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Plains Producer
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Wednesday August 11, 2010
STAR OF THE NORTH
On the ‘road to ruin’ Battling tight budgets, councils warn of Federal funding threat
Wakefield Regional Council (WRC) and District Council of Mallala (DCM) are concerned threatened Federal road funding cuts will impact on their ability to maintain local roads, which annually consume millions of dollars. Under current Federal government Identified Local Road Funding arrangements, South Australian councils receive an additional $16 million, but the arrangement ends in 2011. WRC maintains 2,539km of unsealed roads and 195 km of sealed roads – one of the largest areas in SA – and Mallala council about 1200 km. In recent budgets, WRC allocated about $2.4 million to its roadworks construction and
Bronte Hewett reports:
maintenance program and DCM about $1 million. Local Government Association president, Felicity-ann Lewis, said there needed to be a permanent solution in place. “In less than 12 months, SA councils stand to lose nearly $16 million a year for upgrade, renewal and maintenance of this state’s 72,700 km of local road,” Ms Lewis said. “We need a permanent fix and it’s only the Federal government that can affect that by making a permanent commitment to ensure SA retains not only the $16 million each year
but that it is indexed against any future funding increases,” she said. Ms Lewis said it was unfair South Australian councils managed 11 per cent of the nation’s road network and have about 7.6 per cent of the nation’s population, yet receive only 5.5 per cent of identified local roads grants funding from the Federal government. Mallala council’s CEO, Charles Mansueto said any cuts would be difficult to manage. “Our budget already is limited, so it is important to seek to extend the funding,” said Mr Mansueto. DCM would meet with the Wakefield group (of neighbouring councils) to discuss outcomes. Wakefield Regional Council CEO, Phil
Barry, agreed with Mr Mansueto. “It means SA councils are still very vulnerable without the lack of such permanent funding assistance in comparison to local government councils in other states,” Mr Barry said. “Both major parties when in government have had opportunity to rectify the anomaly and the best they have done is to introduce a non-permanent supplementary funding arrangement.
n Continued Page 2 n Highway bypass raised again as Liberal candidate visits Port Wakefield – Page 7
Mem’s touch of reading magic Mem Fox gets into reading fun with her book, Possum Magic and Balaklava Primary students (from left) Harrison Lemon, Charlotte Davey and Maria Fe Austria. Mem Fox spread a little bit of her magic over primary school students from Balaklava, Port Wakefield, Owen and Hamley Bridge when she greeted children in Balaklava last Friday. Mem met with students at Balaklava Primary School to speak about the Premier’s Reading Challenge which encourages students to read more books and enjoy reading while simultaneously improving
Report and picture, Lauren Hermon literacy level among SA students. Other schools which Mem visited were Horizon Christian School, St Joseph’s School and Clare, Blyth, Watervale and Farrell Flat primary schools. She is best known for her bestselling, award-winning picture book, Possum Magic.
Mem has been an ambassador for the Premier’s Reading Challenge since 2004. The challenge requires students to read 12 books between the beginning of the school year and early September. Record numbers were achieved last year with 111,652 students completing the challenge, but this year, that record looks to be surpassed, with an estimated 153,900 students taking part from 767 schools across
South Australia. Mem’s main message to parents is “you can’t expect your children to read regularly, if you yourself do not read regularly,” she said “It’s important you read to your children within six months of their life starting.” Gracious, humorous and a very lively character, Mem first knew she wanted to become an author when she was 10 years of age.
Mem said she hoped her visit would help even more students develop a love of reading and encourage parents to know reading aloud to children is vitally important. When asked why she thought Possum Magic was so successful, Mem’s answer was: “I have no idea! It’s my secret to success,” she joked. n Education Feature, Pages 15–18
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