Advocacy - working for our community

Our Advocacy Action Plan provides a guide to address issues that are beyond the capacity of Indigo Shire Council, working alone, to find solutions for.

As a small rural Council, we need to work in partnership with and advocate to a range of stakeholders and other levels of government to deliver on community expectations and priorities.

Through strategic advocacy, we hope to secure the external funding and policy changes needed to bridge the gap between what our community needs and what we can fund alone.

Why Advocacy Matters

Rural councils like Indigo, face unique challenges including rate capping, cost shifting, aging infrastructure, and the need to maintain services across large geographic areas with dispersed populations. Strategic advocacy is essential to ensure our community receives equitable access to funding, services, and opportunities.

Our Approach

Council's advocacy efforts include direct engagement with decision-makers, submissions to parliamentary inquiries, ongoing community consultation, strategic partnerships with other councils and peak bodies, and public campaigns.

Our Advocacy Objectives

Council's advocacy efforts aim to:

• Identify priority projects and initiatives to generate economic activity, employment growth and community benefit
• Increase levels of funding for infrastructure and services from other levels of government to meet community needs and aspirations
• Influence state and federal legislation, policy, standards and guidelines to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents
• Build community trust and confidence in Council as a proactive advocate on their behalf

Our advocacy priorities form the basis for funding applications and strategic positioning when new programs are announced by State and Federal Governments.

Ambulance and Hospital Advocacy - A critical priority

Ensuring our community has access to quality healthcare is one of Council's highest advocacy priorities. We are actively advocating for:

• Improved ambulance response times - Working with the State Government to ensure response times in Indigo Shire meet regional standards
• Single-site regional hospital - Collaborating with neighbouring councils and health networks to advocate for a new hospital built on a greenfield site in Albury or Wodonga that will provide enhanced healthcare services for our residents
• Healthcare service improvements - Ongoing advocacy for specialist services, mental health support, and healthcare infrastructure that meets the needs of our growing and aging population

A new advocacy action plan that aligns with the Council Plan 2025-2029 is currently being developed and a draft is expected to be presented to the August 2025 Council Meeting.

View or download the Advocacy Action Plan 2021-2025 (Year 4)(PDF, 1MB)