Thursday, 28 November 2024

Committees

Economy and Infrastructure Committee

Inquiry into Local Government Funding and Services

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (09:43): Pursuant to standing order 23.22, I table a report on the inquiry into local government funding and services, including an appendices, extract of proceedings and minority report from the Economy and Infrastructure Committee, and I present the transcripts of evidence. I move:

That the transcripts of evidence be tabled and the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Georgie PURCELL: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

I am very pleased to table the final report from the Economy and Infrastructure Committee for this year, and this was our longest one yet. It was a really, really big one, and we learned a lot of valuable information that is in this report today. Local government is one of the three tiers of government in Australia, and in many ways we learned it is in the most difficult position of all of them. It is a level of government that is closest to individual communities, as it is drawn from people within the communities and provides services that on a practical level are very important to those local communities and the people that live within them.

At the same time as meeting the needs of local communities, local government is extremely limited in its ability to raise revenue and thereby pay for the services that it is expected to provide.

During this inquiry the committee heard from a significant number of local government representatives about the challenges that they are facing in meeting the demands of the community today, right now, and in remaining sustainable into the future. The committee heard about the tensions between the financial challenges faced by local government councils and the capacity of ratepayers to meet the financial demands made on them. It also heard from councils about cost shifting from the other levels of government onto local government and the financial strain that this places on councils. In the submissions that were received by the committee and evidence given in public hearings – and we had some great public hearings out in the regions; we travelled to northern Victoria, western Victoria and eastern Victoria, which was certainly a great experience for us regional members – we heard the concerns of both local government councils and ratepayers, and they were canvassed very widely.

This report has attempted to provide a balanced analysis of the issues faced and to provide some ways for a pathway forward. I would like to thank the people who took the time to provide their expertise and views in the high-quality submissions received by the committee and for working with us when council elections were actually on at the same time, which put significant strain on them. I would especially like to thank those who took the time to appear before the committee to give evidence and come along to public hearings, especially in the regional areas. The committee greatly appreciated the effort made by all witnesses and everybody involved. I would especially like to thank the committee members, who approached the issues raised during the inquiry professionally and with courtesy to each other and to those appearing before the committee. Like most inquiries, and like in here, there were a number of different views and we did not always agree – we often had opposing views – but despite the differences in opinion on the way forward, members maintained for the most part a level of courteous and respectful discussion throughout.

Most of all I would really, really like to thank the committee secretariat for their professionalism and dedication to the inquiry and to this report: committee manager Michael Baker, inquiry officer Kieran Crowe – who is a research assistant but also now an inquiry officer, so congratulations, Kieran – and Jessica Summers, who all provided very high quality support for the committee’s work. In addition, administrative assistance was provided by Tayla Barker, Julie Barnes and Sylvette Bassy, and it was invaluable to the smooth running of the inquiry. The committee would also like to thank and acknowledge Jeffrey Ding, a graduate intern who provided valuable background research for the inquiry.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (09:48): I want to begin by complimenting the chair and other committee members for the work that was done on this inquiry, and also compliment particularly the staff. It has been a large inquiry and it has been a challenging inquiry but an important one. Local government plays a very significant role in our community. Occasionally we may have our differences with our local governments, but having said that, I and many others strongly respect the role that local government plays.

What became clear as the inquiry went on is that this government is pushing more and more pressure onto local government, and there are some classic examples. The immunisation example is the one that strikes me from this inquiry. What a dumb idea from the Department of Health to put a new tax on every council to run the immunisation system and then a $2 charge per jab for every kid that gets an immunisation. I support immunisation. I want to see it at high levels so that we have a safer community, particularly for our children. The Allan Labor government’s approach is to put a tax on immunisation. It is absurd. I say that this is a classic example of how an inquiry can uncover bad and unsatisfactory practices. This should be reversed. The state government should get rid of its tax on immunisation. It is just such a stupid idea.

The cost shifting that councils face is significant. I very much believe that our roads and our institutions need proper support and proper maintenance, and we have seen through this inquiry the state government’s utter failure to properly support local government, instead repeatedly cost-shifting onto them. What we are actually seeing and one of the consequences here of the state government’s terrible debt – (Time expired)

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (09:50): I too would like to acknowledge the work of the chair, the deputy chair, all of the staff and everyone who was part of this inquiry. As has been mentioned, it was a lengthy inquiry and a really important one. Local government is one of the most important levels of government. It is the closest level of government to the people, but its remit is enormous. What local government can achieve with the resources that it has is quite extraordinary, and it plays such an important role in local communities.

The evidence that we heard throughout this inquiry I think painted quite a dire and urgent picture in terms of the financial sustainability of councils. That is something that should worry all of us, because ultimately it is going to end up falling to other levels of government and onto individual community members to pick up the pieces if our local governments fail. The overwhelming body of evidence from councils and representative bodies was that councils are facing major structural financial barriers, and they have limited capacity to address these on their own. Some councils are already having to reduce the services that they provide. They are already having to limit the investment in new infrastructure, and there is a really worrying trend in many councils of a decline in asset renewal and maintenance, which sounds a bit dull but should be a concern to all of us, because when assets fail they are very expensive to fix and it means communities are left without much-needed infrastructure.

There are many issues that need to be addressed. Rate capping and cost shifting were two of the headline ones; the grants system as well is a major issue. But one of the things I want to highlight that really stood out for me is that local government wants to be seen as a trusted partner of other levels of government. At the moment they do not feel that that is the case. I think that is an area that this government should really look to focus on to once again restore trust with local government.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:52): I also rise to speak on the local government inquiry report by the Economy and Infrastructure Committee. Although I was a participating member, I did have the privilege of serving on this inquiry, particularly in hearing from the local councils in my region – Knox, Cardinia and Frankston. They each shared with us the unique challenges that face them, be it from urban growth or densification. I would like to particularly thank outgoing Knox mayor Cr Jude Dwight and CEOs Carol Jeffs of Cardinia and Phil Cantillon of Frankston for sharing their insights with us.

It is indeed a great privilege to serve as a member of Parliament on committee inquiries. It is a privilege because of the opportunity it presents for us to turn up, to listen and to act. The inputs of the various local councils, in particular those of the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, are particularly invaluable to me as a representative of the region I am proud to serve, because representing an area in this Parliament is an immense privilege, and it is a privilege most honourably exercised when it is executed with a focus on the communities that we represent.

I must also make note of the hardworking secretariat, in particular Michael Baker, who diligently supported our inquiry, and committee chair Georgie Purcell for her conscientious leadership. I thank all the committee members who participated in this report, and I look forward to further debates and discussions about this very important topic.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (09:54): I too would like to speak on the local government inquiry review. I would firstly like to state that it was a great inquiry that was proposed by the opposition and agreed upon by this chamber but I believe opposed by the Labor Party at the time. It is good to hear that they enjoyed this review. It was really great to get around to lots of different parts of our state. I was speaking yesterday about how great inquiries like this are in terms of learning new things and getting more involved in learning about the processes of government and local government in particular. It was great to visit places like Camperdown, Traralgon and Frankston, and it was really great for me to be able to heavily lobby the committee and secretariat to bring this inquiry to Broadmeadows. That was a really fantastic opportunity to hear from Hume City Council and growth area councils as well.

I have to say one of the interesting things about this – Mr Davis spoke about immunisation, and we heard about the Labor government gutting the Growing Suburbs Fund to basically a useless level for them – is that it is clear that the Labor Party are as divided as ever. Throughout the inquiry we saw, and we see in the reports, Labor members voting against each other’s motions, voting against each other. One Labor member on the other side even voted for a review of the rate cap. I do not think Victorians facing a cost-of-living crisis would agree with that, but it was good to see that a particular Labor member produced a minority report viewing favourably the coalition’s country roads and bridges program, so that is something interesting to note. I will say again the Labor Party did not want this inquiry and are still heavily divided against each other on different parts of the report, so it is clear they are going to have not a very good Christmas and not a very good summer.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (09:56): I too would like to speak on this report and thank Georgie for her excellent chairing of the committee, all the members and the secretariat for their work and the councils that contributed. It was in Camperdown, but we revealed that the Labor government are going to apply a vaccination tax – a vax tax – on the citizens of Victoria via their ratepayers. I was very regretful I could not be at the deliberation hearing, but I am very grateful for Gaelle Broad, who subbed in for me and did a great job, and I thank her for all the work on our minority report. But I was most interested to see that Ms Terpstra voted on numerous occasions with the Liberal members on the committee to reject the Labor members’ amendments. That was fascinating. And I am so pleased she has come to grips with supporting the roads and bridges funding, that wonderful Liberal policy and coalition policy – an excellent approach from Ms Terpstra supporting the Liberal-National coalition. She has done well in this regard.

But I do want to say that one of the points in our minority report is very important – recommendation 4, that:

The Victorian Government should amend the Aboriginal Heritage Act and cultural heritage management processes to clarify the definition of “undisturbed land,” implement standardised fees, introduce a right of appeal for landholders, and establish requirements for cultural heritage assessments to ensure greater transparency.

That is vitally important, and along with the dreadful examples we got of cost shifting, where ratepayers in Victoria are being absolutely attacked by this state government, who demand that a policy be implemented but ratepayers pay – and free kindergarten is a good example.

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (09:58): I am very pleased to speak about this report, and it is a very important report. I think I heard there are 28 or so councils. We have a lot in Northern Victoria, so I do want thank the chair and the other members of the committee and most importantly the people that have made the time to make a submission. It is very important to hear from ratepayers. We only heard from a few, but their contribution was significant. There were a number of issues raised. The report itself had 47 findings, 48 recommendations. Financial sustainability at councils was significant, and who is monitoring that was a big question. Cost shifting was talked about a lot. We know that a lot has been pushed with libraries and school crossings, and there are a number of councils pulling out of programs.

There is a challenge with assets, because a lot of assets are looked after by local councils and they do not always have the funds to continue to maintain them or insure them. Our grants process was raised as a challenge. Certainly for regional councils that have to compete for grants, it makes it very difficult. And it was very unusual to see the state government actually take some funding out of a federal grant to local councils for administration purposes – that is a big no-no. And a lot of councils talked about not having a seat at the table when it comes to decision-making. I know that was something that the M9 talked about. The country roads and bridges program was certainly appreciated. I encourage people to check out the minority report put forward by the Liberals and Nationals, because it talks about the need for renewable energy facilities to be on a more level playing field, because there are a lot of farmers and people out there that are carrying a heavy load when it comes to the fire services levy. Developer contributions were also mentioned, and on cultural heritage the need for greater transparency in that area. I do encourage people to go online to the Parliament of Victoria website to check out the report and more importantly the minority report at the back.

Motion agreed to.