Across the Kiama electorate, our three independent councils — Kiama, Shoalhaven and Shellharbour — are under the pump. Rates rise, roads crumble, coastal risks grow, and tempers flare. The easy story says, “blame council”. The true story is more uncomfortable: local government is a State responsibility, created and constrained by NSW law, and the funding architecture they rely on has been eroded and gamified over decades.

If we want reliable services and resilient communities, our State MP has to advocate to fix the system — not just chase ribbon cutting headlines and rely on council bashing and  blame-shifting when things go wrong.

Councils are State-made and State-managed

Most people I talk to aren’t aware that Councils are a State responsibility that exist under the NSW Local Government Act. Their powers, obligations and reporting lines are set in Macquarie Street. They deliver local public goods — roads, libraries, parks, waste, stormwater, local planning — from a revenue mix they can not control: rate income capped by a State-set peg; user charges and fees constrained by regulation; and State and Federal grants determined elsewhere. When the State changes the rules or shifts costs, councils wear it first. No wonder they are stressed!

How councils got broke

The 1% that withered to 0.51%.

A few generations back the Federal Financial Assistance Grants that Councils rely on to deliver roads, rubbish and so much more sat near 1% of Commonwealth tax revenue. Today they’re about 0.51%. Restoring the pool to at least 1% wouldn’t solve everything, but it would almost double predictable, untied funding so councils can plan beyond the next photo op — worth roughly +$2.3m for Kiama, +$6.3m for Shellharbour, and +$14.8m for Shoalhaven each year- it would be a stabiliser and a game changer. 

Cost shifting, year after year.

Responsibilities that once sat with State agencies have been pushed down — from elements of emergency services to compliance burdens and new standards — without matching, permanent funding. Councils end up stretched and stressed, paying for more, with less predictable income.

The rate-peg straitjacket.

What Councils can charge us to deliver services is controlled by State Government via the the annual rate peg. A nightmare for Councils as it rarely keeps pace with construction and insurance spikes, let alone the wild card of disaster repair bills. No one wants to pay more in Council rates- but by constraining special rate variations our Councils are unable to readjust their revenue base to meet increasing demands of our aging infrastructure. 

Emergency Services Levy (ESL).

NSW councils must pay 11.7% of the state’s emergency-services budget each year. When the government changes settings—like lifting agency budgets—councils are slugged with unplanned, mid-year increases running to millions sector-wide, with no matching revenue to cover them. Every extra dollar diverted to our emergency services is a dollar not available for local roads, drainage, playgrounds or coastal protection works.

Disaster “replace, don’t improve”.

After fires, floods or erosion, too much funding still pays to rebuild what failed — not to better it for the next event. That traps our communities in a costly loop of damage and band-aid repairs, squabbles over what is a local road or a state road- or dependent on competitive grants to get workable roads.

Competitive grants that gamify.

The grants treadmill forces councils to chase short-term solutions and political cycles. It’s no way to plan or fund major infrastructure. The result is the sort of postcode politics people hate, endless announcements before planning, and projects that start without the enabling and synchronising works in place.

Our reality, without the spin

In our region, the bill is coming due. Kiama has grappled with structural deficits and coastal risks from the Minnamurra estuary to Seven Mile Beach. Shoalhaven faces a massive roads and bridges backlog compounded by fires and floods. Shellharbour struggles to keep focus on delivery while governance “noise” — complaint processes, referrals, tit-for-tat politics — sucks oxygen from the room. These are not unique failures; they are typical outcomes when the funding architecture is narrow, volatile and easily politicised.

Synchronising infrastructure — not choreographing ribbon-cuttings

We all welcome the big-ticket State projects — highways and hospitals — but they only translate into a better daily life if the enabling works land at the same time:

• Local roads and bridges that handle new traffic patterns and evacuation routes.
  
• Sewerage and water upgrades sized for expected growth and changing weather.
  
• Public transport improvements that connect people to the hospital, jobs and education they need.
  
• Social and key-worker housing so vulnerable community can live with dignity and nurses and hospitality workers alike can live near where they’re needed.
  

Right now, those parts are too often out of sync because grants and announcements follow political calendars, not engineering logic. We need a planning-led approach where State capital works and council programs are tied together by design, not by press conference.

Disasters: no bandaids, it’s time for betterment

This is one of the most disaster-exposed regions in the country. Rebuilding to yesterday’s standard is a false economy. Betterment — rebuilding stronger, higher, smarter — must be the default, not the exception. That means drainage upgrades before the storm season, resilient pavements and bridges, coastal adaptation that protects public and private assets, and bushfire buffers designed to the new reality. It’s no secret who has been saying this most consistently: independents and community advocates who are not beholden to party lines or yearly talking points.

Governance and workplace stability matter

Our Councils can be awful places to work. Our region is suffering from a crazy level of CEO churn and the tit for tat of dysfunctional complaint processes being weaponised for partisan political agendas. Redundancy payouts for sacked chief executives, long-running investigations, escalating legal bills and declining standards of behaviour in council chambers burn money and morale. Workplaces become unsafe, good staff leave, and delivery slows. The answer is not more politics; it’s clearer, independent oversight for complaints against mayors and senior executives, a standardised integrity framework that targets real misconduct (fraud, corruption, undue influence), and streamlined reporting so time is spent on services, not box-ticking.

What needs to change — systemic fixes, not slogans

• Restore the 1%: phase Federal Financial Assistance Grants back toward 1% of Commonwealth tax revenue, with a timetable. It's base funding for base services.
  
• Stop cost shifting: reform the emergency services levy urgently so responsibilities match funding.
  
• Replace the rate peg with a transparent, needs-based framework that reflects actual input costs and growth.
  
• Modernise developer contributions, linking them to lifetime infrastructure costs so existing ratepayers don’t subsidise profit driven growth.
  
• Replace pork with purpose: move from politicised, competitive grants to a predictable, independent, needs-based pool that lets councils plan multi-year works.
  
• Mandate synchronisation: tie State “big build” milestones to funded local enabling works (roads, sewerage, public transport, housing) so projects open ready to help not hurt liveability.
  
• Embed betterment as the default in disaster recovery programs; we need to stop with the expensive bandaids and agree who will fund prevention and preparation before the next unnatural disaster hits.
  
• Clean up governance: independent complaints handling for top roles; clear definitions to prevent weaponising codes of conduct; simpler reporting focused on outcomes is desperately needed from our Office of Local Government.
  

We don’t have to be grateful or dependent

We get what we’re entitled to — not what the major parties “give” us. Funding and integrity settings are statutory responsibilities, not favours. If we stop the council-bashing and fix the architecture — the 0.51% grants share, the peg, the ESL, the grants game, the synchronisation gap and the lack of betterment — we can turn “broke and broken” into stable and delivering. That’s how highways and hospitals translate into safer streets, reliable services and homes people can actually afford. That’s how we protect what we love and prepare for what’s coming next.

-- ENDS --

About Kate Dezarnaulds and Her Campaign for Kiama

Kate Dezarnaulds is an independent candidate for Kiama, committed to delivering practical, community-driven solutions for the South Coast in the model of the Community Independents Project and backed by Climate200. A local business leader and advocate for regional investment, Kate is focused on fixing real issues, including improving infrastructure, strengthening local economies, and ensuring government funding reaches the people who need it. Kate’s campaign is built on listening to the community, advocating for transparency, and working collaboratively to achieve meaningful change. She believes that Kiama deserves a strong, independent voice in Macquarie Street—one that puts people before politics.

Authorised by Kate Dezarnaulds, 3/68 Albert St, Berry NSW 2535