Bulletin (PDF 18.3 MB) - City of Armadale

Information BulletinCorrespondence & PapersPage Cor-39The document highlights the Australian Government's aspirations for our cities and places astrong emphasis on the economic importance and benefits of getting our cities operatingefficiently. This is important. But our cities are places where people live and the DiscussionPaper places much less emphasis on strengthening community engagement to ensure thatour cities meet peoples' aspirations. The paper recognizes the very difficult task ofbalancing community concerns with economic and efficiency issues when talking aboutplanning and the number of councils in our cities. Local government is only too aware of thisissue and local councillors are judged at every election on whether they are getting thebalance right.On the issue of council amalgamations in our cities, I agree that there is a need for a debatebut strongly oppose forced amalgamations which disenfranchise local communities, but weencourage councils to work together to achieve economies of scale. The report suggests areview to assess the outcomes of recent council amalgamations in cities as the first step andwe support that. Any review should assess the full impacts of amalgamations - including thecosts and any perceived loss of community engagement - not just any economic benefits. Wehave to remember that bigger is not always better. ALGA will be consulting with state andterritory associations in preparing a submission on the Discussion Paper and we will beencouraging all councils to make submissions.On a more personal note, my thoughts are with the many councils across Australia which areexperiencing widespread flooding, and are still expecting more rain. The devastation acrossNew South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT has seriously impactedhundreds of councils and their communities. Once floodwaters subside they will need tobegin the massive cleanup, thoroughly assess the extent of damage and begin urgent repairwork.It is particularly sad to learn that aside from the extensive damage to homes, businesses andour farming communities, a number of deaths have also occurred as a consequence of thefloods. If nothing else this should be a warning for all of us to take the utmost care with anysort of floodwaters. Being safe rather than sorry should be a message we all reinforce to ourcommunities in such challenging climatic times!Cr Genia McCafferyALGA PresidentRoad safety community focus reaps resultsA new study shows safety measures have dramatically reduced the road fatality rate, butthere is a need for fresh action now to ensure further reductions in the future.Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King, said the studyreleased last week by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showsthat the road fatality rate in 2010 is one-tenth of what it was in the late 1960s."This is proof that focussing on safer road users, safer cars and safer roads is working," MsKing said. "The fall in the rate is an amazing pay-off to three main safety measures over thelast 40 years: seat belt wearing, random breath testing and speed enforcement.Ms King said the reduction in fatalities and injuries has levelled out and the draft NationalRoad Safety Strategy released on December 1 contains measures aimed at driving furtherreductions.