General News
5 March, 2025
North West leaders ready to make pitch in fight against red tape
Mayors say the the current system of forcing councils to compete against one another is broken.
North West mayors will push for regional collaboration to stop councils from competing against each other for infrastructure funding when it meets with the state government’s red tape reduction taskforce on Friday.
North West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (NWQROC) executive director Greg Hoffman will host a meeting alongside North West councils with the newly established taskforce that will examine how to reduce regulation to better deliver frontline local government projects and services.
NWQROC has dedicated much of the past 12 months to promoting a new funding process that would allow multiple councils to receive an allocation of state or federal funding that could be distributed evenly to deliver major infrastructure projects for a region.
The NWQ Enabling Infrastructure Masterplan, released last year, also calls for funding to be made available for the same project across multiple government departments.
This would increase the amount of money available to allow bigger and more ambitious infrastructure projects to be constructed.
Mr Hoffman said the current system of forcing councils to compete against one another for limited funding distributed by single state and federal departments was not the best management of public funds.
He said the successful distribution of $45 million to 10 councils for flood mitigation projects across the NWQROC, as reported by North West Weekly, demonstrated a practical example of how increased regional collaboration could be delivered.
He said this could be used as a case study to be examined and extended.
“I think we have an opportunity with this new (Crisafulli) government to look at the example of how the flood monies were recently distributed and that model could produce what we would argue is a far better outcome for public money,” Mr Hoffman said.
“Red tape is more than just regulation because the current processes involved in grant and funding structures are horrendous.
“The process of seeking money, applying for the grant, getting success, signing agreements and meeting reporting could all be done in a better way – and we will certainly be arguing for that.”
Mr Hoffman also called on the newly established Queensland Productivity Commission to investigate the processes for distributing funding to local government.
He said NWQROC would continue to look for opportunities to promote its alternative funding strategy proposal.
“The traditional funding models have obviously been there a long time,” he said.
“There are established departments with long term bureaucrats and that is why we have the current systems in place that we have where money is siloed into specific areas. We would really like to have an independent body, such as the Productivity Commission, cast its eye over this system and determine whether it is the best method to use public funds.
“We don’t think the current system is the best way and that new alternatives should be explored.
“We now have an example of how an alternative funding model could work and it is a good opportunity to explore this.”