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From ALGA newsletter
At 4.05am after a marathon overnight debate lasting close to 14 hours the Beattie Government passed the Local Government Reform Implementation Bill 2007.
Defiant Queensland mayors have vowed to push ahead with ballots on council mergers despite facing instant dismissal under new state government laws.
The Queensland Government upped the ante in the amalgamation battle by introducing an amendment to let it summarily sack councils who carry out ballots.
Despite the moves Bob Oakes, the mayor of Nebo shire in central Queensland, says he's willing to be sacked for going ahead with a postal vote. He says he's not be scared of being sacked if it's the price he's got to pay.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister John Howard buoyed the spirits of local councils in Queensland by offering to pay the expenses of councils that want to run referendums on amalgamations, in their David vs Goliath battle with the Queensland Government.
Mr Howard has accused the Beattie Labor government of "ripping the heart out of local democracy" by the slashing of council numbers form 156 to 72. "This plan by Mr Beattie will slash thousands of jobs in regional communities and threaten the viability of many hundreds of small towns throughout Queensland."
Under the announcement, Mr Howard said the Australian Electoral Commission would be allowed by the Government to undertake any plebiscite on the amalgamation of any local government body in any part of Australia.
"The important thing is to give people the right to express their view," The Prime Minister said. "The idea that people should be fined for wanting to express a democratic opinion in a ballot box is fundamentally outrageous."
The President of the Queensland Local Government Association and ALGA President, Cr Paul Bell, labelled Mr Beattie a dictator after the Queensland Premier moved to enshrine in law the power to sack councils that put proposed mergers to a local vote.
Cr Bell said local government refused to be intimidated and the threat will not stop mayors and councillors putting their necks on the line. He said ballots are only going to give local communities a voice and the person who stops communities from having a voice slips into the ranks of a great dictator. New laws impose $1125 fines on individual councillors who allow a local ballot on proposed mergers.
The Minister for Local Government, Territories & Roads, Jim Lloyd, welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister.
"The Howard Government has been concerned for some time now about the manner in which this process has been conducted, particularly after comments made recently by Premier Beattie and his Minister that councils and councillors would be sacked if they tried to hold a referendum," Mr Lloyd said.
"The Howard Government believes that the people in Queensland deserve to - and have the right to - an appeals process, something that the Beattie Labor Government is trying to deny."
Labor Leader Kevin Rudd has indicated his support for voluntary amalgamations and that he has 'no problem' with the Federal Government funding AEC ballots.
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