Qld councils gather in Mackay for annual conference
Local government representatives from across Queensland will meet in Mackay in the state's north this week to discuss population issues.
More than 600 delegates will attend the annual Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) conference.
LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam says the theme is 'People and Places' and the focus will be on population growth.
"Particularly about the effect of the mining boom on mining towns and the regions that support them," he said.
"There's a lot of pressure on the south-east corner on housing and housing affordability and it's really a different debate to what we've had in the past.
"This will really be about people and places - whether you're in the far west, a major provincial centre, or the booming south-east corner."
Mr Hallam says the current federal political uncertainty will also be discussed.
"We would want to see our roads funding secured and other funding secured," he said.
"We've made all those submissions prior to the federal election and we got the commitments from both sides of politics.
"There are some differences obviously around the broadband."
Representatives will also discuss environmentally friendly waste management, remuneration and State Government issues.
Mr Hallam says two innovative zero-waste management options will be discussed.
"We use one of two processes - either plasma heat or gaseous extraction - to form what's known as syngas off the byproduct of burning or extracting gas from the process," he said.
"It is a very costly process but it's certainly very positive for the environment in that there are no emissions into the air and nothing going into the soil."
The conference runs until Thursday.
By Sigrid Brown
Source: ABC News
