DUNGOG Shire Council will continue its push for a bigger share of State and Federal financial assistance grants to recognise the growing financial pressures facing smaller rural councils.
The council wants Financial Assistance Grants restored to one per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue, and reform of the Commonwealth’s funding framework to provide rural and regional councils with more sustainable funding.
The shire council will write to the relevant government ministers, the Hunter’s MPs and local government peak bodies seeking their support for reform, as well as having input into the current NSW Local Government Grants Commission’s review of funding methodology.
The shire’s Financial Assistance Grant for 2026–27 was approximately $4.15 million, a 6.2 per cent increase on its final 2025–26 allocation.
THE council is also calling for greater recognition of its role as a supplier of the Lower Hunter’s drinking water.
With Hunter Water’s Operating Licence set to expire on 30 June next year, the shire council has endorsed a submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) calling on Hunter Water to sign a new agreement with the catchment’s host councils, including Dungog.
The council argued that it plays a significant regional role by hosting and protecting the Chichester Dam and Williams River catchments, which supply drinking water to some 600,000 Lower Hunter residents. It also bears significant planning, development and infrastructure costs.
A new formal agreement would:
– Recognise catchment councils as key stakeholders.
– Establish structured and ongoing engagement with Hunter Water.
– Provide for periodic reviews of the cumulative economic and regulatory impacts on source communities, and
– Recognise that protecting the Lower Hunter’s drinking water supply is a shared regional responsibility.
DISASTER funding that better recognises the limited financial capacity and infrastructure responsibilities of small rural councils is a key element in a shire council submission to the National Emergency Management Agency.
The submission supports the Australian Government’s intention to replace the existing Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements with a new Disaster Recovery Funding Framework, which is simpler, faster and more focused on resilience.
However, the submission stressed that the reforms must not result in additional financial or administrative costs being shifted onto local government.
Among its key recommendations, Council will call for an alternative activation pathway for isolated disasters where the financial impact exceeds an individual council’s capacity, but does not meet the $2.7 million State-level activation threshold.
It will also advocate for greater flexibility to ‘build back better’, rather than repeatedly replacing disaster-damaged infrastructure to the same standard. This includes considering assets repeatedly damaged in floods and other disasters, community isolation, and future recovery costs when determining funding.
The shire is also seeking improved advance payment and reimbursement arrangements, nationally consistent administration and audit requirements, recognition of reasonable disaster management costs, and more equitable access to preventative resilience funding for small rural councils.
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