Forum Discussion

Tell me your views

What would the effects of amalgamation be on Stanthorpe?

General apathy

Over the last few days I've been suggesting to all and sundry that they should hop on the bus and go to Brisbane for the rally and have discovered that while everyone I spoke to objects to the amalgamation the most common response is that there is no point - it's already decided and there is nothing we can do about it. I have been replying that from my personal point of view I want to try my hardest to make sure the government knows that the general public is against it and that even if we can't stop the amalgamation, we may be able to affect the way it is implemented to
be more favourable to us. I would like to know what everyone else thinks, and what can motivate the general public to be more involved.

Our last chance

If enough people send an email followed by a signed fax or letter to the Governor of Queensland she will be able to stop the amalgamation, so everyone get emailing and faxing! The details are:

Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, AC
Governor of Queensland
GPO Box 434
Brisbane Qld 4001

email: govhouse@govhouse.qld.gov.au
fax: 0738585701

Good luck from Brisbane

I have put some material about amalgamations on my web site at www.candobetter.org/NoForcedAmalgamations

Probably my own perspective on this is not quite the same as that of most people in Stanthope, but, neverthelees I am outraged at the blatent disregard by Fraser and Beattie for the wishes of the people concerned.

To those who believe that a vote for the Coalition in the Federal elections will solve their problems, don't forget that is the man who privatised Telstra even though it was opposed by 70% of all Australians at the time, and don't forget how he has sold out many of Australia's primary producers in the Australia US 'Free' Trade Agreement to suit U.S corporatations.

NO AMALGAMATIONS

HOW A 5 YR PLAN BECOME A 5 MONTH PLAN
November 2006
Director-General of Local Planning, released its strategic plan to cover 2006-2011. mr Kinnane said: Our vision for the next 5 years, through collaboration captures our committment to build relationships across our diverse stakeholder groups.
The strategic plan, the D-G clearly articulated it was a 5 year strategy.

November/December 2006
With consulation with the LGAQ, councils worked on Size, Shape and Sustainability initiatives. These reports were sent to Queensland treasury and were condidential. the government then used these documents as catalyst to force amalgamations prior to 2008 elections.

Feb/March edition of LGAQ publication, council Leader, the Minister states:
"Importantly there is NO set agenda to force neighbouring councils into amalgamation or boundry changes. IF THAT BECOMES A CLEAR OPTION A PUBLIC REFERENDUM MUST BE HELD.

April 17, 2007
Dept of Local Planning produced the "Local Government reform" document that featured:
1. Forced Amalgamations
2. No consultation with LGAQ in its development
3. No referendums
4. AND 3 month review of all 157 Councils

We have to ask the questions:
WHAT THE CHANGE FORM 5 YEARS TO 5 MONTHS?
WHAT HAPPENED ABOUT OUR REFERENDUM THAT WOULD HAVE
TO BE HELD.
WHAT HAPPENED TO "TRUST US", "INTEGRITY" AND OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS?

The Director-General and Andrew Frazer must have got the law books out and discovered they could do would ever they liked, without consultation, without any referendums and without upholding any of our Australian principles on Civil and democratic rights, that we expect from our Government

I guess neither Peter beattie or Andrew Frazer care about these principles.

Courageous Council

Congratulations to Warroo Shire Council and their mayor, Donna Stewart, for having the courage to stand up to the Beattie bully boys. Warroo is a small shire that is to be swallowed up with four other councils around Roma and they conducted a survey some time ago. They will now count the votes in spite of the threat of Beattie's glove puppet, Andrew Fraser, to sack them. 'It's a survey, but I'm willing to face the consequences regardless' said the charismatic Donna.

It's a pity more mayors don't have the same intestinal fortitude as Donna - imagine Beattie sacking 20 councils - the state would be in uproar. That's the kind of uproar that we need to expose this reform process for what it really is - the trampling of people's democratic rights.

We can't let Beattie win!

Will JohnHoward Save Democracy in Queensland?

As a Brisbane resident who is appalled by the despotic behaviour Peter Beattie and Andrew Fraser, I am also concerned that rural voters reflexively believe that the solution to the outrage of amalgamation is to vote against Labor and for John Howard at the next federal eelctions/ I think that this would be a mistake and I have said why at http://candobetter.org/node/146

Any comments will be welcome.

Independent MP Peter Andren: Howard's paper thin hypocrisy on amalgamations

The Coalition Government has exposed its hypocrisy on council amalgamations with its current attack on the Queensland Government according to Independent Member for Calare, Peter Andren.

"When I took a delegation of local mayors to Canberra several years ago to see then Local Government Minister Wilson Tuckey, he was enthusiastic about the need for mergers of councils," Mr Andren said.

To read more, visit: http://candobetter.org/node/148

Article published on Online Opinion

The article "Will John Howard Save Democracy in Queensland?", referrred to above, has also been published on Online Opininon as "Dictatorial Conduct" at:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6261

You may wisho to add your comments to:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=6261

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE ON

The battle for democracy in Queensland just got murkier. The agenda behind the amalgamation of Councils has always been about centralising power at the State level, not efficiency nor planning for future growth as Beattie has claimed. If you needed proof, consider the following recent events:

1. Local Transition Committees are being stacked with unrepresentative, unelected trade unionists. Qld Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney highlighted the issue in Parliament this week. He pointed out that the same Labor/Union member had been appointed to no less than four committees: Townsville, Cassowary, Cairns and Tablelands. Meanwhile, in the Warwick-Stanthorpe merger, there are 5 union representatives on the Transition Committee, 2 of whom don't live in the region. You can read about it at the following link to the Warwick Daily News:

http://warwickdailynews.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3747324&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

These unionists have the same voting rights as locally elected councillors and mayors on these committees.

2. Even more worrying is the new Urban Land Development Authority Bill 2007. This legislation is presently before State Parliament and it has serious ramifications for both local government and development issues. Ostensibly enacted to generate low-cost housing, and to speed up development approvals, the ULDA will have sweeping powers to override local council plans and policies, remove any existing protections, and on-sell land to private property developers. In other words, the new Authority, which will be up and running by the end of the year, will have the authority to set its own zoning rules, building heights, and even to have roads and other infrastructure moved, all without having to consult local councils or the communities they represent. If anyone ever doubted the entrenched influence of the development lobby on the Beattie Government, this should dispel those doubts.

By the time you read this, the Bill may have already passed through parliament with barely a whisper of discontent from the half-baked Opposition, and studiously ignored by journalists. Here is a link to the explanatory notes for the Bill:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/bill_en/uldab2007357/uldab2007357.html

3. Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd might be looking good in the national polls, but here in Queensland the amalgamation issue may be starting to bite. An August 21 Roy Morgan poll on Senate voting in Queensland found that support for the ALP is down, while support for the Liberal Party is up. ALP Senate voting intentions peaked in March/April at 44.5%, but have since dropped significantly to 40.5%.

Here is a link to those results:

http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2007/4199/

4. The Electoral Commission has said it is highly unlikely that plebiscites on local amalgamations will be held concurrently with the Federal Election. That means affected Shires must start lobbying now to hold the plebiscites on offer, rather than assume they will happen at the next election.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?:

The campaign against amalgamations is just the pointy end of a bigger campaign to rescue Queensland democracy. Please lobby your local members of Parliament, both State and Federal.

Harangue Kevin Rudd, letting him know that the Federal Labor Party is being tarnished with Beattie's ugly brush.

Hon Kevin Rudd
Federal Leader of Opposition
Parliament House
Canberra ACT
E–mail: kevin.rudd.MP@aph.gov.au

Write to your local newspaper, The Australian ( letters@theaustralian.com.au ) and The Courier-Mail ( cmletters@qnp.newsltd.com.au ), telling them what you think about the decimation of Queensland democracy.

Contact every journalist you know. We HAVE to get this issue on the news agenda!

Send this email, with your own comments, to all and sundry.

Here are some more links:

The Hon John Howard MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
web contact form: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

Hon Peter Beattie, MP
Member for Brisbane Central
Premier and Minister for Trade
PO Box 15185, City East QLD 4002
Tel: 322 44500
Fax: 322 13631
E–mail: thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au

Hon Anna Bligh, MP
Member for South Brisbane
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure
GPO Box 611, Brisbane QLD 4001
Tel: 322 46900
Fax: 322 90642
E–mail: deputypremier@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Hon. Andrew Fraser, MP
Member for Mt Coot-tha
Minister for Local Government, Planning and Sport
PO Box 15031, City East Brisbane QLD 4002
Tel: 322 78819
Fax: 322 19964
E–mail: lgps@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Change to Forums

Due to the large amount of spam being submitted to these forums recently, I have modified the forums so that it is necessary to login before leaving an entry.

While this won't necessarily stop all spam, it will deter lazy spammers and prevent the use of "spiders". These programs automatically enter the spammer's message in a large number of forums whose web addresses are stored in a central database.

If the spam continues I will implement a system where I can ban particular IP addresses.

If you have problems with the new forum code then please contact me at darryl@mytek.net.au.