October 30, 2014
A proposal by the Productivity Commission to cut the Federal Government’s contribution to Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) by one-third has been described by Mayor Wayne Kratzmann as a disgrace.
“This is the most serious issue yet to face Local Government,” he said today.
“If the Federal Government reduce their funding it would simply mean road repairs and other infrastructure works would not be done if another disaster hit us.
“The State Government don’t have the money. And neither do we.”
The Mayor said he thought it was a disgrace the Federal Government was even considering the idea.
“They collect 80 per cent of revenues while the States receive 16 per cent and local government a paltry 4 per cent,” he said.
The South Burnett suffered more than $100 million in damages from the 2011 and 2013 floods.
“If this proposal went ahead, we have worked out it would cost our Council an extra $4.056 million on top of the $3 million we paid out to fix the 2011 and 2013 disasters.
“That would be equivalent to an extra 22 per cent of existing rate revenues, and it would push up rates by close to 20 per cent.”
The Mayor’s views are shared by other Queensland councils.
More than 200 delegates at the Local Government Association of Queensland’s annual conference in Mackay yesterday voted overwhelmingly to reject the plan
Delegates also unanimously called on the Federal Government to allow councils to claim the costs of using their own workforces for disaster recovery clean-ups rather than force them to bring in more expensive contract labour.
The future of disaster recovery funding dominated proceedings at the conference.
LGAQ President Margaret de Wit told delegates the Productivity Commission’s view that the Commonwealth’s contribution to disaster recovery funding should be cut by one-third would be catastrophic for Queensland communities.
“If that proposal had been in place before the run of floods and cyclones that began in 2010, the ability of councils to pay for clean up and recovery would have fallen short by more than $1 billion,” she said.
Mayor Kratzmann, who attended the conference, welcomed the call for councils to be able to use their own workforces on disaster recovery efforts rather than rely exclusively on contractors.
“There were delays getting our disaster funding approved because we weren’t the only Council hit by floods or cyclones,” he said.
“Then there were further delays starting the work because there’s only a limited pool of contractors and everyone wanted them at the same time.
“If we could have used our own staff, we could’ve started repairs more quickly than we did.”
The Mayor has been asked by Local Government Minister David Crisafulli to join him in making a presentation to the Productivity Commission in Brisbane tomorrow (Friday).
“I will do everything in my power to ensure our community’s basic rights are maintained,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
