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

The Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Democratic Plebiscites) Bill 2007 is not about whether you can have a vote on amalgamations, nuclear reactors or anything else; it is about the Queensland government deciding that if you want to have a say on local government futures you will be thrown in jail. That is what it is about. The proposed Commonwealth legislation that we are debating—and the previous contribution bears no relationship to the bill whatsoever—simply says that the Queensland government was going to legislate to make it a criminal offence to have a say on local government boundaries. You could have a say on nuclear reactors, power stations or anything in Queensland, but if you had a say on local government futures you would be thrown in jail. That is what the bill is about.

As we deal with these amendments it is important that we keep in mind the reality of what this bill is about. At the risk of repeating myself—we are not on broadcast—it is very important to understand that a government in Australia has said that if you want to have a plebiscite, if you, namely the council that is going to be abolished or amalgamated, want to have a say or if you have the temerity to even suggest that the people involved should have a say then you will be fined and if you do not pay the fine you will be thrown in jail. Indeed, Senator Bob Brown, the Prime Minister has clearly stated that there will be a binding plebiscite on nuclear reactors when it happens in 30 or 40 years time—and it will not happen before then. But this bill is about a government taking away a right. This bill overrides a state government that has said that you cannot have that right on pain of being thrown into jail. That is what this bill is about; not about the matters that the previous speaker spoke of.