Financial Sustainability of Local Government

ASK:

Commitment to work collaboratively with the local government sector, and commence a bipartisan, apolitical review, by experts with relevant local government and financial experience, of the financial modelling and funding methodology of councils that seeks recommendations to address the future sustainability of local government for the benefit of the sector and its ability to continue optimal service and infrastructure delivery for local communities.

BACKGROUND:

CN holds strong concerns for the financial sustainability of the local government sector. Whilst acknowledging the causes of those concerns are many and complex, being structural, policy related and political, including but not limited to, rate capping, cost shifting, shifting community expectations and devastating natural disasters, the result of this situation is increased long-term uncertainty for councils due to their reliance on one-off grant funding handouts from other levels of government, creating further impacts on community infrastructure and service delivery.

The range of services delivered by councils is growing and changing. Local government is no longer confined to the essential services of rate collection, road infrastructure and waste disposal. Councils are also now actively engaged in the policy areas of liveable communities, circular economy, smart cities, and pandemic recovery.

This expanding service delivery is against a backdrop of finite resources and increased need to remediate, and sometimes completely rebuild, large-scale community infrastructure due to impacts from extreme weather events and climate change.

As a result, improved dialogue is required between all levels of government to address these issues and provide more optimal outcomes for the communities all governments serve.