Minute With The Mayor - Mayor Ramon Jayo 19th May

NO BIOFUELS COMMITMENT IN BUDGET

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Unfortunately, the Federal Budget handed down on Tuesday night did not include anything specific for our part of Kennedy.

Our requests included funding assistance for better waste and recycling facilities, as well as support for disaster resilience. Perhaps announcements impacting our region may appear in the finer details to be released later — I remain hopeful.

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We do, however, welcome the $2 billion boost for housing-related trunk infrastructure nationally, along with the additional $750 million to continue programs such as Growing Regions.  

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These funding opportunities are not guaranteed and are available to all councils as contestable grants. This means councils must apply and compete against one another, and smaller councils like ours face significant challenges competing with larger regions.

While we see some willingness to partner with councils through increased housing investment — such as the $2 billion housing fund — it must be remembered that this funding is proposed to be rolled out over four years across the entire country.  

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As I said, it is going to be a challenge.

Councils need a fairer share of funding from the Commonwealth to support day-to-day operations however; this was largely absent from Tuesday’s Budget.

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Local governments and their communities are continuing to see the core funding program — Financial Assistance Grants — decline as a percentage of total taxation revenue, now sitting at just 0.49 per cent.  

This was once 1 per cent, but successive governments have failed to maintain the payment to local government, even in line with CPI. Decreasing federal support ultimately shifts the burden onto ratepayers as operational costs continue to rise.

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This is extremely disappointing, as untied funding from FA Grants allows councils to allocate resources in line with their communities’ priorities because no one understands their communities better than local government.

It was encouraging, however, to hear that the government will spend $2.55 billion to reduce the fuel excise and heavy road user charge for three months, in response to global energy market disruptions and as a short-term cost-of-living measure.

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A separate $10 billion fuel security investment will expand national stockpiles to 50 days, increase storage capacity, and assess options to strengthen domestic refining capability.  However, once again there was no mention of support or consideration for biofuels as a means of improving future fuel security and reducing dependence on overseas sources.

North Queensland is perfectly positioned to capitalise on and deliver biofuel production for Australia, thanks to our existing agricultural practices, infrastructure, and supply chains.  

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Yet we continue to receive no clear answer as to why the government will not support the creation of this new industry, let alone actively invest in getting it underway.

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Our turn must surely be coming.

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