DR JOE GOES INTO BAT FOR LOCAL COUNCILS

The NSW Local Government Minister has been asked to intervene and stop a grants funding review that threatens to have a major impact on Lockhart Shire Council’s financial sustainability and service delivery. 

The Independent Member for Wagga, Dr Joe McGirr, has written to minister Ron Hoenig to warn him that funding changes contained in the NSW Local Government Grants Commission Proposed Financial Assistance Grants Methodology Review 2026 would have an unacceptable impact on the council and its community. 

In a submission opposing the proposal, the council says the changes would deliver an overall loss of about $1.93m every year, representing “a significant threat to Council's financial sustainability, service levels, infrastructure programs and organisational capacity”. 

Dr McGirr has shared those concerns with Mr Hoenig, warning him that the grants in their current form are essential to the council’s ability to provide services and maintain infrastructure and should not be changed to reduce funding to rural councils. 

“The proposed review is being conducted independently of the government but given the enormous harm that these changes would inflict upon Lockhart, I have asked the minister to intervene and ensure this methodology should not proceed in its current form,” Dr McGirr said. 

“I am concerned that city-based bureaucrats have come up with an unworkable idea that would do great harm to a community they do not understand. 

“Simply put, this is a damaging and poorly conceived proposal that must be immediately rejected so that Lockhart Shire and other small councils can embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future with a fair grants base to support their budgets.” 

The proposal comes at a challenging time for the council, as it works on a special rate variation designed to underpin its financial security. 

“Small regional councils like Lockhart need support, not destructive changes that strip them of revenue, and I will continue to make it clear to the government that the changes proposed in this review must not be allowed to proceed,” Dr McGirr said.