Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President Chapman, I have just been talking with Senator Murray about this. I think that, maybe for reasons that were not entirely consistent with the outcome I am about to describe, the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Democratic Plebiscites) Bill 2007 could be the greatest contribution to democracy the government has made in its time in office. The democratic process has been very much wanting over the last 11 years, but here we have a piece of legislation which is going to facilitate local government being able to determine the will of the people on issues which state governments have in the past been able to proscribe. The fluoridation prohibition in Tasmania is an example of that. This will now exercise the minds of many Australians, working through local government, to apply for some degree of determination where that has not been available in the past. So the Greens will be supporting this legislation—not because we do not see the political motivation in the run to the election that saw the Prime Minister suddenly embark on this course but because in the long run, for other reasons, it could be a positive innovation for democracy in Australia.

The Greens have not supported the enforced amalgamation of municipalities and shires—local government—in Queensland. We have more respect for the people of, for example, Noosa and Port Douglas than that. They ought to be able to make some determination in the matter. The government has seen that it is indeed popular—and why should it not be—for people to be able to make a determination on that matter. We are supporting this government legislation. We hope it will lead to people at the local government level being able to determine their future in other ways yet unseen as this legislation passes this House, which may be quite important for people safeguarding their own interests in their own localities in the future.