Big improvements in the approaches of the major parties to a range of issues important to local communities have resulted in better grades for both the Liberal National Party and the Labor Party in the LGAQ’s final report card for the 2019 federal election campaign.
Ahead of Saturday’s poll, the LGAQ has rated the performance of the Australian Labor Party a B-plus on meeting the policy proposals laid out in the Association’s 7-point election plan, while the LNP was also a big improver, attracting a final grade of B-minus.
LGAQ President and Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said that while local communities should not be totally satisfied with the response of parties contesting the election, the commitments of both the LNP and Labor had improved significantly since the election campaign began.
“These improvements show that what concerns local communities is increasingly important to political and electoral success at the federal level,” he said.
“We began this campaign with no party rating better than a C-minus, but end it with the only two parties in a position to form government after Saturday in a much better policy position.”
“Local communities in Queensland now have firm commitments on policies such as infrastructure investment, zero waste, indigenous housing and protection of the Great Barrier Reef.”
Mayor Jamieson said there had also been policy shifts from some of the minor parties contesting the election, an important development given the potentially pivotal role their candidates might play on the crossbenches in the new federal Parliament.
However, he said it was disappointing that, out of all the parties rated, only Katter’s Australia Party was prepared to back the call by local councils across Australia to restore Commonwealth financial assistance grants to proper and reasonable levels.
“We will continue to push for these grants to be lifted to at least 1 percent of the total taxation revenue flowing to Canberra because this funding is vital to ensuring the well-being of local communities and can be far more effectively spent when managed and delivered locally,” he said.