Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, whichever way you look at it. The witness at that committee continued:

These are real issues that are happening throughout our region. It has been stated that our region is the eyes and ears of Australia. With the amalgamation process, the only thing left is the bare skull. There is a passage through that skull to Australia that no-one has really given any answers to.

Erosion of cultural identity was also cited as a consequence of the amalgamations by Mr Joseph Elu, Chairman of the Seisia Island Council. He said:

We are a different race of people to any other in this world. There are only 30,000 of us on this planet. This amalgamation will throw us together in a sense that we do not want to be. It will throw us, on the tip of Cape York, together with Aboriginal people. We feel we will lose our identity.

He continued:

We believe that God gave us part of the country that we are sitting in. I plead with this committee to come up with some answers for us. Otherwise, we will be lost to everything in this world.

No-one can doubt his sincerity. He is a strong man, a man that has the Torres Strait community in his heart. The committee strongly supported the passage of this plebiscite bill in order to provide certainty to councils wishing to enable their communities to express a view on the amalgamations. Labor senators on the committee also supported the passage of this bill. They stated in the report that they regretted the failure of the Queensland government to lodge a written submission. That is all they can do, of course: to ‘regret’. What would they say if they came to power federally and interest rates soared again, and youth unemployment skyrocketed to 34 per cent like it was under them last time. Would they only say, ‘We regret that’? The Labor senators on the committee were Queenslanders—Senators Moore, McLucas and Ludwig. No doubt they will ‘regret’ the loss of jobs and they will ‘regret’ the loss of community viability and identity flowing from forced council amalgamations. Labor ‘regrets’ the loss of democratic rights. They ‘regret’ that they have to stack committees with unionists. But they cannot help it—they are Labor, and after all that is what they are all about. The true message out of all of this is: no Rudd, no regrets. (Quorum formed)