted investment attraction, prioritisation of local procurement, business networking opportunities, business training and much more. It is local government that is best placed to drive locally led recovery.

“The challenge facing National Cabinet over the coming months is unlike any that has faced Australian governments in recent times, and it will require the concerted efforts of all levels of government to rebuild consumer confidence, support business and recreate millions of jobs.

“Including local government in National Cabinet would demonstrate a strong unity of purpose and a combined commitment to promoting and implementing National Cabinet decisions across the broadest implementation platform available to government,” said Mayor Maytom.