October 23, 2009
The first of about 630 delegates and visitors for the NSW Local Government Conference being held in Tamworth will begin to arrive in the city in the next two days.
The city is hosting the 2009 annual event from Saturday Oct 24 to next Wednesday with the official opening ceremony on Sunday evening followed by a three day working session.
The Local Government Association is an association of councils representing metropolitan and large regional councils to provide leadership and advocacy for the benefit of the community.
Over 600 delegates from member councils as well as representatives of county councils meet to discuss and set policy for the coming year. This year will also see Aboriginal Land Councils attend.
Visitors include mayors, councillors and senior staff from 83 councils across NSW, about 35 of those being metropolitan Sydney councils, and sponsors and partners of delegates.
President of the Local Government Association Cr Genia McCaffery said that she was delighted to be travelling to Tamworth for the conference.
“These conferences are a great way for us to discuss the current state of play in NSW Local Government,” Cr McCaffery said.
“Holding the conference in different locations in NSW each year also helps all of the council representatives to gain an insight into the different issues councils are tackling around the State.”
Tamworth Regional Council won the right to host the event with a presentation to the 2007 conference in Coffs Harbour and since then a special event group set up between Tourism Tamworth and TRC has been working behind the scenes to help organise the city’s part in the planning.
“Tamworth’s presentation was truly exceptional, and I am confident they are going to present one of the best conferences we have ever held,” Cr McCaffery said.
At least 21 motels and bed and breakfast establishments are providing accommodation for the conference visitors. About 60% of those are driving to Tamworth and the remainder will fly into the city.
The LGA business agenda for the conference has a solid three day session with about 255 motions to be debated by delegates.
This year’s conference theme is Tough Times, Smart Solutions – and many of the recommendations follow that line.
Motions range from local government reform and operations to economic, social and the built and natural environment issues and include those to change previous LGA policy and introduce completely new policy.
About 160 of the motions for debate are category one motions, which are motions not previously considered at conferences or ones which add some new aspect to existing policy. The remainder are motions referred to the executive and either deal with existing policy or have been considered before, but will not actually be debated.
Five motions have been tabled by Tamworth Regional and Armidale Dumaresq councils and deal with voluntary administration, the installation of woodheaters without council approval, increasing the sustainability of new buildings, and improving the sustainability of regional communities through boundary reform.