The Association has worked on a number of projects such as the roll out of the Bilateral Agreement on Indigenous Affairs and other community-based issues for Indigenous people.

• WALGA Functional Communities Presentation

Local Government Advisory Board Report

Minister Castrilli released LGAB report publicly on 6 August 2009. Please see the link below.

• LGAB Inquiry into Government Service Delivery to Indigenous Communities - Interim WALGA Submission July 2008
• Correspondence
• Report on the Inquiry into Local Government Service Delivery to Indigenous Communities

National Municipal & Essential Services Audit

A national Municipal and Essential Services Audit (the Audit) was agreed to by the Commonwealth, States and the Northern Territory under the National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing.  

The key objective of the audit is to assess levels of outstanding need and clarify funding and service responsibility for the future delivery of municipal and essential services.  As agreed at Housing Ministers Conference on 27 March 2009, the audit will provide the basis for the progressive transfer of responsibility of municipal and essential services to the States by 1 July 2012, depending on agreement being reached with individual jurisdictions. It was agreed that a joint Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory Steering Committee would be established to oversee the broad direction of the audit.

The Steering Committee will be established to:

• Provide a mechanism for joint representation of Commonwealth, State and Territory interests in the conduct of the audit of municipal and essential services.
• Provide broad oversight on the direction and progress of the audit.
• Coordinate the provision of information and data on the level of municipal and essential services in communities within the audit scope.

The Steering Committee will provide leadership and set the direction on issues of strategic importance to the audit process. The outcomes from this process will be a key component in underpinning future Commonwealth and State negotiations on these issues with a report due to COAG in December this year.

The Department of Housing is leading the State Government response and has established a WA State Reference Group to inform their contribution to the Joint Committee. WALGA has been invited to participate on the State Reference Group.