With national attention focused on the recent Constitutional Convention, people are certainly taking an increased interest in our system of government and how it might best serve us as we move into our second century of Federation.
To assist this process, the Local Constitutional Convention Program is providing an excellent means for people across the nation to come together to discuss our future. At the same time, these local conventions are cementing in people’s minds the important role Local Government plays in our system of government.
As the nation moves towards the Centenary of Federation and the likelihood of an Australian head of state, Councils will undoubtedly continue to play a vital role in promoting wider discussion of this and other issues, including the need for Constitutional Recognition of Local Government.
Although the Constitutional Convention largely confined itself to the question of change to a republican form of government, the Commonwealth Government has agreed to consider ways it can facilitate the consideration of other constitutional issues.
The Convention resolved that if a republican system of government is introduced by referendum, at a date not less than three years or greater than five years, a further Constitutional Convention should be convened. With two thirds of the delegates to be directly elected, among matters to be considered is ‘the role of the three tiers of government’.
However, during the Convention a number of delegates advocated that, in the preamble or another appropriate section of the Constitution, a commitment to democratic principles should be included for all spheres of Government, including Local Government.
Appointed delegate and former Mayor of Albany, Annette Knight, rightly argued at the Convention that local democracy currently has no constitutional protection and this can have an adverse effect on the rights of local communities to participate, with certainty, with this sphere of government which touches their daily lives.
Former Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Sallyanne Atkinson went even further when she stated that it makes a nonsense of the democratic process if we elect people and they do not have legitimacy in the document of our government, and can be dismissed at the whim of another sphere of government.
She added that we have now seen many examples where local Councils have been dismissed and where those commissioners, put in place by another sphere of government, have performed actions and carried out moves that were quite against the will of the people in that place.
Although the Convention did not resolve to include a reference to effective democracy for all spheres of government, this issue is likely to be considered in greater length at the next Constitutional Convention, albeit some time off.
So, more than ever, the importance of local constitutional conventions comes to the fore. Councils are urged to seriously consider running a convention, including the topic, ‘A Federal System’, as this covers the issue of recognising Local Government.
