Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I began my contribution to the address-in-reply debate just before question time last Thursday and I will continue where I left off. I referred to the emergency situation in many communities in Queensland and particularly the great local leadership that is being shown by local communities and councils in areas where the floods have occurred. I said that in Charleville the mayor was working with his councillors and the local SES—in many cases these volunteer SES people are council workers—and I stressed the importance of local government at a local level. Unfortunately, what we are going to see—and we may already have witnessed this in Queensland—is an arrogant state Labor government that is prepared to trample on democracy in Queensland and is not prepared to listen to the results of the plebiscite that was funded by the previous coalition government in Canberra. We are going to see the forcing of amalgamation of councils against the will of the people and against an overwhelming no vote on amalgamation in so many local council areas.

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