Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:00): (2559) My adjournment is to the Minister for Local Government. The action I seek is that the minister meet with me to discuss the growing regulatory burden on local government. In the same week Minister Hamer was swanning around Melbourne spruiking his dodgy fair jobs code I travelled 1200 kilometres across rural and regional Victoria meeting directly with councils. The same issue came up every time: regulation, regulation, regulation, red tape, white tape, green tape – every variation on the theme. That is Labor’s idea of reform. The inquiry into local government funding and services heard consistent evidence of this growing burden. A year after its response the government has sat on its hands.

One small shire in my region told me the approval process to construct a 1-metre levee took nearly two years and half a million dollars. That is the same amount this government is spending on either the Ararat bypass or the Beaufort bypass next financial year. Another small shire, a sneeze away from insolvency, has experienced half a dozen disaster events affecting 1300 sites, with every fallen tree and every broken fence photographed and documented in the hope of reimbursement. They did not bother claiming half those sites, because the time involved far outweighed the money they would get back. They now need $190,000 a year just to hire two staff that will no doubt spend half their time on grant applications. If this government had any common sense, it would simplify these processes or provide untied funding instead.

Then there are the plethora of mandatory reporting requirements, gender impact assessments, fair access policies, health and wellbeing strategies and deliberative community consultation processes. One large shire spent $25,000 on a gender reporting consultant – not a pothole filled, not a drain cleared, a report written. One metropolitan council faces $60 million in costs to comply with the fair access policy for sports facilities, with not a cent from the state. Then there are outfits like the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, the Department of Transport and Planning and Melbourne Water operating inside silos within the tram tracks, with none bearing the cost of their own delays. Queensland has passed the Local Government (Empowering Councils) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2026, with its minister saying explicitly the changes were about cutting red tape and respecting ratepayers money. Queensland acted; Victoria has gone backwards. As one mayor said to me, with great responsibility should come appropriate authority and autonomy. Minister, get out of the way and let local government get on with their job.