The City of Melville Council advocated for mandatory product stewardship schemes to prolong the lifecycle of materials and called for increased funding for arts and cultural infrastructure at the recent National General Assembly (NGA) of Local Government.
Held at the National Convention Centre in Canberra, the NGA is the premier gathering of local governments and provides councils with the opportunity to come together, share ideas, debate motions, and most importantly unite and further build on the relationship between local government and the Australian Government.
This year’s National General Assembly of Local Government included listening sessions, speakers and debates on motions and further speeches, panel discussions, and question and answer sessions at the Australia Council of Local Government Forum held on Friday, 5 July 2024.
Across the week there were speeches from Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese; Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley; newly minted Governor General, Sam Mostyn and experts across government.
Following support from Council at its April meeting, City of Melville representatives including Mayor, Katy Mair; Councillor, Karen Wheatland and Chief Executive Officer, Gail Bowman, successfully moved two motions.
The first motion urged the Australian Government to take urgent action to implement mandatory product stewardship schemes for priority materials, such as electronic waste, tyres, mattresses and consumer packaging, which requires sustainable design for waste avoidance, increased lifecycle and end of life recovery.
To acknowledge the important role that arts and culture has in promoting social cohesion, mental well-being and educational benefits for our community, the Council’s second motion called for increased funding of arts and cultural infrastructure in cooperation with Federal, State and Local Governments.
The motion included a call for the establishment of Community Arts and Cultural Facilities Fund for the development, renewal and maintenance of arts and cultural infrastructure.
“We’re very pleased that both of the motions that we moved at the National General Assembly of Local Government were supported by local Councils from across Australia,” said Mayor Mair.
“The issue of product stewardship is an important one for the City of Melville, and our motion on this topic encourages producers of products to have a financial or physical responsibility for what they produce at the end of the product’s life while decreasing costs for local government and the community in regards to waste management.
“The motion in regards to product stewardship aligns with the action we’re taking to address climate change and become a carbon neutral organisation by 2030. and achieve net zero carbon emissions across our City by 2050.
“The City of Melville’s reputation as a vibrant cultural leader is growing and we acknowledge that increased investment in the arts and cultural space will enable our cultural programming to grow, which is why we called on for more funding of arts and cultural infrastructure in cooperation with all levels of government.
“The City of Melville, like many other local governments, bears a disproportionate cost in funding arts and cultural infrastructure in our community and there are currently no funding programs targeted at reducing costs for local governments that own and operate cultural and or arts centres.”
The two motions were part of the impetus for City of Melville representatives to attend the National General Assembly of Local Government, along with the opportunity to advocate for City of Melville projects, the Mayor said.
“City of Melville representatives met with government representatives to advocate for projects such as the Melville Cultural Heart Precinct, which includes the new Library and Cultural Centre, our climate action initiatives, the Goolugatup Heathcote Lowerlands Renewal, the Atwell House Arts Precinct, our various sports changerooms upgrades and more,” she said.
The motions will now be referred to the Australian Council of Local Government Board to inform future policy initiatives and for consideration in the development of future work programs.
