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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-30 Daily Xml
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:32): Tomorrow and Friday all 68 councils in South Australia come to Adelaide for their annual showcase, with a general meeting on Friday. It is a significant event in the life of local government and showcases just what it does in the state of South Australia with very little support and very meagre and limited resources from this state government.

I take my hat off to local government in this state for what it does. Its role has always been said to be roads, rates and rubbish. Indeed, that is a core part of its business, but much more than that is thrust upon councils to deal with. In addition, their members are all volunteers, although some get a meagre allowance; some get more than others; and some mayors get much more than other mayors, but that is the way it is.

It is important to note that, if you are elected to local government, you do not have to be of any particular sex: you can be male or female. Members are quite ably elected by the public of South Australia, who elect whoever they choose to put in. As I said in question time, just as the minister has put up an award for women in local government, I think it is only fitting that she should establish an award for men in local government because they do a jolly fine job as well. That does not bring into disrepute anyone of the other gender. I think it is rather a ludicrous situation.

The showcase tomorrow highlights all the good work councils do. It gives many of the councils an opportunity to catch up with government departments and (if they are lucky) ministers and address things that they want to progress. It is difficult for many of the councillors to come to Adelaide regularly; transport is indeed awkward. If you are in Ceduna, it is an extremely expensive exercise to fly, for example, and it is an eight-hour one-way drive or a 16-hour return drive. From the deep South-East, Mount Gambier, it is five hours and whether you be there or Coober Pedy, it does not matter much: it is a big effort. Indeed, it is an extremely expensive and difficult exercise for councillors in one area of my electorate, Kangaroo Island.

I think it is important that this parliament recognises what local government in this state does, and it is time that we stepped up and gave them the funding that they should have to go about their work. There are various suggestions of how we could do that. It has been suggested that we give them perhaps 1 or 2 per cent of the GST revenue. They have everything thrust upon them in the area of planning and they bear an enormous cost. The limited income they get from dealing with planning applications in no way does justice to the amount of money that they have to spend to go through copious administrative nightmares, with frequent pandering and to-and-fro with government departments through the planning process—that is something they have to live with.

Hideous costs have been thrust upon councils. Waste levies have been passed on to ratepayers and it is most unfair; indeed, I think it is most inappropriate. Councils collect NRM levies, and most people in the public arena look at the bottom figure on their rates notice and do not realise that the NRM levy is actually a cost that is being picked up to go to the natural resource boards. They think it is coming from the council, quite unfairly. That levy is not going into council coffers at all.

We hear that hackneyed phrase 'grassroots government'; indeed, it is very much grassroots government, and in most cases they do a magnificent job. We are fortunate in South Australia that we have not seen the catastrophes that have befallen councils interstate, such as Wollongong, where the council—a Labor-controlled council—has been removed. I think it would be a sad day if anything like that ever happened in South Australia. I am proud to have had a long career, some 17 years, in local government. It was a great period in my life, and I certainly learnt a lot of skills that I would not have learnt otherwise.

Time expired.

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