House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport - Perth, WA (part 1 of 2) — hearing of 27 August 2026: transcript & video · Polyfact

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House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport - Perth, WA (part 1 of 2)

27 August 2026

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Contents updated on 27 Aug 2026

The session opens with WALGA outlining the scale, responsibilities and funding needs of WA local governments, then examines cost‑shifting, FAGs pool constraints and rating exemptions, and concludes with evidence on small‑shire service trade‑offs, GP subsidies and the limits of forced amalgamations for fiscal sustainability and representation.

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Opening — WALGA funding model and local viability

15:13

Opening and WALGA overview on funding model

15:13

Opening of hearing and WALGA representatives

15:13

WALGA — sector profile and funding principles

17:52

Cost‑shifting, FAGs pool and rating exemptions

21:34

Cost‑shifting, service expansion and rating constraints

21:34

Financial assistance grants, minimum grant tension and equity

29:29

Energy transition and rating exemptions — revenue impacts

35:43

Local viability, GP subsidies and amalgamation limits

42:35

Financial sustainability, GP subsidies and amalgamation limits

42:35

Case studies — Cockburn and Mundaring funding, housing and roads

01:02:23

Cockburn and Mundaring — growth, grants and disaster funding

01:02:23

City of Cockburn and Shire of Mundaring — openings

01:02:23

Capital grants decline, growth pressures and DRFA issues

01:13:52

Peri‑urban classification, regional eligibility and defence impacts

01:20:02

Shared services, housing partnerships and state–local road funding

01:32:30

Shared services, housing partnerships and road safety funding

01:32:30

Metropolitan growth councils — housing, infrastructure and coastal risks

01:52:24

Wanneroo and Stirling — rapid urbanisation and infrastructure gaps

01:52:24

Wanneroo and Stirling — rapid growth and funding model limits

01:52:24

Housing targets, enabling infrastructure and peri‑urban disadvantage

02:01:54

Housing targets, community infrastructure gaps and peri‑urban strain

02:01:54

Coastal erosion liabilities and expanding rate exemptions

02:20:04

Coastal erosion, targeted grants and rate exemptions

02:20:04

Regional hubs and WA Grants Commission equalisation

02:44:06

Regional hubs, FAGs inequity and mining‑related pressures

02:44:06

Geraldton and Irwin — regional hub responsibilities and FAGs inequity

02:44:06

Roads, mining impacts, co‑contributions and constrained revenue

03:02:47

WA Grants Commission — equalisation methodology and constraints

03:32:59

WA Grants Commission — methodology, minimum grant and remoteness

03:32:59

Structural funding failures, revenue erosion and workforce impacts

04:58:07

Competitive grants burden and structural funding failures

04:58:07

Competitive grants burden and structural funding failure in WA

04:58:07

Alternatives to competitive grants and revenue erosion

05:13:32

Alternatives to competitive grants, workforce shortages and revenue levers

05:13:32

ASU workforce perspective and libraries as essential social infrastructure

05:49:08

ASU WA — workforce perspectives and libraries as social infrastructure

05:49:08

House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport - Perth, WA (part 1 of 2)

27 August 2026

House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport Thu, 27 Aug 2026 Australian Parliament

15:12 - 16:21

Speaker 1

I now declare open this public hearing of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport's inquiry into local government funding and fiscal sustainability.

I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet today, and I pay my respects to their ancestors and their elders, past, present, and future. I extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultural and spiritual connections to Australia's lands and waters. In accordance with the committee's resolution of 28 August 2025, this hearing will be broadcast on the Parliament's website, and the proof and official transcripts of proceedings will be published on the inquiry website. I remind members of the media who may be present or listening on the web of the need to fairly and accurately report the proceedings of the committee. I now call on representatives from the Western Australia Local Government Association to give evidence.

For the Hansard record, would you please state your full name and the capacity in which you appear before the committee?

16:21 - 16:27

Speaker 6

Thank you very much. I'm Mayor Mark Irwin from the West Australian Local Government Association as President.

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