Council was one of 15 Victorian councils and the only one from Gippsland to participate in the Inquiry into Local Government Sustainability late last month.

The inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport has a particular focus on financial sustainability and funding of local government, and changing infrastructure and service delivery obligations.

CEO Fiona Weigall outlined the need to include betterment into disaster funding parameters to support sustainable outcomes in a changing climate.

Ms Weigall used the example where we have had disaster recovery funding five times to replace the same section of road, but funding guidelines did not permit us to improve the road.

We also:

• Encouraged more investment in prevention through grants such as the Disaster Ready Fund because, it's investment before a disaster that makes us more sustainable and improves sustainability for all levels of government.
  ‍
• Welcomed the increase in Commonwealth Roads to Recovery funding, but highlighted local government was no better off with local government contribution to projects increasing from 20 to 50 per cent.

Asked the Commonwealth to consider equitable and not competitive funding

Learn more and read the full transcript on the Parliament of Australia website.

‍