JOHN Howard has announced that the Australian Electoral Commission will be allowed to conduct referenda on amalgamations of local governments. Mr Howard made the announcement in federal parliament after criticising Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's controversial decision to force the merger of local councils across the state.
"The government has decided to allow the Australian Electoral Commission to undertake any plebiscite on the amalgamation of any local government body in any part of Australia," Mr Howard told parliament. "At the expense of the commonwealth, the Australian Electoral Commission will conduct referenda or plebiscite in any of the local government areas about the amalgamation proposals of the Beattie government."
The prime minister accused Mr Beattie of threatening to sack councils which tried to defy the mergers and denying Queenslanders a democratic choice. "Mr Beattie has said that is, 'if you dare to have a vote we will threaten your jobs, we will threaten your livelihood'."
"We do not intend to remain idle and silent while the wishes of the people in these local government areas are denied," Mr Howard said. "We're not trying to compel a ballot in every shire and every council area. We're saying that if you want to vote, the AEC will conduct it and we will pay for it. "I challenge the premier of Queensland, let the people speak on your amalgamation proposal. "
Let this be a reminder that if you remove the check and balance in our system and if you have Labor governments at every level, this sort of behaviour will become the norm." The Queensland government today introduced draft laws which would overhaul the state's local government boundaries, more than halving the number of councils from 156 to 72.
So can John Howard restore democracy to this embattled state, and will there be any result from referenda conducted before the federal elections that cannot be acted on after they are held. I'm one of those who would prefer not to have the amalgamations, but you may have a different opinion, all that aside, this is an interesting scenario isn't it.
4 comments:
I know that Councillors are the type of people that will look for opportunities for themselves first these days, but you'd think they'd all go for this in a big way.
This is how the process should have been instigated in the first place, then if we chose amalgamation, proposals should have been put to us by the bean counters and a draft version could have been chosen by the majority of the community.
Well I just hope they realise that we want the referenda, and aren't so greedy over a few months pay that will shaft this shire by not asking for it.
I'm so glad you have set up this site, we are sorely short of a leader in this shire, and even though a lot of us haven't yet said very much it is because we just don't know what to do or say and to whom.
We must make our voice heard somehow, there really is so much to loose, isn't there.
You have to wonder why Beattie and that squib Fraser are so worried to see the numbers against them, they'd have to know they are there like the proverbial albatross around firstly Rudds neck and then Anna Blighs because people won't forget this, not in a hurry anyway.
This is just so gutless of Beattie trying to crush Councils to give developers a free hand.
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