Reform Wollongong City Council

There are people who say that local government has nothing to do with the Federal election. How wrong they are.

The issue of gaining Constitutional recognition and protection for local government is one which is long overdue for the attention of Australia’s peoples.

Protection includes preventing State government from unfair sacking of non-corrupt elected Councillors, and the need to have immediate by-elections to replace Councillors deemed to be corrupt (or unfit for office) by a competent tribunal or other body. Local democracy at all times needs to be the bottom line.

The need for strong local government, guaranteed a place (and funding) in the system of Australia’s systems of governance, is the need to ground the whole decision-making process in our communities and our actual lives.

Without this grounding our communities interests are regularly sidelined and factored out by Federal representatives who are themselves captive to their political parties. Their primary allegiance is not to their local constituency but to the power brokers within their own parties who hold the keys to preselection and other benefits flowing from access to power.

These political parties, dinosaurs from a previous age, are easy targets for commercial and other exploitative forces which do not have our communities best interests at heart.

Strong local government, charged with looking after our communities best interests, is part of the corrective counter-balance to these exploitative forces.

A key part of a design for effective and strong local government is the inclusion of democratic community committees (of the Precinct Committee or Community Board type), which can supplement (but not replace) the roles and duties of elected Councillors. These community committees need to be about the size of Wards.

This key feature must also be part of a people’s model of local government in any Constitutional reform.

It is not surprising that the major political parties are silent on the issue of Constitution recognition for local government in the present election campaign. A few members of a political party have greatly concentrated power and a very unhealthy ability to insert their will for that of the Australian people (as we just saw with how those in the ALP deposed PM Rudd).

These political power brokers and the even the elected Members of Parliament who are major party members, are not our champions, and never will be unless people demand that they take effective and real action to bring a dangerously unearthed system of governance back down to ground by empowering local communities.

The parking meter fiasco in Wollongong clearly shows what can happen without protection for elected and accountable local government.

Local government issues not part of the Federal election? Think again.

Ask your local candidates just what they propose to do, if elected, to ensure Constitutional recognition and protection for local government.

Cheers

Bruce Reyburn
18 August 2010