I’d like to thank Virginia and all the councillors and staff in attendance for their engagement in the process, as well as all the guest speakers for providing their insights in relation to Dungog Shire Council.

The overriding theme of the day for me was that our friends in these organisations are very willing to help us, but we are in the driver’s seat. We need to be guiding the process and helping ourselves. Cr Kate Murphy asked Director, Hunter Regional Coordination Branch Department of Premier and Cabinet, Stephen Wills, about the Special Rates Variation.

His answer strongly indicated his belief that Dungog needs to pursue this; that State Government and the various government departments are willing to assist Dungog Shire as long as Dungog Shire is willing to assist itself; that if our rates remain much lower than most other councils, then it reflects poorly on our ability and willingness to progress towards a pathway of sustainability.

General Manager (GM), Coralie Nichols, and I attended an update from the NSW Grants Commission. The grants commission administers the federal assistance grants.

The Federal Government awards money to local government through these grants, but the states work out where this money goes each year based on various formulas and disability factors, such as proximity to major centres.

Thirty percent of this funding is population based and all councils, regardless of size and ability to source income streams, are eligible for a minimum payment based on the thirty percent. The funding from the Federal Government has been deteriorating for many decades, from one cent in the tax dollar down to 0.55 cent in the dollar. Local Government NSW and the Australian Local Government Association are lobbying hard for a change back to the one cent in the dollar model.

The grants commission favours a downwards change to the 30% population factor, which severely impacts rural and regional councils, but it’s difficult to get support from the other states and large metropolitan councils.

The commission also favours increasing the entire bucket, which obviously would make more money available for all councils, which would seem the more likely to succeed given the consensus throughout the entire local government sector.

Members of the grants commission suggested that a growing number of councils have identified the problems with the population-based funding and the overall amount of funding allocated to the local government sector from the Federal Government.

This year Federal Government funding for all local government areas in the whole of Australia amounts to $2.045 billion, with a paltry $544 million to NSW. As awareness of these issues grow, the commission members are expecting more support in lobbying for change.

We meet this week at Parliament House. The GM and I will attend a function with other member councils and local state members and various ministers and bureaucrats.

The premier and deputy premier have both been invited to the function. Last time we met at Parliament House several ministers also dropped in to the JO meeting for a meet and greet. The GM and I will also be meeting with the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, Melinda Pavey, while we are there.

This is a follow-up to my meeting earlier this year. We will be forwarding our case about the inequity of the roads and bridges funding model, and the issue with Brig O’Johnson Bridge in Clarence Town.

We will also be asking about why other RMS bridges in the Shire, which are no longer heritage listed, are constantly being repaired at great expense, rather than being replaced possibly at a lot less cost.