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Local government drives economic recovery from COVID-19 crisis

By intouch * posted 30-04-2020 12:09

  

​Representatives from local, state and federal governments have committed to ensuring the pace of planning approvals is unaffected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to protect jobs, businesses and the economy.

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Planning Ministers from the states and territories have met with Alan Tudge, the Federal Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure, and David O’Loughlin, the President of the Australian Local Government Association, to establish a set of principles determining how planning systems should operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The impact of COVID-19 means swift changes to planning regimes are necessary to ensure development applications can still be approved at their usual pace and other planning regulations amended to deal with the twin health and economic crises,” Tudge says in a statement.

ALGA President David O’Loughlin applauded the consensus, emphasising the need to support jobs and businesses. “We also want to ensure that new development in our cities and regions conforms with agreed local planning strategies, and that assessment processes continue to engage with local councils and their communities to the greatest extent possible under the circumstances,” he says.

Individual states and territories will make changes in accordance to existing legislation. A review is scheduled for June 2020.

In Queensland, local councils have devised a COVID-19 battleplan to create thousands of jobs and protect local communities across the state amid the evolving public health crisis.

Local Government Association of Queensland President Mark Jamieson said the $608 million Battleplan for Queensland Local Communities – which has been put to the state government for consideration – would create more than 14,000 jobs across the state to help mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and the national public health directions and ensure the state can rebuild once restrictions are lifted.

The Battleplan for Queensland Local Communities includes job-creating initiatives such as:

  • Jobs Recovery Package: A $200 million state-wide job creation program modelled on the successful Works for Queensland initiative to support more than 8,000 jobs, with $100 million earmarked for the state’s southeast.
  • Green Army: A 3,000-strong workforce focused on protecting and improving the environment across the state for the benefit of critical sectors such as agriculture and tourism.
  • Local Government Apprenticeship and Traineeship Guarantee: Providing 800 new or displaced workers with a guaranteed pathway to gain critical experience and skills.

“Funding this package will enable local governments to kickstart hundreds of community-building programs to create jobs and provide essential local economic stimulus in our communities,” Mayor Jamieson says.

“Councils are playing an important role in the local disaster responses, maintaining essential public health services like safe drinking water and rubbish collection. At the same time, they are working hard to sustain their 40,000-strong local government workforce – all critical to supporting local economies and communities.”

Mayor Jamieson says the LGAQ will continue to lobby the Commonwealth to play its part through initiatives like boosting Financial Assistance Grants by $2 billion nationally.

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