Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am illustrating my point that former Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley has been at the heart of this amalgamation, as indeed has former Deputy Premier Terry Mackenroth, the great wheeler and dealer of Queensland. He has got away with it over the years. He has been at the heart of this. They have established a system whereby local government authorities in Queensland being forced into an amalgamation are going to have a collective group of six people: one from each of the two councils involved, one from the state government and three from trade unions, supposedly to look after the rights of the workers. But we know what it is: ‘Sign up to our union or, brother, you will not have a job.’ Jobs are going to be lost. These are the issues that people in Queensland are concerned about, and the member from the Northern Territory can take all the points of order he likes but the fact of the matter is that there is corruption at work in Queensland and it is permeating all aspects of Queensland society. You have a Queensland education minister that will not allow federal members to enter state schools. I cannot go to my old high school, MacGregor State High School, unless I get permission from the Queensland education minister. They are trying to take over the state and turn it into a one-party state. This amalgamation of councils is as much evidence as is needed to prove my point.

As indeed is the way in which outgoing Premier Beattie has wimped it and walked away—walked away from accountability in Queensland. He says that the job is done—’I’m over it’, he says. Well, the people of Queensland are over Peter Beattie. He has decided to sleaze out of office midway through a term and leave it to poor old Anna Bligh, the person who would not allow state government schools in Queensland to be part of the Australian technical colleges program, to fight off the Soorleys, the Mackenroths and the other people who are waiting to inherit the earth once this local government amalgamation goes through.

And why shouldn’t we in this federal parliament say that every day Queenslanders are being badly let down? Why shouldn’t we raise doubts that all wisdom does not preside in Russell Street, South Brisbane or wherever Trades Hall and Labor Party headquarters happen to be today? Why shouldn’t we point out that people are fundamentally disturbed by the fact that these political strings are permeating even through the highest level of law enforcement such as the Australian Federal Police, through the examples I have given today?

This bill is necessary to restore democracy in Queensland. This bill is necessary to ensure that ordinary Queenslanders have a say about who looks after their roads, their rates and their rubbish. Why can’t we in this national parliament stand up for democracy? Why can’t we allow ordinary everyday Queenslanders to have a vote? That is why the amendment to the Australian Electoral Act in this plebiscite bill is just so important.

What does the Labor Party do? It decides to bring on a stunt about nuclear power stations. They are allowed to vary the agenda to suit some cause like that when they know that state governments have the planning authority in this country. All we want in this country is for state governments to do their job. All we want in this country is that, when money is passed through for local governments, state governments actually pass it on and that state governments are actually prepared to allow local governments to do their job. What we do not want is state governments doing as the arrogant Queensland government is doing. I do not care whether it is Peter Beattie or Anna Bligh who is in charge; it is the same set of thieves in the decision-making process. What we do not need is for people to say that Longreach and Aramac should be amalgamated so that one can inherit the other’s debt or that Stanthorpe and Warwick should be amalgamated so that one can inherit the other’s debt. They have no understanding of the fundamental pain that this is causing in those sorts of far-flung rural areas. The member for Maranoa will no doubt outline that far better than I can because he is the local member.

At the end of it all, this is not about greater efficiency for councils; this is more about greater efficiency for those sorts of sleazy deals that the Jim Soorleys and Terry Mackenroths of this world are capable of. They have done them in the past and are capable of doing them again in the future. These are the sorts of things that the Labor Party in Queensland now stand for. This is what the Labor Party in Queensland have now become—a one-party mentality executive government with a massive majority that rides roughshod over the everyday people. They have set up cabinet ministers’ wives to be senior officers in the AFP to try to do over Andrew Laming, Ross Vasta and Gary Hardgrave—the members for Bowman, Bonner and Moreton.

It is right that we should out these things in this place. This place believes in democracy. I reported as a journalist for many years on the Queensland parliament in the dark days, the dying days, of the National Party. I reported on the Queensland parliament in those days and saw where things went wrong when the government got too long in the tooth, too arrogant in their approach and too forgetful of the fact that all of us get our power purely because people vote for us. The only power we have is that which is ceded to us by average Australians. This Queensland government, perhaps partially because of the incompetence of state oppositions, have forgotten that they work for the people, not the other way around.

This bill is about restoring the role of the people in the process; it is about ensuring that those who want to have a say can have a say; it is about ensuring that people are not going to be subjected to the unfair, pro-Labor, partisan, damaging processes such as those the member for Bonner, the member for Bowman and I have been through purely at the whim of some person who happens to be in a position of authority. These sorts of things are happening in Queensland today. The ticket to get ahead in Queensland is the Labor ticket: join the Labor Party and promotion is guaranteed; join the Labor Party and you will become one of those highly paid, high-level bureaucrats who earn an enormous amount of money. Instead of that money going into classrooms, roads and hospitals, it is going to pay for people who produce nothing but have a flash title, a flash car and a flash business card. These are the sorts of things that ordinary Queenslanders are angry about.

The Queensland government have not produced a dam to ensure that we have adequate water; they have not produced a proper road system in south-east Queensland to ensure that we can get around; they have not produced a proper power system in south-east Queensland so that we can be sure the power is there when we want it. Right now they are considering the idea of being able to switch off people’s air conditioners and other appliances in suburban Brisbane when they dare to use them at the height of summer.

The Queensland government want central control of everything. There are only two groups of people in society who are getting in the way of the Queensland government’s plan for total domination of all things in Queensland. One group happens to be the members of the government on this side of the chamber. We have good members of parliament who are standing firm in the corner of the everyday Queenslanders—standing up against the excesses of the state government. In some ways we are a de facto state opposition as well as the government of Australia, because we actually have to stand up to the Queensland government on these issues. And we do stand up to them on these issues. That is why we are sponsoring and supporting the bill before us right now.

The other group getting in the way of the Queensland government’s plan for total domination is the local governments of Queensland—the level of government which, as we all know, is close to where people are. My good, hardworking local councillor Graham Quirk receives calls—heaven forbid!—morning, noon and night. I think his most famous call was at four in the morning, when a bloke on shift work had his water run out. You and I, Mr Deputy Speaker Somlyay, probably would not receive those calls—oh, you have? The member for Fairfax is a very effective local member! I have fixed lots of cracked footpaths, blocked drains, stop signs and other problems as well, so I have a feel for what local government is all about.

But I do say this: the federal government, the Howard government, has sponsored an enormous amount of confidence in local government over the last decade or so by working in partnership on things like Roads to Recovery and the Australian technical colleges program. Local governments have made a difference in various parts of Australia. They have brought the business community together to give the leadership that is wanted. The Australian Labor Party in Queensland is absolutely frightened by the partnership that is enjoyed between the Howard government and local government. The Australian Labor Party in Queensland—whether it is Beattie, Bligh, Lucas or all those other people who want to be Premier—have cut and run. It is not about the title, the flash car and the nice business card. Sorry to rain on their parade, but it is a statement of fact that the people of Queensland are tonight cheesed-off that Peter Beattie has cut and run. They actually want to run a plebiscite on Peter Beattie; that is what they want to do.

We will give them a plebiscite on local government. We will allow everyday Queenslanders to have a determination to work out their own future prospects. We do not need to be told by those in the executive office boardroom in George Street, Brisbane; we want to listen to the people. That is one of the hallmarks of this government: there has been a restoration of a sense of trust. We, as a government, show that we trust people’s judgement. Moreover, we constantly remind ourselves, in the very humbling process that is politics, that our responsibility is to represent and work for the people, not the other way round. I am not in any doubt that the Beattie, Bligh, Lucas government—you name them, they are all there—have got the whole thing back to front. They believe that the people of Queensland work for them. They should be ashamed that it has taken the national parliament to restore a sense of democracy and choice and to actually give voice and protect those who want to sponsor that voice. They should be ashamed that it has come to this.

I do not want to upset the poor old member for Lingiari but he has to understand that people like Sharon Cowden, Paul Lucas, Peter Beattie and others who have been hammering into the member for Bonner, the member for Bowman and I in recent months should be ashamed of themselves—as should the media, who have gone along for the ride. I commend this bill to the House.

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