The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and the LGAQ is calling on councils to join the ‘End the Freeze Campaign’ - urging the Turnbull Government to confirm the return of indexation of Financial Assistance Grants (FA Grants) to this year’s federal budget.
In 2014 the Government froze indexation of FA Grants for three years. According to the Government’s estimates, the freeze will see councils miss out on close to $1 billion over the four years to 30 June 2018.
ALGA has created a website and a council advocacy kit to assist councils take an active part in the campaign through templates, talking points, background information and a planned twitter thunder clap. ALGA also encourages councils to write to their local federal member and use local media to communicate local stories from the frontline.
President of ALGA Mayor David O’Loughlin said councils need certainty around these vital grants.
"ALGA’s number one advocacy priority over the next two months is to ensure that the Government honours its commitment to restore indexation to FA Grants in this year’s Federal Budget," he said.
"With Budget preparations and discussions already well underway, now is the time to remind the Commonwealth of its commitments to local government."