Australia’s National Local Government Newspaper LGFocus.com.au
August 2026
Refurb works complete Refurbishment works on the internal facilities of the historic Ballarat City Oval grandstand are now complete making it female-friendly and more accessible in line with the AFL Preferred Facilities Guidelines. The City of Ballarat contributed $1.7 million towards the project, alongside a $100,000 grant from the Australian Football League through the Australian Football Facilities Fund. Designed and delivered with careful consideration of City Oval’s 128-year heritage, the works include upgraded player changeroom amenities and the installation of new toilets and showers to meet AFL Local Level compliance requirements. Structural improvements have also been undertaken to ensure the building remains safe and fit for purpose well into the future. City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Tracey Hargreaves, welcomed the completion of the project, noting it would support greater participation across netball, football and athletics.
Mayor, Cr Tracey Hargreaves with AFL Venue and Government Partnerships Manager, Jessie Doull, Redan Football Netball Club President, Justin Rumble and Ballarat Football Umpires Association Chair, Chris Jones. (Supplied).
Cuts a ‘disaster’
Rural and regional communities are leading the way in a fight against the Federal Government’s proposal to replace existing Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements with a Disaster Recovery Funding Framework. From floods to bushfires, regional Australia is no stranger to natural disasters, but regional councils and state bodies are concerned about the potential consequences of a proposed Federal Government change for local government. Under the current arrangements the Commonwealth covers from 64 to 75 per cent of disaster relief funding, with the relevant State or Territory government stumping up for the remainder.
The proposed new system would see the Federal Government’s contribution fall to 50 per cent – with the State or Territory matching that. “While we welcome reform and understand the need for reduced complexity in funding arrangements, there is a risk here that it could lead to unintended outcomes,” Coffs Harbour Mayor Nikki Williams said. “The big concern from a local government
perspective is that the NSW Government may seek to pass its funding shortfall onto councils, or that relief funding could be delayed which would obviously be a very poor result for local communities at a vulnerable time in the wake of a disaster,” Mayor Nikki Williams said. “Of the three tiers of government, councils have the smallest of budgets and we’ve already faced many examples of cost-shifting across a variety of services over many years.
“Local Government NSW estimated costshifting was short-changing NSW Councils to the tune of $1.5 billion in 2023/24 alone – the equivalent of more than $490 per ratepayer annually. Enough is enough.” New research has found three out of four Queenslanders are worried about the threat of the cut to Federal disaster funding. Continued page 2
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