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

Today I want to speak on a matter of very great public importance—that is, to lament the passing of democracy in Queensland. The actions of Premier Beattie and the state Labor government in their approach to council amalgamations—which are, in fact, constitutional matters dealing with government and how people have a say in their own future—have been appalling and entirely undemocratic and un-Australian.

The action announced yesterday by the Prime Minister of allowing the people of Queensland to have a say in their future governance arrangements is in stark contrast to Mr Beattie and his Minister for Local Government, Mr Andrew Fraser. You would not expect much of Mr Fraser. He has never had a real job in his life. He is only young. He started his working life on the national secretariat of the ALP—so you will understand me when I say he has never had a real job. When he left the ALP national secretariat, he became a Labor Party organiser, running around organising all the unions, belting up a few people probably, stacking a few branches and getting people elected to parliament—obviously not a real job. He entered parliament at the age of 26 and became a minister at the age of 30. So he has not had many life experiences to clearly understand what democracy is all about and what the people of Queensland want.

The Local Government Association of Queensland is a very respected organisation which has been apolitical all its life. In fact, it is chaired by an old mate of mine, Councillor Paul Bell from Emerald, who will not mind me saying—because it is well known—that he is a member of the Labor Party. Last I heard he was a member of the Labor Party, although I would imagine he has seriously considered ripping up his membership because of the way he and local government in Queensland have been done over by Mr Beattie. Polling done for the Local Government Association of Queensland by a respected pollster called Market Facts Queensland shows that nobody in the affected areas, with one exception, is in favour of these amalgamations.

Whether the amalgamations are good or bad is something that I guess you could argue about, but what the people of Queensland are absolutely appalled at and antagonised about is the process that has been followed. A so-called independent committee was set up—although it has been suggested to me that Mr Beattie wrote the terms of reference and ensured the outcome before the committee even met for the first time—and allowed submissions, but with no consultation it came up with recommendations, which Mr Beattie adopted immediately. Councils and local people had no opportunity to have a say in what should happen.

This is not like an ordinary decision of government—this is not: ‘Will we reduce taxes?’ as our government often does, or ‘Will we put tax up?’ which we never do, but the Labor Party does. You do not expect to have a poll of people on those sorts of things, but this is an issue of governance. It is almost a constitutional issue: ‘Who do you want to govern you; how do you want to be governed?’ The Queensland government has, with the stroke of a pen, taken away from Queenslanders the opportunity to have a say in how they will be governed at the local level.

The results of the survey that I mentioned show clearly that 32 per cent of citizens in the affected areas—and this poll was only taken of people in councils who are being affected by the amalgamation—strongly oppose amalgamation and 21 per cent oppose it; that is, 53 per cent. Twenty-two per cent do not have a view—they neither support nor oppose—and 13 per cent support it. Nine per cent strongly support it. That is, a total of 22 per cent of the people support it, which means that 80 per cent do not support it—either very strongly or in a medium way—or do not have a view. This piece of legislation is being thrust through the Queensland parliament I think today.

There is no limit to the trickery that Mr Beattie’s government will go to. This is a government that, I might say, has learnt its skills from a bloke named Kevin Rudd, the current leader of the Australian Labor Party in the federal parliament. Mr Acting Deputy President Hutchins, you would know that Kevin Rudd was Peter Beattie’s right-hand man, his adviser for many a year.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you rewriting history?

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

Is that not true? Okay—Senator McLucas might know. So Kevin Rudd was not an adviser to Mr Beattie; he was not head of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet?

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was Mr Goss.

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

It was Mr Goss—okay. Mr Goss, and the government that Mr Beattie was in, was clearly influenced by the federal Labor leader, also a Queenslander, as you would know. Here is the point: why is Mr Beattie so intransigent about trampling on people’s rights and ignoring people altogether? Let’s have a closer look at this. I understand that the minister’s second reading speech yesterday indicated that workers in all new councils will not actually be employed by the councils, because the councils are seen as trading organisations, and that means they can take advantage of the Howard government’s industrial relations system and Australian workplace agreements. Most councils have workplace agreements—they have negotiated very cooperatively with their staff and enjoy the freedoms which the Howard government’s industrial relations system provides—and a lot of them have gone on to individual contracts. But what is Mr Beattie proposing in this new legislation currently before the Queensland parliament? Statutory authorities set up in those council areas will employ people. Why is that? Because Senator Ludwig’s dad, ‘Big Bill’—the union heavy, the union boss of Queensland—went soft on Mr Beattie. His members know, particularly in the western shires, that amalgamations mean their jobs. What did the union say about it? Nothing. The union was bought off by this proposal to have the statutory authorities employ the workforces, so that they could not be part of the Howard government’s flexible industrial relations system. One would think that that is the underlying reason for all of this.

Mr Acting Deputy President, you will not believe this—I do not believe it, but I am told on good authority and happen to know that it is a fact. There are SES workers in Yepoon, a seaside suburb outside Rockhampton—a very go-ahead area, a very aggressive area, chaired by a very good chairman of the shire, even though, I dare say, he is a member of the Labor Party; he is another Bill Ludwig, but not ‘Big Bill’; this one is very distantly related, I think; Mayor Ludwig is not a bad fellow and he runs a good council—and they are having a rally in Yepoon on Sunday. They expect about 5,000 people at the rally. Safety would require that you put up barricades to make sure that the rally can occur without any prospect of injury for those taking part, and some 5,000 people are expected there. But, Mr Acting Deputy President, do you know what has happened in Queensland? Mr Beattie has told the SES workers that if they lift one barricade, if they take one step, they are sacked.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McLucas interjecting—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to table a document, which is my letter to Premier Beattie which refers to the amalgamation of the Douglas Shire Council with the Cairns City Council. That letter is on its way to the chamber, and Senator Ian MacDonald might be interested to read it.

Leave granted.