From Hilltops Council – Marg Roles

This week has been an exciting week for Hilltops. Our new joint use library in Young is open for business.

The build is beautiful and gives endless possibilities for community use. Both the school and public areas seem so comfortable in their spaces. It is a building that opens out and welcomes us all.

I congratulate everyone who has been part of the journey – thank you for the contribution you have made to the realisation of this project – a library for the future for our beautiful Hilltops.

During the past weeks I have been attending, on your behalf, meetings, and forums with both national and state levels of government. The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National General Assembly (NGA) was held in Canberra in June as was the first Australian Council of Local Government (ACLG) to be held since 2013.

During the Council, mayors from across the nation were addressed by the Prime Minister and senior government ministers. The dialogue continued with panel discussions and questions from the floor. There was positive recognition of the importance of local government which hopefully, will be reflected in federal legislation.

During the Assembly, 537 local governments joined the discussion on how we can best partner with the Federal Government to deliver a better future for our communities.

Maintenance of vast road networks, connectivity, water supply issues, housing and skills shortages were top of the agenda. Concerns were also raised about the shortage of general practitioners in country areas and limited TAFE availability for country kids.

All were underlined by the issue of ongoing financial sustainability or as Minister Kristy McBain understated: ‘tricky financial times’.

Together with the member Councils of Canberra Region Joint Organisation (CRJO) I have also recently met with several of the new state government ministers. Financial sustainability was once again, high on the agenda. It is vital that all levels of government work together for a positive future for local government areas.

Margaret Roles
Mayor

• Topics:

• Local Council
• Community