Council
3 July, 2026
Council outlines priorities at ALGA meeting
CORANGAMITE Shire councillors and the chief executive officer last week attended the 32nd National General Assembly of Local Government (NGA), convened by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).
From Tuesday to Thursday, councillors including mayor Kate Makin, Nick Cole, Geraldine Conheady, Ruth Gstrein and chief executive officer David Rae joined 1100 other local government leaders in Canberra.
The Corangamite team had a meeting with Primary Industries Standing Committee deputy chair Jamie Chaffey and discussed local matters with Member for Wannon Dan Tehan.
Cr Makin said a key focus of the NGA was united advocacy for fairer Financial Assistance Grants.
“The assembly supported calling on the Australian Parliament to restore Financial Assistance Grants to one per cent of federal taxation revenue annually,” she said.
“Since 1996 they have progressively fallen to about half a percent today.
“That extra half a percent of the federal $840 billion tax revenue is not much to the commonwealth proportionally but would be a huge to councils’ ability to deliver the projects our communities deserve.
“Local government is being asked to do more than ever, often under increasing financial and community pressure and the continual decline in funding is like the death by a thousand cuts.”
Delegates heard from a range of federal, territory and parliamentary leaders across the assembly, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Emergency Management, Regional Development, Local Government and Terri-tories Minister Kristy McBain, Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Catherine King, Housing Minister Claire O’Neil, Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs Assistant Minister Julian Hill, Productivity Standing Committee Chair Senator Andrew Bragg and Nationals leader Senator Matt Canavan.
The program featured a regional forum which focused on the conditions needed for thriving regional communities, including infrastructure, workforce, housing, emergency management and service delivery.
Key themes of the general assembly included financial sustainability, emergency management, housing and planning, workforce and skills, climate resilience, disability inclusion, and community cohesion.
The theme of the assembly was ‘Stronger Together: Resilient. Productive. United’, reflecting the sector’s shared commitment to working with all levels of government to deliver better outcomes for local communities.
The regional forum discussed issues including disaster management fatigue, the state of the regions, national productivity and local roads, renewable transition opportunities and challenges and regional health.