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

I rise this afternoon in the grievance debate to echo the cry of most of the people in my electorate—that there be no forced amalgamations of local government areas in Queensland. The Labor Premier in Queensland, Mr Beattie, has decided to force the amalgamation of local government authorities without giving the people in the community their democratic right to have a say about their future. However, what Premier Beattie has failed to recognise is that this divisive policy will simply destroy country towns. It is my opinion—and I can assure members in the House that this opinion is held by tens of thousands of people living in rural Queensland—that these now thriving communities will become nothing more than ghost towns should they be forced to amalgamate under Beattie’s arrogant and deceitful policy. The reality is that local councils in rural Queensland are the lifeblood and the voice of people in those country towns and in the surrounding areas that they provide employment opportunities to. Local councils promote business and tourism opportunities and contribute to the economic wellbeing of the local community.

Under the Queensland Labor government’s plan to amalgamate, small businesses will struggle to survive. There will be a reduction in jobs, as we witnessed with other states that forced local government amalgamations. There will be a loss of tourism opportunities, and regional and rural development will cease. These forced amalgamations by the Queensland state Labor government will happen without the people having their say unless we are successful in the protests that are being conducted across many areas of Queensland. The amalgamations are undemocratic and disgraceful. It would appear that the Beattie Labor government is now drunk on power. Clearly its Blueprint for the Bush is nothing more than a patronising document that has no value, and it has been totally discredited—it is about the centralisation of rural communities, not decentralisation. It is not about their future, and it is not about development.

Not only has this Labor government failed to plan for the state’s future in relation to water, health and road and rail infrastructure; it now plans to attack local governments that have never failed to provide for their communities. They are not broke; they are doing a wonderful job. This appalling and shameful move has the potential to ruin the growth and development of many areas and many country towns in Queensland’s heartland. It is also being done against the backdrop of the worst drought in 100 years. It is a callous act by a heartless Labor government.

I have joined the people of western Queensland in rallies, demonstrations and public meetings. I thank our minister for local government, Jim Lloyd; Senator Boswell; Rugby League legend Shane Webcke; Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Queensland parliament, Fiona Simpson; Shane Knuth, the member for Charters Towers; and our candidate in the seat of Flynn, Glenn Churchill, who all attended a rally in Barcaldine on 8 May. There were well over 1,000 people at the rally, including council workers and their families, shearers, stockmen, station owners and the like. Many travelled more than 1,000 kilometres each way in support of the rally’s cause. I can assure you, Mr Deputy Speaker—I can assure Premier Beattie, more accurately—that the bush will not give up without a fight.

Several speakers spoke about the spirit of the rural people living in country Queensland, but none summed up the sentiment of this spirit better than Kelsey Neilsen, a councillor from Boulia Shire, some 700 kilometres away from Barcaldine. In her speech to the rally she said:

I have in my hand some Boulia bulldust. This soil has held the ancient footprints of our indigenous people, it has been wet with the blood sweat and tears of the pioneers. The sweat of hard courageous men who dared to venture further out, the tears of their women, the blood of their children who died because they were too far from help. This soil was once tramped by the sleepless pacing of a broken hearted widow, the widow of a brave young soldier who laid down his life in a horrible war so that we could live free in a democracy. This soil has been paid for with incredible sacrifice and this is our soil, soil from where we live, outback Queensland. Outback Queenslanders are people of the earth, stocking the rich open plains with cattle and sheep. We are road builders, building big roads in the outback working in the dirt and gravel on thousands of kilometres of roads networking the west, our state and the nation. In a year when tourism has seen a slight decline state wide, outback tourism has risen 13%. The beef cattle industry in the western shires creates massive wealth for the state and the nation, hundreds of millions of dollars annually not to mention the flow on effect to support industries across the State. The Outback as it is today has been fought for, worked for and hard won.

We cannot allow, must not allow the Beattie Government to slash it to pieces with the stroke of an ill informed, unjust and undemocratic pen. The proposed local government reforms WILL KILL OUTBACK TOWNS.

Who cares? We care, we care a lot, our towns are filled with our heritage and Australia’s culture, the land of waltzing matilda, the land of the min min light, the home of the tree of knowledge—

for those on the other side of the House. She continued:

We love the outback and we will fight for it. Our numbers may be small but our commitment cannot be challenged.

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We are worthy custodians of the west and we have proved it over more than a century as its keepers. We choose to live here, we love our towns and the State needs us to live here. We look after the outback.

These proposed forced amalgamations are coming from a deceitful state Labor government that is just not listening to the people of western Queensland, but I hope the appointed commissioners will listen to the very real concerns of people throughout the bush.

I now hear that the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Griffith—an opportunist—has spoken to Premier Beattie about the plans, and I have never seen such a concocted and contrived media spin in all my life. All it showed was a complete lack of concern for the people of the inland and their democratic rights. I know that back in 1994, when the Leader of the Opposition was Director-General of the Cabinet Office in the Labor government at the time, led by Premier Wayne Goss, he would have had direct involvement in the forced merger of the local government authorities of Glengallan, Rosenthal, Allora and Warwick City in my electorate. These four councils were merged into one authority to become the Warwick Shire Council. I notice in the latest list released by the Labor government that after 12 years this council is ranked as ‘weak’ in terms of financial strength. One of the arguments being put forward by the Labor Premier in Queensland is that if you amalgamate shires you create a strong council. Warwick Shire Council is a good example. They have done a magnificent job. I would like to see, given the list that has been put out, where the basis of that argument comes from. I would like to see the report of the Auditor-General in relation to those figures, because they have done a magnificent job against the odds.

Another point to bring into question is the Labor Party and its mates in the unions. There are 45,000 jobs in local government in Queensland. We have had experience in other states. In Victoria, for instance, 11,000 jobs were lost from local councils with the merging of councils in that state. But where have the unions been in standing up for the rights of union workers? They take their fees, they give them the ticket but they will not stand up for the council workers in western Queensland when they know that these forced amalgamations will create a loss of jobs and a destructions of country towns. (Time expired)