WHAT THE STATE PRESIDENTS HAD TO SAY
Local Government Association of NSW President, Mayor Darcy Byrne: “The financial crisis in Local Government is leaving many regional communities in particular at breaking point. That’s why we are all united in demanding that enough is enough. This must be fixed.”
WA LGA President Mayor Mark Irwin: “Maintaining untied direct funding through Financial Assistance Grants is critical and ensures Local Governments can direct resources where they are needed most, reflecting their unique conditions and priorities. WALGA will continue to seek ongoing, formula-based and targeted funding for WA Local Governments — delivering the certainty required for long-term planning and enabling Councils to meet the growing and evolving needs of their communities.”
Municipal Association of Victoria President Cr Jennifer Anderson: “Victorian councils are united in this call for fairer funding. Financial Assistance Grants have been quietly eroding for years, and our communities are now feeling the consequences — in delayed infrastructure, stretched services, and councils forced to make impossible choices. We’re asking the Federal Parliament to act now, before this becomes a crisis communities can’t recover from.”
LGA South Australia President Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross: “This united call from every state and territory reflects the growing financial pressures being experienced by councils across Australia. Financial Assistance Grants are one of the only sources of untied funding available to councils, allowing local communities to determine their own priorities and invest where it is needed most. For South Australian councils, particularly those in regional and rural areas facing growing financial pressures, fairer funding is critical to ensuring communities can continue to access the infrastructure and services they rely on every day.
LGA Tasmania President Mayor Mick Tucker: “Local Government is on the frontline of delivering essential services and infrastructure for Tasmanian communities, but the current funding model is no longer keeping pace with growing demand and cost pressures. An increase in untied grants is critical to ensuring councils can continue to respond to the unique needs of their communities—particularly across regional and rural Tasmania.”
LGA Northern Territory President Cr Peter Pangquee: “Local government councils in the Northern Territory serve some of Australia’s most disadvantaged and under-resourced towns and communities. These councils are under enormous financial pressure and without a significant funding increase from the Commonwealth Government, inequity will continue and communities particularly in the bush will suffer.”
LGA Queensland President Mayor Matt Burnett: “We have been resolute in our call for the Federal Government to return the allocation of Financial Assistance Grant funding to local government to at least 1 per cent, as the fairest and most effective way of achieving improved financial sustainability for our sector, translating to improved liveability outcomes for every local community. Certainty from long term funding that is united and not competitive is critical to all Queensland councils. Councils are in a funding framework that has not changed since 1974. Our nation and its communities have changed; councils can’t afford to be left in the ‘70s with insufficient untied federal funding that is leaving local communities behind.”
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