The ongoing struggle for adequate funding has prompted Balranald Shire’s leadership to make a passionate plea for greater support from higher levels of government, with stark warnings about the sustainability of rural council operations.

During the Mayoral Report at November's council meeting, Mayor Louie Zaffina delivered a blunt assessment of the financial pressures facing regional communities.

“The fact is that councils are surviving on the smell of an oily rag and cannot be sustained,” he told fellow councillors. The mayor’s comments came after attending the Country Mayors Association annual general meeting at NSW Parliament House, where he also met with the Governor of NSW. A key focus of advocacy efforts has been lobbying for increased Federal Assistance Grants, with calls to lift the rate from its current 0.55 per cent back to the 1.5 per cent originally provided in 1978.

Chief Executive Officer Terry Dodds elaborated on the frustration felt by rural communities over the distribution of Federal Assistance Grants. He pointed to what he described as an inequitable situation where metropolitan councils are publicly questioning whether they even need the funding.

“Some more metropolitan councils have said they actually don’t need it and they’re actually taking food out of the mouths of country,” Mr Dodds said.

The CEO painted a picture of just how transformative an increase in the FAG rate would be for a small shire like Balranald. He estimated it would amount to ‘about three million dollars difference’ for the shire alone, a figure that would represent a substantial boost to the council's operating capacity.

The comments reflect growing tension between metropolitan and regional areas over funding allocation, with rural councils arguing that their infrastructure needs and service delivery obligations are disproportionate to their rating base and population.

The ‘smell of an oily rag’ description used by the mayor succinctly illustrates the precarious financial position many rural councils find themselves in, forced to stretch limited resources across vast geographic areas while maintaining the same service standards expected in cities. The advocacy efforts represent an attempt to draw attention to what rural leaders see as a systemic inequity in the distribution of federal assistance, one that threatens the long term viability of local government in regional Australia.