The Latest News on Amalgamations

'We have proof of merger sham'

9:41a.m. 18 January 2008

The Friends of Noosa group is claiming it now has “further proof” that the whole council amalgamation process was a sham.

The group had asked that various documents relating to the merger process be released under the Freedom of Information Act, in bid to prove the findings of an independent commission into council amalgamations were predetermined.

However, spokesman Bob Ansett said that of the 20 relevant documents found, only three would be made available.

The other documents are being kept secret because of cabinet privilege.

"This is despite the fact that the so-called independent Local Government Reform Commission made recommendations affecting the lives of well over one million Queenslanders," Mr Ansett said.

"What really proves the sham is not the documents that exist, but the documents that do not.

“According to the department's response, there were no summaries of submissions, there was only one meeting of the Local Government Reform Commission, no minutes were taken and no drafts of the report were prepared.

“Thus the 47,000 submissions from the public were totally ignored by the commission and the report was entirely written by bureaucrats.”

Mr Ansett said that in addition, six sets of legislative drafting instructions were sent to Parliamentary Counsel before the Local Government Reform Committee reported on July 27. They totalled 95 pages “and so must have contained substantive issues re amalgamation”.

“Of course, we do not know what is on those pages, as we are being denied access to them,” he said.

“We acknowledge that Anna Bligh was not the premier at this time and so may not have known about these details – where the devil certainly dwells.

“We know that this is a big ask but please do the right thing, Premier, and set up a fair dinkum way of achieving amalgamations where they are justified. It's still not too late.”

Representatives from about 40 affected councils and 20 community groups met in Brisbane in November to discuss revelations the government had started drafting the amalgamation legislation before public consultation ended two months later.

At the time, Premier Bligh denied there was a smoking gun and said the government was merely acting expeditiously, as it had promised.

However, it prompted the Local Government Association of Queensland to call for a royal commission, with merger opponents also applying to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) for an inquiry.

Mr Ansett said a response was received from the CMC just before Christmas, saying it would investigate the case for an inquiry.

"We are hoping the CMC can obtain the other documents relating to the amalgamation process."

Brisbane venue for ‘Democracy Rally’By Graham Fuller

Tuesday, 15 January 2008

With only eight weeks to Queensland's contentious local government elections, there are moves afoot to stage a Democratic Rights Day, thereby highlighting further public unrest over issues like forced amalgamations.

The over-arching umbrella group for the planned Democratic Rights Day, Australian Business and People's Alliance Council, says it is anticipating some 20,000 people will flock to its as yet unnamed venue.

It says it will be co-ordinating activities by all interested groups and associations throughout Queensland to gain the strongest possible impact for its January 28 Democratic Rights Day event.

Campaign organiser Bryan Best says the Brisbane rally will, it is hoped, draw strong support with far-flung rural communities unable to make long trips to the venue expected to show that they are disgruntled, locally.

“Enough is enough, we need to be taken notice of,” Mr Best said.

Mr Best wants people to sign a petition encouraging politicians to show where they stand in the lead up to the March 15 local government elections.

Clifton-based resident Chris Barton, on the Darling downs, who is the chair of the Clifton Shire Community Group Against Forced Amalgamation, already has been orchestrating a letter-writing campaign designed to put pressure on the Queensland Government as it presses ahead with plans to reform local authorities.

Previously, he wrote to a swag of high-profile political identities – both federal and state - to try to win over their support.

He also issued an invitation to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to address the Brisbane meeting.

This week he sent a letter to the Crime and Misconduct Commission, claiming the State Government has “defrauded the people” by ignoring the wishes of the majority of local government residents who remain opposed to slicing the number of shires down from 176 to 72.

“People across the state are just not going to lie down over the issue,” Mr Barton said.

“They (State Government) were elected on promises as to what they would do, not on what they didn’t promise to do,” he added.

SOURCE: Queensland Country Life

MICHAEL PRUE: East York mayor at amalgamation. Councillor for Ward 31, Beaches-East York before becoming an MPP.

Amalgamation: Good or bad?

"It's a disaster. Oh wait, it used to cost 25 cents for kids to swim in East York and then it was free. Since that day I can't remember anything that's been good. I've never heard anyone tell me it's a good thing ... not in 10 years."

What went wrong?

"Everything. So much was promised. It was to save money; debt is up. Opportunity for fewer staff? We have more staff. There would be a flowering of democracy – sadly, the opposite has been the truth. Amalgamation and downloading happened at same time. Both had a huge impact. The city never recovered."

Should we de-amalgamate?

"We have to find some way to de-amalgamate. If we can't go whole hog, return to smaller communities and neighbourhoods. Should have 12 community councils instead of the four now. Let people have some kind of local say that they used to have and no longer have."

What's in the future?

"I despair sometimes, But I have confidence that we have a huge council that one day they will prevail. It'll require uploading of services to the province; it requires the federal government coming forward with a piece of the GST. And city council has to trim their own office budget. People have to see the councillors suffering along with them. I don't think councillors understand that well."

Amalgamation: 10 years later

Posted: December 28, 2007, 8:01 PM by Barry Hertz

Toronto was amalgamated into a mega-city ten years ago, with hindsight it appears that few see the move as a success as the urban guru Jane Jacobs says:

“Respect for difference in neighbourhoods is essential,” she said. “Megacity bureaucracies cannot respond with this kind of pinpoint accuracy. It defies common sense to inflict on the citizens and businesses a government that is less responsive than what they have now.”

Was Ms. Jacobs right? Did amalgamation wreck Toronto and the former municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York?

Jan. 1 is the 10th anniversary of amalgamation. And while it’s clear the amalgamated government is not an unqualified disaster, it is also not the lean, efficient polity of which its supporters dreamed. The megacity has not lived up to the hype.

Promised savings of $300-million per year never materialized. Staff is up, not down. The city employs 4,015 more people today than it did in 1998.

The people of modern Toronto have not gelled. The former suburbs and their poorer residents are increasingly shut out of the bounty downtown, according to a University of Toronto study released in December.

“All the attention and all the money, it seems to be focused more on downtown Toronto,” says Toronto City Councillor Frances Nunziata, who was the last mayor of York. “Unfortunately, in the suburbs like York and Etobicoke, the revitalization is not happening.”

And even the city’s top bureaucrat, Shirley Hoy, readily admits Torontonians feel cut off from the megacity’s council and the colossal bureaucracy that buttresses it. “I know that citizens feel disconnected from their government,” Ms. Hoy, the city manager, says. “I think there is a sense that easy access to city government, as well as meaningful engagement of citizens in issues like planning… they feel we don’t have the effective structures in place yet.”

Mayor David Miller, the megacity’s second boss, sees problems, too. “Amalgamation was rushed. It was based on the wrong idea that there were going to be massive savings,” he said. “It was done against the will of people. Oh, and there was downloading at the same time and a tax freeze. You add those things all up, it was a recipe for chaos and that’s what ensued.”