In my last post, I related a little of how our current federal politicians are faring, which, needless to say, is about as well as any other kid in a schoolyard. The broad topic of this post is politics at a state level.
Australia is the most governed society in the developed world to the best of our collective knowledge. Not only do we have a federal government, each state and territory (six states and two territories) has its own state government, and then under that, we have local government. It is an ongoing spat between the Western Australian state government and its local governments that has caused much angst over the past year or so. It finally came to a head last weekend, but the ongoings at the federal level relegated this post to second place (see Part 1 of this story below to refresh your memory).
The Perth metropolitan area has 30 local governments within it, and the state government decided that it only wanted 15 or so, so it passed legislation to 'force' local governments to either merge, or in some cases, change their boundaries. There was no consultation with either the local government authorities or the population at large, so as Australians are want to do, we got a little bit annoyed and said "NO!" to the impending changes.
The state government eventually conceded to allowing those rate payers in areas proposed to be amalgamated a vote (in effect a referendum) on whether we wanted to amalgamate or not. In order to overturn the governments decision, 50% of eligible voters had to vote, and 50% + 1 had to say "No" to the amalgamation.
Now, voting in federal and state elections is mandatory in Australia, but local government matters are optional, and as such, if we (being Australians) don't have to do something, then generally we don't. The state government was banking on this historical perspective to get their legislation passed.
An overwhelming voter turn out resoundingly voted "No" on February 7, and as such, the amalgamations were defeated and the state government was forced to back down. In true politician style, the Premier of WA (Colin Barnett) has had a massive sulk session this week, and is refusing to compensate the local government authorities for the millions of dollars they were forced to spend by the state government to attempt to meet their draconian legislative requirements.
Oh well, a phyrric victory of sorts - we get to keep our local government just the way it is. The local ratepayer will have to foot the bill (as usual) but it is worth it to let our government know that proper consultation is a far better method of getting your way than attempting to bully your voters into submission. We don't like that.
However, we are all eternally grateful that we live in a country where we can have our voice heard and respected by our governments should we choose to exercise it.
Until next time,
CfB
Australia is the most governed society in the developed world to the best of our collective knowledge. Not only do we have a federal government, each state and territory (six states and two territories) has its own state government, and then under that, we have local government. It is an ongoing spat between the Western Australian state government and its local governments that has caused much angst over the past year or so. It finally came to a head last weekend, but the ongoings at the federal level relegated this post to second place (see Part 1 of this story below to refresh your memory).
The Perth metropolitan area has 30 local governments within it, and the state government decided that it only wanted 15 or so, so it passed legislation to 'force' local governments to either merge, or in some cases, change their boundaries. There was no consultation with either the local government authorities or the population at large, so as Australians are want to do, we got a little bit annoyed and said "NO!" to the impending changes.
The state government eventually conceded to allowing those rate payers in areas proposed to be amalgamated a vote (in effect a referendum) on whether we wanted to amalgamate or not. In order to overturn the governments decision, 50% of eligible voters had to vote, and 50% + 1 had to say "No" to the amalgamation.
Now, voting in federal and state elections is mandatory in Australia, but local government matters are optional, and as such, if we (being Australians) don't have to do something, then generally we don't. The state government was banking on this historical perspective to get their legislation passed.
An overwhelming voter turn out resoundingly voted "No" on February 7, and as such, the amalgamations were defeated and the state government was forced to back down. In true politician style, the Premier of WA (Colin Barnett) has had a massive sulk session this week, and is refusing to compensate the local government authorities for the millions of dollars they were forced to spend by the state government to attempt to meet their draconian legislative requirements.
Oh well, a phyrric victory of sorts - we get to keep our local government just the way it is. The local ratepayer will have to foot the bill (as usual) but it is worth it to let our government know that proper consultation is a far better method of getting your way than attempting to bully your voters into submission. We don't like that.
However, we are all eternally grateful that we live in a country where we can have our voice heard and respected by our governments should we choose to exercise it.
Until next time,
CfB
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