The Albanese Government’s own Local Government National Report on performance for the 2023-24 financial year – released quietly on July 16 – shows their continued contempt for the local government sector.
Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey MP asked why the Federal Local Government Minister was hiding from what the report makes abundantly clear.
The Department of Infrastructure report lays bare the extent of the funding crisis facing Australia’s 538 councils and revealed Labor’s absolute failure to reverse the decline in critical Commonwealth support for local government.
Mr Chaffey said the report clearly shows the struggle councils face in managing a $690 billion asset base on a dwindling budget.
“Every year under this Labor Government, the gap is widening,” Mr Chaffey said. “The Financial Assistance Grants are indexed only to CPI and population growth without taking into account rapidly rising council costs.
“True reform is needed. The 2025-26 Federal Inquiry into Local Government Funding and Fiscal Responsibility has received more than 250 submissions from councils across Australia who are pleading for structural reform – but Labor has failed to act.
“There is only a fraction of the funding that was available under previous Coalition Governments. Labor has cut the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program and the Building Better Regions Fund, replacing them with less money through a competitive grant program that pits small councils against larger, better-resourced councils for a shrinking pool of support.
“For small councils, it’s a David versus Goliath battle.”
The Productivity Commission’s Annual Data Compilation Report shows only 4 of 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track – with Indigenous councils facing the greatest disadvantage.
Mr Chaffey said the report told a damning story about a government that talked the talk on local government, but failed to walk the walk.
“This report was published without fanfare by Labor’s own department, and it tells a damning story about a government that talks up its commitment to local government while systematically underfunding the sector,” he said.
“Labor has spent billions on a Housing Australia Fund, a National Reconstruction Fund and net zero subsidy programs, but it is leaving the sector that builds the roads, runs the water, maintains the parks and looks after the everyday essentials of Australians floundering.”
Mr Chaffey said since Labor came to office in 2022, the Australian Council of Local Government had met only six times and had produced no structural reform, no Financial Assistance Grants restoration, and no strategy to eliminate cost shifting.
“Labor’s own department has now documented the scale of the crisis, and their report reveals a sector in distress, a funding model in structural decline, and a government that has failed to act. Only a Coalition Government will act to restore trust and respect with Australian communities through their councils.”
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Media contact:
Marie Low (Jamie Chaffey’s office) | 0491 940 108 | marie.low@aph.gov.au