Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This has been reported, Senator McLucas. Do not shake your head at me; shake your head at the farewelling of democracy in Queensland. They are going to put up barricades so that people can demonstrate safely, and SES workers have been told, ‘Lift a barricade and you’ve lost your job.’ That is what I mean when I say: ‘Farewell to democracy in Queensland.’

What is worse, there are mayors and councillors who have been elected by their constituents who thought: ‘Even though Mr Beattie is not interested with what the people think, we’re going to conduct a little local poll ourselves. We’ll run a poll and get a real view. Maybe we’re wrong, maybe people do want to amalgamate, but let’s find out for sure.’ The Queensland government is passing laws that make it a criminal offence for a mayor to suggest a poll, to suggest getting the democratic views of the people in their localities. They will be fined, something like $1,100, if any mayor or councillor should dare to vote or put up a motion that says, ‘We’ll do a fairly basic democratic thing of having a vote.’ Where is Mr Rudd in all this, with all his pious comments about human rights and democracy? I can tell you that he is very much absent from Queensland, because he will not stand up to Beattie and ‘Big Bill’ Ludwig either.

So you get fined if you, as a councillor, take on your normal duty of finding out and doing what your people want. To add insult to this, if a council does, somehow, find a way to conduct a poll, Mr Beattie has said that the costs of running that poll will be taken out of the pockets of the councillors themselves. Can you believe this, in a state in Australia? You would not even believe it in Zimbabwe! What about Joh Bjelke-Petersen? What a wimp he was when he had those demonstrations all those years ago. Why didn’t Bjelke-Petersen think about threatening the SES workers with the sack if they put up a barrier?

Where are we going in Queensland? The next step will be Mr Beattie saying, ‘Not only can you not have your say, but if you have your say and happen to vote for someone other than the Labor Party you’ll get a $1,100 fine too.’ This is appalling conduct, and members opposite sit there and smirk and think this is funny. Farewell to democracy in Queensland.

Time does not allow me to go through all of the forced amalgamations that are very unpopular. But I ask Senator McLucas, who happens to be in the chamber what about your constituents in the Daintree? Do they want to be amalgamated? No. What have you done about it? Of course they do not want to be amalgamated. What about your constituents out west, Senator McLucas, where I know you originally come from, in the Barcaldine and Aramac area? They are totally opposed to it but not even given the chance to express their views. If their mayor is courageous enough to run a poll, he will get slapped with a fine of $1,500, he will be sacked from his job as a mayor and he will be made to pay for it himself. And you wonder why the federal government has had to come in and say, ‘We’ll get the AEC to conduct a poll if you want to have a poll.’ It is up to the councils themselves.

What about Noosa, an iconic place in Queensland? People come from all over the world to Noosa because of its particular approach to the environment. It has a very environmentally friendly council, very well led by Bob Abbot. They wanted to stay apart because they have something different that people the world over recognise. Tourists flock there. But what happened? Mr Beattie, without consultation, lumped the three Sunshine Coast councils together and the unique atmosphere and feel of Noosa will, in years to come, disappear.

Mr Acting Deputy President, you may think I am being overdramatic when I say farewell to democracy in Queensland. But, just think about it: if you make a decision to ask people’s opinions, you would get a fine, get sacked and you would have to pay for it yourself. If SES workers want to put up barricades to make people at a demonstration safe, they will be sacked. This is a Labor Party government and it is a forerunner and foreteller of what will happen should Australia ever be silly enough to elect Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of this great country.