Hello everyone,
This week I travelled to Canberra for the National General Assembly of the Australian Local Government Association and the reconvened Australian Council for Local Government. This was an invaluable opportunity to meet and network with Mayors and CEOs from across the country and hear from policy and decision makers on a range of subjects as well as provide us with an opportunity to advocate on behalf of our community.
I was joined by Deputy Mayor Cr Bernie Gaffney and Cr Peter Croucher along with our CEO, Trevor Ierino. We were fortunate to meet with Ministers and MPs including Kristy McBain, Catherine King, Senator Bridget McKenzie and our local member, Dr Helen Haines. I also met with our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and today had an audience with key government officials where I had the opportunity to advocate on behalf of our Shire on issues such as the need for better health services including a new regional hospital on a greenfield site, ongoing flood recovery support to repair damaged roads and bridges, funding for aging community facilities such as our pools, strategies to address the housing crisis, the elimination of mobile blackspots in Indigo, and the critical importance of maintaining current funding levels for roads to recovery and community infrastructure grants which are so vital to small shires like ours. This year’s theme Our Communities, Our Future, was all about seeking innovative programs and policies to support councils to build stronger communities in the future. There was discussion about the upcoming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament referendum and we heard a moving address from the Ambassador of Ukraine who is calling on local government to help rebuild his war-torn country. More than 100 motions were tabled, including a call for more federal support on climate change, water security, skills shortages, fixing regional roads and providing more funding for disaster response and recovery. This year’s event was one of the biggest ever held with more than 1100 Council leaders in attendance, a reflection I believe in just how critical the need is to find better ways to support our communities which in our case have been severely impacted by fire, floods and the pandemic. I’ve certainly come away with far greater knowledge and appreciation that many of the challenges we face are universal across the sector and that by sharing our issues and working closer together, we can all be part of the solution. I want to conclude this message by offering our deepest condolences to all those impacted by the horrific bus crash in the Hunter Valley last weekend, an unimaginable tragedy. Please if you are on the roads, take care and drive safely especially in these current wet and foggy conditions.
Regards Sophie Price