Political analyst, Paul Kelly, said that if our Constitution was rewritten today, Local Government would have much more prominence than it has currently. In delivering the keynote address at the opening session of the National General Assembly, Paul Kelly referred to a comment by Prime Minister John Howard at last year’s Assembly that the Australian mindset is now very much national and local.
“The Constitutional demarcation is National and State,” Paul Kelly said. “Yet the reality is region by region. However, it is the States that operate as the main political institution below the Federal Government.”
He said with many challenges ahead Local Government must be in a position to influence the broader State and Federal agendas.
Paul Kelly believes that ‘think national, operate local’ will increasingly become the political reality. To be a key player in this scenario, he believes that Local Government must be linked closely with its community, having all the proper democratic, accountability and transparency attributes in place.
“Local Government should have a vital role in change to bottom-up policies as against a top-down approach,” he said. “Communities want to win back a sense of ownership, and a new empowerment at the grass roots. So how will Local Government be a part of this movement? The reality is that some regions will thrive and others will struggle. Some areas will become ageing communities, others will have larger numbers of young working families. The concept of fiscal equalisation area to area, will come under even great scrutiny.”
Paul Kelly said the challenge for Local Government is to reinvent itself. The evolution to localism and regional development will involve all spheres of government and the private sector,” he said. “Access to health, education and telecommunications services will vary across the regions. Not all towns will be saved but a number of regional areas will have huge opportunities presented to them. There is no single path to regional development. The task for each area is to get the right mix of social capital and business development for your area.”
He said whether we like globalisation or not, nations getting it wrong are finding it devastating while those getting it right are reaping huge advantages.
“In Australia we have to make globalisation work in our favour, yet we have no union or political block to fall back on; we must succeed on our own,” he said. “We need reduced tariffs, a tax regime that is globally competitive and policies to cope with change. We need integrated economic and social policy that fit together rather than compete with each other. A successful economy means a successful society but the benefits must be evenly distributed.”
He pointed to the following alarming statistics.
- One in six Australian children live in a jobless household.
- Only 39 per cent of people aged 60–64 are in the labour force.
- One in seven males aged 55–59 lives on a disability pension.
“There is an increasing awareness of the need to address the human dimension by integrating economic and social needs,” he said. “Demographic changes and the need to manage an ageing population will lead to increased inter-generational conflict. The working young paying higher taxes to cover the increased costs to cater for an ageing population will be resented and also lead to a fall in economic growth,” he said. “Interconnection between Federal Government approaches and Local Government will be vital. We have about a decade to put in place the necessary policies to manage all this.”
