Roads, regions, resilience: ALGA’s Local Roads and Transport Congress headed to Wagga Wagga
Australia’s premier local roads conference
being held in Wagga Wagga NSW this week has been expanded to address 2020’s biggest
events – the Black Summer bushfires and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The profound impacts these two disasters
have had on local communities will be a major focus of the expanded two-day
event being convened by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).
How Australia can be made a more resilient
and inclusive society post-Covid will also be canvassed at the Wagga Special
Local Roads and Transport Congress.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack
will detail the Federal Government’s Covid-19 measures and its plans to enable
rural and regional communities to build back better, while the National
Bushfire Recovery Agency’s Major-General Andrew (Hocks) will provide advice on
how local communities have responded to the most damaging fire in living memory.
Dr Richard Harris, whose heroic role in the
Thailand Cave rescue of 2018 was recognised with the Australian of the Year
Award, will deliverer a keynote address.
Some of Australia’s most knowledgeable
local infrastructure experts, including Warren Sharpe (president of the
Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (NSW), will be at Wagga to
enlighten delegates about what lessons local government can learn from
disasters, and how resilience can be embedded within communities to reduce
future risks.
Patty Kinnersly, chief executive of the
not-for-profit Our Watch organisation, will launch the family violence
Prevention Toolkit for Local Government, and Federal Local Government Minister
Mark Coulton will announce the 2020 National Award for Local Government as well
as his special Ministers’ Award for Progressive Community Leadership.
ALGA’s newly elected President, Councillor
Linda Scott, said local governments were continuing to go the extra mile on
behalf of their communities – even though many are now in a precarious
financial position because of the twin natural disasters.
“We have supported communities and local
businesses through the worst of the financial downturn – partnering with the
federal, state and territory governments to deliver significant support and
stimulus measures,” Cr Scott said.
Councils have responded to the initiatives
contained in last month’s Federal Budget, including an additional $1 billion
for the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) program, more Building
Better Regions funding, an apprenticeships program, and more funds for
telecommunications blackspots, by rolling out shovel-ready projects that will
deliver immediate as well as long-term benefits.
“Councils are heavily invested in creating
a brighter, more sustainable future for their communities – and this Congress
will enable them to deliver that,” Cr Scott said.
Wagga Wagga Mayor Greg Conkey OAM said he looked
forward to the Congress.
“This is the largest rural and regional centre
in NSW, and we’ll be able to showcase the city to a wider audience.”
He said the annual Congress enabled local
councils to share information and knowledge – and provided a means for them to lobby
state and federal governments concerning the importance of local roads.
“We control 80 percent of local roads in Australia, and it is vitally important that we get sufficient funding to maintain and improve that road system,” he said.
The Congress is being held at the Wagga
campus of Charles Sturt University, with online access for those people who are
unable to travel to the NSW Riverina because of Covid-19 restrictions.
ENDS