The Local Government Association of the Northern Territory is calling on Labor and the CLP to reveal their plans for local government in the NT – before Territorians head to the polls in less than a fortnight.
Association President and Darwin Lord Mayor, Kon Vatskalis said Territorians deserve to know the intentions for the sector under a new Labor Government and called on the CLP to outline how it will fund its promised reforms.
“Local government leaders across the NT are deeply concerned about the future of the sector, particularly regional councils. Labor and the CLP must inform the people of the NT about their plans so that voters can make informed decisions in the upcoming election,” said President Vatskalis.
“The NT Government has slowly been squeezing councils – particularly regional councils – by reducing funding and restricting revenue.”
The Lord Mayor said Labor had also failed to consult with the local government sector around the plans to replace regional councils with the Treaty Commission’s report recommended First Nation Governments, calling the move “a slap in the face to the Aboriginal council elected members across the Territory who have worked so hard for so long to improve the lives and conditions of people in their communities”.
“Aboriginal councils are a reality and they are working hard in regional and remote areas,” he said.
“In addition to this, the rollout of the Labor Government’s Local Decision Making policy has undermined the legitimate role of regional local government councils. Local government IS well proven local decision making so the sector must be at the table for this policy to be a success. Across the regional councils, 89% of elected members are Aboriginal.”
He says that if Labor wants to change how local government functions in regional areas, it must present a costed plan to all Territorians and consult with local councils before the election.
“Similarly, the CLP must come clean on how much its planned reform, or de-amalgamations, of local government will cost and how it will be funded. Without this detail the plan can’t be trusted.”
President Vatskalis added that if there was no plan to dismantle, reform or de-amalgamate regional local governments, then accepting LGANT’s priority requests was “simply common sense”.
The Association is asking both Labor and the CLP to support the following priorities for local government:
- Stop unfair preferencing for grants and contracts: Commit to not preferencing Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) over Aboriginal-led regional local government councils in policy and program development. This means local councils can employ local workers to do local jobs.
- Consultation, costing and funding: Ensure robust consultation and proper costing and funding of any community-led de-amalgamations to ensure continuity of services and service standards, the ongoing financial sustainability of impacted councils, and no adverse impact on other councils.
- Code of Conduct reform: Implement reform of the Local Government Code of Conduct framework including increased funding for elected member governance training and for the NT Government’s Local Government Unit to enable proactive compliance support and timely responses to misconduct complaints.
“All Territorians rely on local government services and it’s time for Labor and the CLP to show they value Territory councils,” said President Vatskalis.
Voting is now open for the 2024 Northern Territory Government Election, with election day to be held on Saturday 24 August.
