The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) recently held a Constitutional Forum in Canberra to consider ways to achieve change to the Australian Constitution that would better reflect the role of Local Government. Outcomes from this forum will feed into debate at ALGA’s Constitutional Summit to be staged in Melbourne from 8 to 11 December.
Presidents and CEOs of State and Territory Local Government Associations, council representatives, constitutional experts and representatives from the States and Federal Government attended the Canberra forum.
Professor George Williams from the University of NSW spoke on the design of a process. He said that success needed to be designed around four factors: bipartisanship; adequate popular education; popular ownership of the proposal; and the
proposed amendment being sound and sensible.
“Success will take time and effort, but now is the right time to start for a referendum as early as 2010,” he said.
