Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the final moments of the House’s time, I would like to report on what is a very distressing period for local government areas and constituents in my area of Queensland and in local jurisdictions around the state with the Beattie government’s jackboot approach to reviewing and potentially amalgamating a large number of councils. This whole process is shrouded in mystery. The Queensland government’s approach has been to be quite secretive and quite rushed on this issue. That brings me back to my first experience with this debate about recognition of local government in the Australian Constitution, which is something the Local Government Association has been pushing for some time. Essentially, they believe that the nation’s Constitution should recognise and provide for the existence of local government, allow local government to exercise certain powers and, of course, allow local government to be protected from dismissal unless there is a particularly just cause—and in what is being experienced in Queensland at the moment, that is not necessarily the case.

We certainly need a fairer distribution of taxation and the provision of services among the three levels of government, and the ALGA have strong feelings that the recognition of local government in our Constitution would achieve just that. I am reminded of the words of Emeritus Professor Wolfgang Kasper, from the University of New South Wales and a fellow of the CIS. He said it was incredibly important to have formal recognition of local government. Typically, the only way to achieve that is through a referendum. The British government is an example of just that. They recently launched action to devolve tasks and taxes to councils so that local citizens have more say. That makes eminent sense.

But local governments today, as many on both sides of the chamber would realise, have increasing burdens placed upon them—they have to deliver a range of services, typically on a narrow and slow-growing revenue base. We often complain about potholes, the delivery of services and the collection of rubbish, yet so often we find that councils are short-changed. There is no better example of that than Redland shire, which is attempting to look after the social infrastructure needs of the large and populated and fast-growing bay islands, which do not have the support of the state government in delivering some of that essential infrastructure.

The Australian Local Government Association has made its position very clear, but it is only beginning to ring true and resound loudly in Queensland with the news of potential council amalgamations. The ALGA has already said that the rights of citizens to democracy and democratic values can be achieved through a referendum and a change so that we recognise local government—and seeking that constitutional recognition is probably one of the best ways to ensure and protect local democracy.

That reminds me of the motion on the recommendations of the Hawker report, which was brought to this House and, I believe, supported unanimously. I remember that Minister Lloyd himself spoke when he introduced that historic motion recognising the integral role of local government. That motion flowed from the work of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration. What that motion said was that we need to recognise the importance of local government as part of governance in Australia—that it serves communities, through locally elected officials, and that we value the rich diversity of that form of government. In many cases, you need to live in some of these communities to know just how important the provision of local government services truly is. That report was unanimously supported by, I understand, both chambers. Yet the tide turns so quickly in Queensland when it becomes politically expedient.

The Queensland Local Government Act 1993 says that changes to government electoral boundaries by the review commission do require a referendum. Subsection 92(1) requires a compulsory referendum on certain reviewable local government matters, including ‘the state abolishing a local government area and merging the local government area with another one’. Of course, that all changed with the constitution of Queensland in 2001, which provided that states must have a system of local government. Section 78 of the constitution requires approval by a majority of electors for any bill ‘ending the system of local government in Queensland’.

The recent approach to amalgamate councils—if it represents what is effectively a forced amalgamation or emasculation of our council system—is of great concern to us. (Time expired)