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Editors --- "The Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 (Cth) - Digest" [1996] AUIndigLawRpr 58; (1996) 1(3) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 444

The Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995 (Cth)

Section 3 sets out the objects of the Act:

Objects of Act

3. (1) This section explains the objects of the Parliament in enacting this Act.

(2) The Parliament wishes to provide financial assistance to the States for the purposes of improving:

(a) the financial capacity of local governing bodies; and

(b) the capacity of local governing bodies to provide their residents with an equitable level of services; and

(c) the certainty of funding for local governing bodies; and

(d) the efficiency and effectiveness of local government bodies; and

(e) the provision by local governing bodies of services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

(3) The financial assistance is to be provided by the making to the States, for local government purposes, of general grants under s. 9 and additional funding under s. 12.

(4) In providing this financial assistance the Parliament's goals are to:

(a) increase the transparency and accountability of the States in respect of the allocation of the funds under this Act to local governing bodies: and

(b) promote consistency in the methods by which grants are allocated to achieve equitable levels of services by local governing bodies.

(5) To achieve those goals this Act provides for:

(a) the formulation of national principles for the purposes of the allocation of funds by the States to local governing bodies (s. 6); and

(b) the making of an annual report to the Parliament about the operation of this Act (sub 16(1)); and

(c) an assessment of the performance of local governing bodies (sub 16(3)).

The substantial body of the Act sets out processes for the development of principles for the allocation of financial assistance among governing bodies and the process by which grants of financial assistance are to be made (ss. 6-15). Section 16 requires the Minister to report on the operation of the Act each year.
Section 16 provides:

Reports

16.(1) The Minister must, as soon as practicable after 30 June in each year, cause a report or reports to be prepared about the operation of this Act in respect of the year.

Note: The first report under this subsection will relate to the year beginning on 1 July 1995; see the definition of 'year' in subs 4(2).

(2) The Minister must ensure that relevant State Ministers and a body or bodies representative of local government are consulted in connection with the preparation of a report under subs (1).

(3) The report or one of the reports must include an assessment by the Minister (based on comparable national data), in relation to the year, of:

(a) the extent (if any) to which the allocation of funds for local government purposes has been made on a full horizontal equalisation basis as mentioned in par 6(2)(a); and

(b) the methods used by the Local Government Grants Commissions in making their recommendations; and

(c) the performance by local governing bodies of their functions including:

(i) their efficiency; and

(ii) services provided by them to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

(4) The Minister must cause a copy of each report to be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as practicable after the report has been prepared.