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

by leave—The Labor Party support this parliamentary motion on local government. We support it because it is a small step in the direction of giving appropriate recognition to the important role that local government plays in the delivery of services at the local level. Local government is a particularly important tier of government because it is the tier that is closest to the people.

This motion of the federal parliament is essentially a symbolic statement, and that is why I have moved an amendment which would take this recognition of local government beyond simply a symbolic resolution of this House. That is why I have moved that all words in paragraph (1) be deleted and substituted by the following:

... supports a referendum to extend constitutional recognition to local government in recognition of the essential role it plays in the governance of Australia.

Labor has a longstanding policy of support for constitutional recognition of local government. The House of Representatives Economics, Finance and Public Administration Committee inquired into local government and was chaired by the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, David Hawker. The Hawker inquiry received a number of submissions from right around the nation and local government made it very clear that they do seek constitutional recognition. They seek constitutional recognition as an acknowledgement of the critical role that they play in providing local infrastructure and local services, and in ensuring that there is democratic accountability. This is important because of the absolutely critical role that local government play.

Any of us who attend local branches of our respective political parties would know that local issues often dominate people’s concerns: what is happening with local swimming pools, local cleaning services and, in an electorate such as mine, support for multicultural services to the community. There is the celebration of local communities that occurs in my electorate through important functions such as the Carnival of Cultures that I attended which was hosted by Ashfield Council some three weeks ago; the Marrickville Festival, which was held a couple of weeks before that; the Norton Street Festival, particularly with its celebration of the Italian community in Leichhardt; the Bairro Português Festival in Petersham, which is a celebration of the local Portuguese community; and, indeed, in a couple of weeks time, the Newtown Festival, which is a very colourful festival celebrating the diversity which exists in the inner western suburbs of Sydney.

So I would ask the government to support my amendment and come together with Labor in recognising, in a real way—not in just a symbolic way—the important role that local government plays. That could right some of the wrongs, it must be said, that have occurred in previous times when referendums asking for the recognition of local government in the Constitution were put before the Australian public and defeated.

I want to address the argument put by the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads in opposing Labor’s amendment. It was essentially: ‘The reason why we will not seek constitutional recognition of local government is that it would not be successful.’ I say this to the government: it will be successful if they join with Labor in supporting it. The only reason it was opposed was due to the opportunistic, cynical attitude of the current Prime Minister and the former member Peter Reith who pushed the no vote and ensured that the constitutional referendum was indeed not successful. It is quite clear that unless both of the major sides of politics in Australia agree on a constitutional proposition it will not be successful. I call upon the government to take the first step and support Labor’s amendment to this motion on local government. It will indicate to all of those hard-working mayors, councillors, local government workers and, indeed, electors out there that we recognise in a true and practical way the work that they do on behalf of the Australian community.

Question put:

That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Albanese’s amendment) stand part of the question.

Teresa Gambaro (Petrie, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is no surprise that the government does not support the amendment moved by the member for Grayndler. I remember only too well the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration, because I was on that committee with the member for Grayndler. One of the recommendations of that particular committee report was that the Minister representing the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads proposed, as a precursor to the summit on intergovernmental relations, a resolution that the House of Representatives recognises local government as an integral level of governance in Australia and that that would be put forward in both chambers of parliament.

What the member for Grayndler has done today has gone even further and we do not support his amendment. That is not because we do not support local government. We feel that local government does a tremendous job in this country—and I am pleased to have the minister at the table at the moment. The objective of the motion before the House and the Senate is to recognise the contribution that has been made by local government to democratic governance in Australia. That is what the original House of Representatives committee recommended. The Australian government has consulted widely with local government on the terms of the motion and we received wholehearted endorsement of the words that were originally moved. Constitutional recognition was not a recommendation of the Hawker report. It was a unanimous bipartisan report. I and the member for Grayndler worked on that report. In fact, the report recognised that to provide constitutional recognition for government was not likely to ever succeed or be fully successful. The Hawker report recommended that, instead of a referendum on constitutional recognition, the government should move a motion in parliament to recognise local government as an integral level of governance in this country. That is exactly what we said we would do and we have done it. We have done it in the Senate and we have done it in the House of Representatives.

Constitutional recognition has been rejected by the Australian people on two previous occasions, in 1974 and 1988, and the member for Grayndler knows that only too well. He has come in here and is pulling another one of his stunts. The Australian government believes that there is a substantial number of issues that really do need to be addressed before a recommendation to change the Constitution to recognise local government could be again put to the Australian people. The Australian government does not want to see constitutional recognition used as a means for the states again to shuffle their responsibilities for local government, which they have a habit of doing. That report had many instances of where that was occurring in areas such as the police and health services. I remember it quite well.

Local government is a constitutional responsibility of the states and territories and is recognised in state constitutions, and the Australian government is not prepared to take on additional responsibility for the Commonwealth without a proper demarcation of the roles of states and territories in funding and regulating local government.

I want to place on record my great support for local government and the work that many of its officers around the country do; for supporting each and every one of us in this parliament and for the essential services they provide. Many times they do it for little or no financial reward. This motion recognises the time they give to serve their wonderful communities, and that their great commitment is above and beyond their elected fiduciary responsibilities.

It is a great honour to be here making the concluding remarks on this historic occasion. It is the first time ever that the Commonwealth parliament has considered a motion recognising that local government has a legitimate place in the governance of Australia. Again, I want to place on record my sincere appreciation of the great role that it plays. The motion celebrates the achievements of local government, it applauds the efforts of these people who work to represent their communities day and night and it marks the special relationship that we as the Australian government have with local government.

I commend all of the efforts of the Australian Local Government Association in their representation of local government interests in many forums. I know that they have a very high regard for the minister here, because I was at a women’s local government conference just a short while ago where they put that on the record.

It is unfortunate that, on this occasion, bipartisan support for the motion was not possible. The members opposite know only too well that constitutional recognition of local government was not a recommendation, as I said, of the Hawker report; it was a recommendation in the unanimous report of the bipartisan House of Representatives committee that a resolution in the form of the government’s motion be adopted by the House. This motion is a further step by the government towards meeting the commitments it gave. As I said, those full commitments were given at the time of the Hawker report, and we have undertaken to meet them.

A number of speakers, both in the Main Committee and today in the House, have used this opportunity to bring the special efforts and contributions of local government to our attention. For that, I thank each and every one of those who have spoken on local government to date. But the motion does not mean the Australian government have completed its consideration of local government issues. There are still several high-profile issues on which both levels of government need to work together, to make sure that we do what is right for the time ahead. The Australian government look forward to working with local government and making sure that we have this long, enduring and fruitful relationship.

Question agreed to.