Katy tells the premiers about cross border co-operation

If the ACT government are seeking cross border cooperation then, in my opinion, they may need to show some tangible leadership. For example, when construction workers are seeking ACT Skills Training Funding the ACT government should more accommodating even though the company they work for is located in Queanbeyan NSW. The sad thing is even though ACT based construction workers are employed full time on ACT construction sites the ACT government will not offer them any skills training funding if their employer is based in NSW. This means an ACT registered company cannot have access to ACT funding if their workshop or office is located in Queanbeyan. So Kate, lets lead by example and see who follows.

johnboy said :

if it involves the spending of public funds it damn well should be politicized IMHO.

Politicised.

It recognises the reality that Canberra sits in the middle of a region of NSW, and that many of the people living in the NSW bits are Canberrans, who work and shop and use other facilities in Canberra, and that Canberrans often work and shop and recreate in the regions surrounding Canberra. The biggie seems to be education and health, which is largely provided by Canberra to NSW residents. It’s a common issue. You’d have the Qbn high schools in particular being used by kids from Palerang and maybe even Goulburn-Mulwaree, and some Palerangers using facilties in Goulburn, or Cooma.

It’s good that the ACT council and the NSW councils are trying to formalise how this happens, because that’s a good step towards some equitable funding. The NSW councils are already starved of cash by the NSW state government.

johnboy said :

if it involves the spending of public funds it damn well should be politicized IMHO.

So rather than ACT and NSW making a joint bid to get one contractor to reseal the Federal Highway in one job, we should involve committees and the public in order to get two separate jobs done at more cost, one up to the ACT border, the other from there to Goulburn?

vanaalst said :

This is not a deal directly with the NSW Government – it relates to a relationship between the ACT and the surrounding local government councils.

Well, considering the current role as the ACTs de-facto council, is it unusual for them to be striking deals with neighbouring councils? Im not sure why this is news, doesnt this happen in almost every cross-border situation, or even between neighbouring councils not on state borders? Slow news day.

Kinda makes sense that the ACT govt wants to talk at the council level, since that’s what they are really…. 😉

As the media release starts….

“ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher MLA will today reveal plans to partner with neighbouring councils to boost collective buying power and leveraging Canberra’s economic strengths to get a better deal for ratepayers across the region…”

This is not a deal directly with the NSW Government – it relates to a relationship between the ACT and the surrounding local government councils.

The South East Regional Organisation of Councils (SEROC), is just that, an organisation of Councils, which the ACT has recently joined. Each of the individual councils, and the ACT Government, are responsible to their own electorates for decisions they make. There needs not to be a further level of governance or bureaucracy thrown over this attempt at gaining efficiencies.

“…Cross-border communities need to work collaboratively to get maximum bang for their buck via agreed infrastructure investment requirements, good data collection, even joint submissions to competitive funding programs,” the Chief Minister said…”

It is not something that needs to be politicized.