Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on Federal Financial Relations

COAG has reaffirmed its commitment to cooperative working arrangements through an historic new IGA that provides an overarching framework for the Commonwealth’s financial relations with the States and Territories (the States). 

More information on this Agreement and National Partnerships is now available.

Reports

Report on Recommendations 3.1 and 4.1 of the First Report of the Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services

Recommendations 3.1 and 4.1 of the First Report of the Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services (CGRIS) included the following reform options:

  • aggregation of departmental funding into a master contract in each remote location to achieve greater funding flexibility; and
  • establishment of a single, whole of government contracting entity to plan and manage construction of community facilities in remote locations.

At its April 2010 meeting, COAG agreed to an inter-jurisdictional working group being formed to prepare a further report to COAG which would include examination of these reform options for flexible funding approaches and for improving the planning and management of construction projects in Remote Service Delivery (RSD) priority locations.

This report outlines the findings of the inter-jurisdictional working group in relation to the underlying issues raised by the CGRIS in addition to the specific Recommendations 3.1 and 4.1.

Annual Report on the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery (NPA RSD) for the Year to September 2010

Clause 25 of the NPA RSD states that the Commonwealth will report annually to COAG on implementation of the NPA RSD.

The Annual Report covers progress on implementation of the NPA RSD over the 12 month period from September 2009 to September 2010.

The preparation of the Annual Report was coordinated by the Commonwealth Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.  The Annual Report was developed with Coordinators-General in each of the signatory States and the Northern Territory, key State/Territory officials and a range of Commonwealth agencies.

Indigenous Expenditure Report 2010

In December 2007, Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to reporting transparently on expenditure on services to Indigenous Australians. The Indigenous Expenditure Report Steering Committee — under the auspices of the Heads of Treasuries — developed a National Framework for collecting and reporting information on government expenditure on services to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. A high-level overview of the reporting approach was endorsed by COAG at its 2 July 2009 meeting in Darwin. The first Indigenous Expenditure Report, containing data on the levels and patterns of government expenditure in 2008-09, was publically released on 28 February 2011.

Energy Efficiency

On 2 July 2009, COAG agreed to the National Partnership Agreement on Energy Efficiency (NP Agreement) which outlines a comprehensive suite of measures (the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency or NSEE) to provide a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to improving energy efficiency and thus the productivity of the Australian economy. The Senior Officials Group on Energy Efficiency is to provide to COAG an annual consolidated report on the overall progress made in implementing the NP Agreement within three months of the end of the financial year, on the basis of the Ministerial Councils’ and jurisdictions' individual reports.

At its meeting held on 2 December 2011, COAG Senior Officials, on behalf of COAG, noted the progress achieved across each measure under the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency as outlined in the 2010-11 Annual Report on the National Partnership Agreement on Energy Efficiency, with highlights from the second year of the NSEE including:

  1. development of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) Scheme;
  2. endorsement of the National Green Lease Policy framework for Government buildings;
  3. positive public response to the LivingGreener.gov.au web portal;
  4. inclusion of more stringent energy efficiency standards in the 2010 Building Code of Australia, with adoption by jurisdictions of the 6-star (or equivalent) standard for residential buildings underway; and
  5. a major revision of the Your Home Technical Manual for publication in 2012.

The annual report for 2009–10 was provided to COAG Senior Officials, on behalf of COAG, on 30 September 2010.

In addition, COAG Senior Officials, on behalf of COAG, also agreed to an amended NSEE, to reflect machinery of government changes, other administrative and governance changes and changes to program priorities during 2009–10.

Business Regulation and Competition

Out of session in August 2008, COAG agreed to the following documents:

COAG also agreed to the national policy framework for the assessment, registration and control of use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

Jurisdictions’ Reviews of Existing Climate Change Mitigation Measures – Final Report of the Complementary Measures Sub-Group

In December 2007, COAG agreed to develop a coherent and streamlined set of climate change measures across jurisdictions to complement a national emissions trading scheme.  Subsequently, COAG agreed that each jurisdiction would review the complementarity of its existing climate change mitigation measures with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and provide a final summary, outlining the actions each jurisdiction had taken to respond to its own review.  Complementarity Principles, to underpin these reviews, were endorsed by COAG on 29 November 2008.  COAG has agreed that a final summary report of jurisdictions’ reviews would be presented to COAG Senior Officials.  The Complementary Measures Sub-Group, formerly under the Working Group on Climate Change and Water, has undertaken this work.

This final report provides an outline of the review processes conducted by each jurisdiction, including key findings and responses.

Discussion Paper for the Review of the Report on Government Services

COAG has requested that a Senior Officials and Heads of Treasuries Working Group undertake a review of the Report on Government Services. As part of this review, a discussion paper on the Report on Government Services has been released. Interested parties are invited to provide feedback on the discussion paper from 18 May to 17 July 2009.

Technology roadmaps

On 13 April 2007, COAG agreed that four technology road maps would be developed, covering the following technologies: hydrogen; geothermal; solar thermal; and coal gasification. The hydrogen, geothermal and solar thermal road maps have now been completed.  The roadmap on coal gasification was not progressed, as the technology is being advanced through research funded by other fora.

Hydrogen

Geothermal

Solar Thermal

The above Solar Thermal report is supplied by a third party and is graphic rich, making the DOC file size very large. If you have difficulty accessing the report please contact the COAG Unit through the contact us form or call (02) 6271 5111.

National Numeracy Review

The National Numeracy Review, commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is an independent review undertaken by a panel of experts led by Professor Gordon Stanley.  The report informs best practice for teaching numeracy and mathematics.  The report identified 15 recommendations with a focus on:

  • the need for early, systematic teaching of numeracy and mathematics that includes assessment activities to ensure that all students have the foundational skills to progress through a developmental continuum; and
  • increasing resources for teachers in terms of professional development and pre-service teacher education to address the identified shortfalls in both mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to ensure quality teaching of numeracy and mathematics across the curriculum.

Key documents informing the review including Terms of Reference, Background Paper, Discussion Paper, Invitational Forum Summary and Submissions from organisations can be accessed on the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations website.

The DOC version of the National Numeracy Review has been reproduced from the PDF version. The PDF version remains the authoritative version of the document.

If you have any problems accessing this document or you have any questions or queries relating to the report please contact the:

Director Literacy and Numeracy
Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations
GPO Box 9880
CANBERRA CITY  ACT  2601

Email: NumeracyReview@deewr.gov.au     

COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health (2006 - 2011)

On 14 July 2006, COAG endorsed the National Action Plan on Mental Health with monitoring implementation of the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health (2006 - 2011) to be reported on annually by Australian Health Ministers. The first, second and third progress reports can be found below:

Report on the Regulation and Control of Biological Agents

Information about the progress of implementing the recommendations of the Report is available on the Department of Health and Ageing’s website.

Last Updated: 29 February, 2012