Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

The minister is making it clear that he does not support it. He is moving a motion in recognition of how important it is, but it is not important enough to go in the Constitution. That is very disappointing and contradicts the evidence that we received during that inquiry, at which there were not people making submissions saying, ‘We don’t want constitutional recognition.’

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to talk briefly about the important role local government plays in tackling climate change. Around the nation, the Australian Local Government Association is playing an important part in raising awareness about climate change and about the potential impacts that it will have. It is also playing an important role in raising awareness about the opportunities that arise from efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I was very pleased to hear that the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives has been chosen as a partner and collaborator with the Clinton Climate Initiative to tackle climate change.

I was particularly pleased to hear that Melbourne has joined 21 cities from around the world in taking action to avoid dangerous climate change. Foundation cities in the partnership include London, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Madrid, Mexico City, Melbourne, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, Sao Paulo, Toronto and Warsaw. I very much welcome that. What we are seeing here is local government getting together to pool their purchasing power, lower the price of energy-saving products and adopt energy efficiency programs. With regard to Melbourne City Council, I certainly encourage anyone to visit the Szencorp Building in Port Melbourne to see what can be done with the support of local government in terms of having buildings that not only are energy efficient but, when fully functional, can contribute energy back to the grid and thereby make revenue for their owners. The environment minister made an interesting observation when he said on 8 November 2005:

Australian local governments lead the world when it comes to taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ...

That is right, because there is not much happening from the federal government in terms of initiative. I congratulate local government for taking a leadership role and I certainly look forward, in a year’s time, to joining with them to provide some national leadership because of the action that the federal government is failing to take and in support of the action that local government is taking.

With regard to the greatest challenge facing the global community, the action being taken by local government gives us a reminder of how broad the role and impact of local government can be and of the vital role that it plays. I commend to the House the amendment I will now move to the motion. I ask the government to reconsider its position, adopt Labor’s amendment and have a bipartisan approach to giving local government the recognition that it truly deserves. I move:

That paragraph (1) be omitted and the following paragraph substituted:

“(1) supports a referendum to extend constitutional recognition to local government in recognition of the essential role it plays in the governance of Australia.”

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