The ALGA’s slogan for their campaign on Financial Assistance Grants (Photo: ALGA)

March 3, 2017

Would you like your Council to grade more unsealed roads, fix more pot holes or perhaps put a badly needed coat of paint on a local hall?

Then the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) wants you to put your weight behind their “End The Freeze, Restore Indexation” campaign.

The ALGA launched the campaign last month to pressure the Federal Government to keep its promise to restore indexation on Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) in the 2017-18 Budget.

The ALGA – which is the representative body for all Australian councils – said the three-year indexation freeze, introduced in 2014-15, had already cost Australian councils nearly $1 billion in lost revenue, forcing them to meet the costs of CPI rises and population growth out of their own pockets.

In a case study, the ALGA said South Burnett  rates could rise as much as 12.1 per cent if the Federal Government does not lift the freeze and almost 10 per cent of its workforce would have to be cut.

The ALGA has launched a special website so that residents can easily contact their local MP and have their say on the issue.

South Burnett residents are either part of the South Burnett Regional Council, Toowoomba Regional Council (Yarraman, Upper Yarraman and Cooyar etc) or Gympie Regional Council (Goomeri, Tansey, Booubyjan and Kilkivan etc).

Their three federal MPs are David Littleproud (Maranoa – Kingaroy, Nanango, Yarraman, Blackbutt), Ken O’Dowd (Flynn – Boondooma, Proston, Hivesville, Wondai) or Llew O’Brien (Wide Bay – Cherbourg, Murgon, Goomeri, Kilkivan)

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External link: Email Your Federal Member 


 

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