No forced amalgamations

In 2007, Andrew Fraser, as Local Govenment Minister, imposed council amalgamations against the overwhelming wishes of affected residents, even threatening to dismiss councillors who dared hold ballots on amalgamation. For many months, the angry backlash threatened Labor's federal election prospects. In 2010, the same Andrew Fraser, as Queensland Treasurer, claims that the unions' campaign against his unpopular $15 billion fire sale, opposed by 79% of the Queensland public, will threaten Labor's federal election prospects.

What you can do: Attend Queensland Council of Union's Rallies to stop the Sell-off before it starts: Innisfail - 28 Feb, Cairns - 2 Mar, Mackay - 3 Mar, Rockhampton - 3 Mar, Gladstone - 6 Mar, Brisbane - 10.30AM 9 Mar at Roma St Forum
Sign the petition calling for new state elections and the repudiation of assets sale legislation. (You have until 2 March. See also "Why Queenslanders must demand new and fair state elections" of 12 Jan 10).
See also: "Unions 'aiding and abetting' Abbott: Fraser" by Jessica Marszalek in the Brisbane Times of 27 Feb 10, "Anna Bligh faces rural anger in Queensland" in the Courier-Mail of 28 Feb 10 , "Peter Beattie bent on destruction of Rudd's chances" of 9 Aug 07 by Margo Kingston in WebDiary, "Cate Molloy : Forced council amalgamations planned by Property Council of Australia" of 7 Sep 07. ...

Andrew Fraser, who almost destroyed federal Labor's 2007 election prospects with his threats to dismiss councillors for consulting their constituents over forced council amalgamations, now wants unionists to call off protests, such as the above protest of 31 July 2009 in order to save federal Labor embarassment in the 2010 elections. (See #WhatYouCanDO">"What you can do".)

Queensland's Treasurer Andrew Fraser has accused Queensland's unionists of "aiding and abetting" a return to Work Choices under a federal Coalition government according to a report in Brisbane Times. He claims their efforts to force the holding of a new state Labor Party conference to to overturn his Government's plans to sell $15 billion of publicly owned assets, would embarass the Federal Labor Government's re-election campaign.

Mr Fraser said unions should consider the "national dimension" of their fight. The Brisbane Times quoted Mr Fraser:

"I just say to unions that are continuing to carry on here in Queensland that they should focus on the real enemy here and that's (federal opposition leader) Tony Abbott and Work Choices," he told reporters.

"And if they continue on this path, they are only aiding and abetting a Tony Abbott-led Work Choices reintroduction and that means they need to think about what is in the best interests of working people, not only in this state but around the nation."_#main-fn1">1

Coming from member of a state Government which had, since it came to power in 1998, notoriously and repeatedly placed its own selfish sort-term interests ahead of those the federal Labor Party as well as the broader community, an appeal for unions to consider the "national dimension" would appear to be the utmost hypocrisy.

In fact, as this article will show, Work Choices would almost certainly not have become law but for state Labor Governments, including the Queensland state Labor Government, having made unprincipled deals with the same Howard Government that brought about Work Choices.

1999: Peter Beattie's unprincipled GST deal

The State Labor Government, which came to office 1998, two years after John Howard's Government won office in 1996, did as much as anyone else to perpetuate the misrule of the latter.

A factor which would have helped the Howard Government regain offices in 2001 every bit as much as the so-called "War on Terror" and the Tampa affair, was the whiteanting by then Premier Peter Beattie of the grass-roots opposition to John Howard's unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST). During 1998 and 1999 Peter Beattie and the other state 'Labor' premiers fell over themselves to negotiate with the Howard Government over the distribution of GST revenue, even at a time when the passage of the GST legislation through the Senate was far from assured. Their efforts undoubtedly gave the necessary encouragement that allowed Democrats Senator Meg Lees and the majority of Democats Senators to turn their back on their own members and their election commitments and provide the Senate majority necessary for the passage of the GST legislation.

2004: Beattie clamours for signing of Australia US Free Trade Agreement

In 2004, as the Federal Labor party was still considering its position on the iniquitous Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) that was before the Australian Parliament, the Labor premiers, with Peter Beattie foremost amongst them, clamoured in public for the signing of that agreement. Then Opposition leader Mark Latham felt cornered into accepting the rotten agreement as a result. Paradoxically, Latham suffered criticism from militant left-wing unionists in the months prior to the 2004 elections as a result. Whether or not outright opposition to the AUSFTA on the part of the federal Labor Party would have made matters better, their electoral prospects had been needlessly damaged.

2007: Anger at Qld Government forced council amalgamations threatens federal Labor

Three years later, as another federal election was approaching, the Queensland Labor again threatened to destroy federal Labor's electoral prospects by suddenly calling off negotiations with Queensland councils for local govenment reform and imposing forced council amalgamations. On 10 August 2007, Andrew Fraser, as Minister for Local Government, rammed the local government amalgamation legislation through State Parliament against an outcry from many of the affected communities. Tacked on to these bills at the last minute was a provision to allow the Government to sack any councillors who attempted to finish holding the ballots that were then underway to guage community attitudes on amalgamation._#main-fn2">2

As a consequence, Prime Minister John Howard emerged as the unlikely champion of Queensland democracy_#main-fn3">3 when he enacted legislation in Federal Parliament, with the support of Kevin Rudd and the Federal Labor Opposition, to over-ride Andrew's punitive provisions. Howard also instructed the Australian Electoral Commission to conduct further ballots on behalf of the Queensland Councils.

Fraser and Beattie faced no choice but to back away from their threats against the councillors, but not from the amalgamations. The amalgamations proceeded despite the fact that they were rejected overhelmingly in all the ballots and unanimously in the case of Waroo Shire_#main-fn4">4

Unsurprisingly, the actions of the state Labor Government, yet again threatened to destroy Federal Labor's chances. The Courier-Mail newspaper, itself an aggressive promoter of the amagalmations, hypocritically gloated at the harm that the amalgamations were expected to inflict on the Federal Labor Party. The headline of its page 1 story of 20 August 2007, screamed "Rudd to Pay". The subeading gloated "Council merger backlash to deliver ballot blow". It continued, "Queensland ratepayers have vowed to vent their fury over forced council mergers on Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd at the federal ballot box."

"Four in five respondents to Courier-Mail online poll said Premier Peter Beattie's decision to slash local council numbers had made them less likely to vote for the Labor Party at the upcoming federal election."_#main-fn5">5

Although the article briefly mentioned that Kevin Rudd was critical of the Queensland Government's threat to sack defiant councillors, it failed to point out to its readers that punishing Federal Labor for decisions outside of its control and which it had opposed was hardly fair.

In September the anti-amalgamation Friends of Noosa group attempted to also scapegoat Federal Labor for the actions of the state Labor Government by putting up huge "Dump Labor" hoardings on the main northern road into Brisbane._#main-fn6">6

Luckily, in spite of the best efforts of Beattie, Fraser, the Courier-Mail and some misguided opponents of amalgamation, the Queensland public was able to distinguish between the Federal and State Labor Party on that occasion and Labor won the 2007 federal elections. It is no thanks to Andrew Fraser that Howard was not able to set the Work Choices in concrete.

2010: Anger at Qld Government fire sale threatens federal Labor

Now in 2010, Federal Labor party faces yet another threat to its electoral prospects as a result of actions by the Queensland Labor Government. Its $15 billion fire sale, enacted without any electorates and opposes by a still 79% of Queenslanders threatens to turn Queensland voters against Labor at the federal elections.

In 2010, unlike in 2007, the Federal Labor Government is not an innocent party. Its squandering of $43 of taxpayers' in its stimulus spending program as supposedly the only possible way it could stave of recession in this country,_#main-fn7">7 ensured that there were far fewer funds available to deal with emergencies such as the Queensland floods which were seized upon as the Queensland Government's initial excuse for the fire sale. When the fire sale was first announced the Federal Government said that they had no extra funds to help the Qld Government over come the difficulties from the flood._#main-fn8">8.

However, those considering voting for the Coalition, should bear in mind that the Howard Government privatised Telstra in 2005 against the wishes of 70% of voters. In recent days the Liberal Party has again raised the spectre of privatising Medibank Private._#main-fn9">9 So, with this as well the prospects of a Federal Coalition government reviving Work Choices, voters may well find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place at the forthcoming Federal elections. They should should seriously consider voting for a third alternative.

Regardless of how voters decide to express their objections to privatisation at the 2010 federal Elections, it is hard to imagine how unions could, on this occasion, make federal Labor's prospects significantly worse than Fraser himself already has, either in 2010 or 2007.

If Andrew Fraser wanted to demonstrate that, for once, he genuinely wanted to help federal Labor win the elections, then surely the onus would have to be on him to repeal his fire sale legislation rather than the unions to give up the fight to save public assets that is supported by 79% of the Queensland public.

#WhatYouCanDo" id="WhatYouCanDo">What you can do

Attend Queensland Council of Union's Rallies to stop the Sell-off before it starts: Innisfail - 28 Feb, Cairns - 2 Mar, Mackay - 3 Mar, Rockhampton - 3 Mar, Gladstone - 6 Mar, Brisbane - 10.30AM 9 Mar at Roma St Forum
Sign the petition calling for new state elections and the repudiation of assets sale legislation. (You have until 2 March. See also "Why Queenslanders must demand new and fair state elections" of 12 Jan 10).

#SeeAlso" id="SeeAlso">See also: "Unions 'aiding and abetting' Abbott: Fraser" by Jessica Marszalek in the Brisbane Times of 27 Feb 10, "Anna Bligh faces rural anger in Queensland" in the Courier-Mail of 28 Feb 10 , "Peter Beattie bent on destruction of Rudd's chances" of 9 Aug 07 by Margo Kingston in WebDiary, "Don't let Peter Beattie save John Howard's political hide" forum disucssion of 8 Aug 07 on Online Opinion, "Federal election and Queensland local council amalgamations" of 28 Nov 07 by James Sinnamon in WebDiary, "Cate Molloy : Forced council amalgamations planned by Property Council of Australia" of 7 Sep 07, "Beattie pledges to stay on" in the Courier-Mail o 11 Aug 07.

Footnotes

#main-fn1" id="main-fn1">1. #main-fn1-txt">↑ "Unions 'aiding and abetting' Abbott: Fraser" by Jessica Marszalek in the Brisbane Times of 27 Feb 10

#main-fn2" id="main-fn2">2. #main-fn2-txt">↑ "Queensland mayors defy dismissal threats to consult their communities" of 12 Aug 07, "Rebel council faces the sack" in the Courier-Mail of 10 Aug 07.

#main-fn3" id="main-fn3">3. #main-fn3-txt">↑ "Will John Howard save democracy in Queensland?" of 13 Aug 07, "Rebel council faces the sack" in the Courier-Mail of 10 Aug 07.

#main-fn4" id="main-fn4">4. #main-fn4-txt">↑ Beattie 'drunk with power': PM of 16 Aug 07 on ABC News Online.

#main-fn5" id="main-fn5">5. #main-fn5-txt">↑ "Rudd to Pay" by Roseann Barrett and Patrick Lion on page 1 of the Courier-Mail of 20 Aug 07. (URL to online version unknown.)

#main-fn6" id="main-fn6">6. #main-fn6-txt">↑ "Friends of Noosa's 'Dump Labor' campaign punishes the wrong people" of 13 Sep 07.

#main-fn7" id="main-fn7">7. #main-fn7-txt">↑ "Krazy Kevin Rudd video by Cyrius01" of 7 May 09.

#main-fn8" id="main-fn8">8. #main-fn8-txt">↑ I don't have the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail articles on hand, but I recall the stories commencing from Sunday 23 May claiming that the recent floods had pushed Queensland into financial peril. This claim was dropped not long after in favour of just the Global Financial Crisis made the fire sale necessary.

#main-fn9" id="main-fn9">9. #main-fn9-txt">↑ "Medibank Private sell plan in Coalition policy" in the Courier-Mail of 17 Feb 10.

Whilst Brisbane's Courier Mail rightly recently exposed the ecological vandalism of Consolidated Rutile on North Stradbroke Island, it and the rest of the Queensland newsmedia, have largely ignored a proposed extension of sand and gravel mining on the nearby mainland, which may prove to be even more harmful for the Moreton Bay region.

The compelling case against the expansion of Neilsen's sand and gravel mine

In the Bald Hills region immediately to the North of Brisbane, in the Greater Moreton Shire, the health and peace of 600 students of Bald Hills Primary School, one of the first 10 to be established in Queensland, is threatened by the proposed extension of an existing sand and gravel mine across the Pine River into the adjoining flood plains as close as 150 metres metres from the school oval.

As well as the health of school students, the extension of the sand mine, owned by Neilsen's mining company, threatens the whole surrounding flood plain and even Moreton Bay. A six minute YouTube broadcast "Bald Hills Flats under threat" published on 9 August has put the compelling and overwhelming case against the expansion of sand mining. Much of the following is paraphrased from that excellent video.

Bald Hills flats, which is bordered by the Pine River, contains a delicate diverse eco-system that serves as a large cartchment area which feeds into Moreton Bay.

Studies in the US show that the ecological costs of sand and gravel mining include:

• increased stream acidity;
• soil nutrient depletion; and
• loss of bio-diversity, including in the Bald Hills region aquatic birds, rare fish and koalas.

Health effects caused by silicate, and other forms of dust, include:

• respiratory problems;
• aggravation of asthma; and
• increased risk of lung cancer.

Pine River has flooded many times in the last 20 years. During a recent flood earlier this year, everything in the flood plain was washed out into Moreton Bay -- toxic wastes, algae from stagnant swamps caused by sand mining and sludge.

Such natural events are well beyond what Nielsen's are capable of preventing or constraining in any way.

Already the Pine River is under great stress from numerous inappropriate developments upstream. A number of public works have been destroyed or damaged because of the inability of planners to predict what course the water of the Pine River will follow.

The narrator of "Bald Hills Flats under threat" makes the emphatic point:

"The Bald Hills Community is not seeking a few token conditions which will be applied upon application approval. We do not want this application approved at all. Not now. Not ever.

"Surely we have learnt from past mistakes that you simply just can't go ahead and decimate a valley within the Brisbane Metropolitan area because of a need for resources. The problems outlined here are not problems that can simply be addressed. The problems here are problems that simply can't be overcome."

Why do our governments seek population growth if it necessitates ecological destruction?

This point confronts the nub of the conflict at the heart of the fight of the Bald Hills Community.

The Pine Rivers Press of 20 August reported that Neilsen's CEO Mario Panuccio said the company had exhausted its supplies at its Brendale site. Panuccio continued:

"To ensure the secure supply of sand and gravel to support the growing community's infrastructure needs, we need to put in place a plan to source sand and gravel from our eastern landholdings."

So, in order to provide for a "growing community's infrastructure needs" a "traditional, historic, well-loved, green pasture within Brisbane turned into a dusty, ugly open-cut mine." as the narrator points out.

The threatened destruction of the Bald Hills flats is only one of almost countless costs the Australian community is being made to bear in order to pay for population growth needlessly imposed by Federal, state and local governments.

This population growth is utimately driven by the Federal Government's record high immigration program for apparently no better purpose than to line the pockets of the property developers and land speculators who so generously contribute to the coffers of the governing political parties. Just some of ecological costs include the threartened damming of the Mary Valley containing the endangered lung fish, the Mary Valley cod and the Mary Valley turtle, the damming of Wyaralong said to be necessary to provide the necessary additional water, the threatened total extinction of the Koala, not only in the Bald Hills region, but throughout the rest of South East
Queensland, the destruction of Minnippi Parklands containing rare sugar gliders. Social costs include the destruction of rural communities, ever increasing trafic congestion, escalating housing costs and homelessness, escalating council rates and charges for electricity, water, road use and other government services.

Surely, then, it is time that we questioned altogther the need for population growth? Surely, instead of causing incessant population growth, our governments at the Federal, state and local level, should instead, be working out exactly what numbeers of humans South East Queensland and the rest of this country can support and accordingly plan to stabilise our population at those levels?

How our governments no longer serve the interests of local communities they claim to represent

A number of courageous people from the Bald Hills are determined to stand up for their community and environment.

They are led by parents of children attending the Bald Hills Primary School. However, they face formidable barriers in the form of the Moreton Bay Regional Council and the Queensland State Labor government. The Moreton Bay Regional council is the product of the dictatorial amalgamations imposed in 2007 by then Premier Peter Beattie and then Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser at the behest of the Property Council of Australia. Whilst in some councils this backfired badly on Beattie and the Property Council, when popular anti-development mayors won in Cairns, the Sunshine Coast and Redlands Shire, the Moreton Bay Regional Council appears to be dominated by councillors unresponsive to the needs of constituents such as those in the Bald Hills region.

Further, the Queensland state Government is doing its best thwart the wishes of the Bald Hills community. According to a Bald Hills community activist, teachers from the Bald Hills Primary School were threatened with the sack if they were to participate in any community protests against sand mining.

However, the Bald Hills community are resolved to fight and need your support. If they succeed in saving their valley, then so can you next time the preservation of your lifestyle and your environment stands in the way of corporate profits.

See also: "Bald Hills Flats under threat", an excellent six minute YouTube broadcast published on 9 Aug 09 (also embedded in this article), "Residents launch campaign to fight quarry plan" by Joel Gould and Miranda Forster in the Pine Rivers Press of 20 Aug 09, "Parents blast plan to mine sand and gravel near school" by Tanya Chilcott in the Courier Mail of 20 Aug 09 (almost identical copy to be found here), "North Stradbroke Island eaten away by sand mininig" by Greg Stolz in the Courier Mail of 15 Aug , "North Stradbroke Island mine rort alleged" by Greg Stolz in the Courier Mail of 20 Aug 09.
Recent articles describing other threats to biodiversity in South East Queensland: "Rescuers fear for koalas" by Alyce Valentine in the Pine Rivers Press of 27 Aug 09, "Traffic noise makes it hard for frogs to find a mate" by Brian Williams in the Courier Mail of 27 Aug&nbsp, "Rezoning anger at Bald Hills" by Miranda Forster in the Pine Rivers Press of 13 May 10, Bald Hills Against Mining FaceBook page.

What you can do

1. Contact the Mayor of the Moreton Bay Regional Council and the other 12 Councillors and let them know of your opposition to the expansion of sand and gravel mining. Please send us copies of any correspondences to and from these councillors so that we can publish them.

2. Contact you local member (MLA) of the Queensland Legislative Assembly (Parliament) and demand that the state Parliament act to save Moreton Bay as well as Bald Hills flats. Contact details of Queensland MLA's can be found here on the State Parliament web site.

3. Contact Geoffrey Wilson the Queensland State Minister for Education (ph 07 3237 1000, education[AT]ministerial.qld.gov.au) and ask that teachers be given categorical assurances that any participation by Bald Hills State School teachers in protest actions in support of their community and their environment will not result in their sacking or any other form of victimisation.

4. Attend protest actions against the expansion of sand and gravel mining on the Bald Hills flats. Also attend other protest actions in support of the environment such as the protest to Save the Koala, which is also threatened by the extension of the sand mine.

Details of the Save the Koala protest are:

Time/Date:11AM sign-in for a 12PM start, Friday, 25 Septemper
Place: Brisbane Square (in front of Treasury Casino)
Contact: saveourkoalas[AT]gmail.com, www.koalarescue.org.au

In "Council amalgamation costs blow out another $100 million" in the Courier Mail of 29 Jan 09 Hannah Davies, reported:

"THE cost of Queensland's controversial local council amalgamations is spiralling, with ratepayers set to fork out a further $100 million to foot the bill.

"Despite State Government claims that merging councils would save money, many are struggling to offset the costs of amalgamation and are asking for extra funding.

...

"Council lobby group the Local Government Association of Queensland said amalgamation costs had been severely underestimated.

...

"(Acting director Greg Hoffman said,) "We are estimating the government will need to spend $100 million over the next 10 years to enable councils to implement the changes.

...

"As reported in The Courier-Mail this week, Moreton Bay Regional Council - formed from merging Redcliffe, Caboolture and Pine Rivers - will have to spend almost $1 million on new uniforms for staff."

This is on top of $3.5 million to equalise staff wages and $1.9 million to align computer systems.

...

On 30 Jan 09, Johanne Wright responded in a letter entitled "Merger cost predictable":

"As president of a residents' association which supported genuine local government reform, but was appalled at the seriously flawed and undemocratic, forced amalgamations, it comes as no surprise that the costs of this process were seriously underestimated by the Sate Government.

"It should come clean and spell out what savings will accrue and when we will see these. Our research shows that there will be negligible to no savings. Any that might occur will take five to 10 years to accumulate."

In the meantime, both Queensland taxpayers and local ratepayers will continue to pay for the anti-democratic amalgamations of 2007 rammed through by then Labor Premier Peter Beattie and then Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser (now Qld state Treasurer) made at the behest of the Property Council of Australia. This is on top of the ever-escalating increases in charges of water, electricity, transport, housing, etc. caused by the Queensland Government's policies of privatisation and enforced popoulation growth.

The Property Council demanded amalgamations because it regarded smaller councils, such as the now abolished Noosa and Douglas Shire Councils, which were more responsive to the wishes of local residents, as impediments to their plans to impose urban development and population growth.

However, the forced amalgamations were opposed by a massive grassroots opposition in all of the local government areas to be abolished. In every local government area in which residents were consulted, amalgamation was rejected overwhelmingly.

Of course, the Courier Mail is now silent on its own support for amalgamation which flew in the face of Queensland public opinion and the hard evidence. At one point, during the heigh ot the controversy, pro-John Howard Courier Mail even seemed to cynically welcome the prospect that then Federal Opposition leader Kevin Rudd would pay a political price at the 2007 elections for the conduct of his Queensland state Labor counterparts. This was in spite of the fact that Rudd, unlike the Courier Mail, had at least gone on the public record as being opposed to the council amalgamations.

If ever Queenslanders are ever able to fix up the shambles created by the Beattie and Bligh governments, it won't be any thanks to the Courier Mail.

The editorial writers of newspapers from Rupert Murdoch's News Limited, including the Courier Mail and The Australian, are not shy in showing their contempt for public opinion whenever it runs counter to the powerful vested interests they represent. Examples from recent years include their support for:

• The privatisation of Telstra
• The privatisation of NSW's electricity generation
• 'Work Choices'
• The Iraq war
• The Mary River Dam_#main-fn1">1
• Queensland forced local government amalgamations

Naturally, in 2007, with local governments such as the Douglas Shire Council and the Noosa Shire Council receptive to the wishes of their constituents to stand up to developers, the News Limited editorial writers gave their full support to the Queensland government's forced local government amalgamations inspired by the Property Council of Australia_#main-fn2">2.

However, the hopes The Australian held out for in these amalgamations came unstuck when, on Saturday 15 March, anti-development candidates standing in the amalgamated shires were able to overcome the additional difficulties posed by their having to campaign in larger shires and were able to defeat candidates backed by developers. These included the Cairns City Council into which the Douglas Shire had been forcibly amalgamated and the Greater Sunshine Coast Council into which the Noosa shire had been forcibly amalgamated. In at least two other large local government regions, the Gold Coast City Council and Redland City Council, anti-development tickets won control in spite of extravagant developer-funded advertising campaigns against them.

In response, on 18 March an editorial entitled "Queensland faces a tougher job on regional development"_#main-fn3">3 was published. It commenced:

Queensland's local government elections demonstrate the difficulty that beset public administrators trying to manage the competing demands of population growth.

The 'difficulty' being that electors in those council areas were not prepared to put up with the further degradations to their quality of life necessitated by continuous population growth. As has become the established practice with the Murdoch Press, the question as to whether population growth is an issue over which affected communities should have any say, is not even posed, rather population growth is treated implicitly as a given over which no power in Heaven or on Earth can have any control:

... the Queensland (state government) must grapple with an influx of thousands of new residents each week and deliver, health, education and other public services.

In fact, the choice is being made, but instead of it being made by the affected communities, it is being made by politicians, like Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who serve the same vested interests as does the Murdoch media. They include principally the aforementioned Property Council of Australia, whose members gain from population growth, through land speculation and property development, at the expense of the rest of the community, the environment and future generations.

To be sure, there is a moral ambivalence to this issue as many who oppose today's population growth were part of yesterday's additions to the population to those areas and the editorial writer seeks to gain from this the high moral ground:

... much of the growth comprises city refugees making a sea change to what they consider their own piece of paradise. From Cairns to Coolangatta, it was easy to detect a determined anti-development flavour to much of the voting on the weekend's election.

A 'flavour' that the editorial writer makes clear he/she wishes to be ignored by the state and federal governments. It is interesting that The Australian is silent on what the sea changers were seeking 'refuge' from, namely the over-crowding of Australia's capital cities, which has been greatly encouraged by the Murdoch media through its past promotion of population growth.

Of the triumph of Val Schier over the long-serving pro-developer Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne, the editorialist opined, this "will test the state Government's willingness to use independent panels to make decisions on development applications". Supposedly 'independent' panels are made up of people who, unlike popularly elected councillors, are not accountable to the residents who will be affected by their decisions. In this way it is hoped that the opposition to over-development can be swept aside.

The editorial acknowledges that the "new batch of local leaders can legitimately argue that they have a mandate to resist change." It, nevertheless, concludes:

Amalgamation has happened, but given the weekend results, the reform push is clearly unfinished business.

Can we come to any other conclusion from this editorial except that the 'reform push' is expected to be 'finished' by the use of dictatorial state government powers to over-ride the democratic wishes of Queensland communities?

Footnotes

#main-fn1" id="main-fn1">1. See The Australian newspaper backs environmental vandalism in the Mary Valley of 5 Jan 08.

#main-fn2" id="main-fn2">2. See story Cate Molloy : Forced council amalgamations planned by Property Council of Australia of 7 Sep 07

#main-fn3" id="main-fn3">3. Unable to obtain URL for this editorial.

Australians, finally able to rejoice at the demise of the hated Howard government, can count themselves lucky that the Queensland Labor Government's undemocratic local government amalgamations program enacted at the behest of the Property Council of Australia did not fatally undermine Federal Labor's election campaign in Queensland as had been feared earlier earlier by Margo Kingston amongst others.

In the early stages federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd did publicly oppose the forced amalgamations and correctly supported Prime Minister John Howard's Federal legislation_#fn1">1 to over-ride the now infamous Queensland Government's legislation under which councils which attempted to consult their communities about the amalgamations through ballots could have been dismissed and under which any councillor who even voted in favour of any motions enabling such ballots could have been fined.

In spite of Rudd's support public distancing of himself from the Queensland Government the "Friends of Noosa", opposed to the forcible amalagamation of the Noosa Shire Council into the Greater Sunshine Coast council, launched a "Dump Labor" campaign in early September 2007 which featured demonstrations in which effigies of Rudd, as well as Beattie, were put in a bin. A large hoarding on a major road on the northern approach to Brisbane also featured the "Dump Labor" slogan.

Had they succeeded and returned a Howard Government this could have paradoxically, been counterproductive to their stated goals. State Labor governments, including the Queensland Beattie Labor Government have been notorious for their undermining the electoral prospects of Federal Labor in order to serve their own cynical survival strategies_#fn2">2. This is because the state parliament election dates have tended to occur near the middle of the three year Federal parliamentary election cycle, when the Howard Government had felt most immune from popular opposition. At these moments, when the Howard had chosen to inflict his nastiest policies upon the Australian public, state Labour governments have been able to exploit the resultant public backlashes in order to be able to cling to office themselves. Thus, former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks was re-elected in 2006 in spite of breaking a 2002 election promise to build a freeway, instead deciding to have a privately operated tollway built. The unpopular New South Wales state Labor Government of Morris Iemma was re-elected in March 2007 largely as a result of a backlash against Howard Government's "Work Choices", even though the Government in which he was a minister under the leadership of former Premier Bob Carr helped bring about "Work Choices" by undermining Mark Latham's election chances in 2004.

Given all of this there would have been little reason to suppose that either Premier Peter Beattie or his successor Anna Bligh would have been concerned in the least by the "Dump Labor" campaign.

As the election date drew closer other leaders of the anti-amalgamation movement appealed to Kevin Rudd for his public support. Had he done so, there would have been every reason to expect that the Queensland Government would have have been forced to abandon the amalgamations. However, he did not, even ignoring appeals for him to do so contained in full paid advertisements from the "Local Democracy" group (one partially in Chinese in which Rudd is fluent) published in the Courier Mail prior to the elections. Predictably, at least two large advertisements which called on Queenslanders to vote against Federal Labor were published in the Courier Mail in the last week before the election.

However, Rudd's gamble appears not to have backfired against Federal Labor and the appeals of the anti-amalagamation movement to vote against Labor went largely unheeded by Queenslanders, most fortunately for both Queensland and the rest of Australia. There was a 8.31% swing against the coalition in Queensland (as of 3.45pm AEDST) giving Labor 51.22% of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.

Whatever the reason for the high vote for Federal Labor may be, Queenslanders, opposed to the Howard Government, who may have objected to the anti-Labor campaign, would be ill-advised to turn their backs on their rural cousins. If the undemocratic amalgamations are not stopped it will eventually harm the interests of ordinary Queenslanders to the benefit of land speculators, property developers_#fn3">3 and other powerful vested interests, who at the moment have at least the Queensland Government in their collective pocket, if not the now defunct Federal Liberal Government.

It is important that people vote in the areas living in council areas affected by the amalgamations use Australian Electoral Commissions plebiscites, scheduled to begin on 26 November with the mail-out of postal ballots, to make their opposition to amalgamations emphatically clear.

Furthermore, if the democracy is to have any real content in this state the Queensland Government must be made to accept the outcomes of these plebiscites and, if necessary reverse the amalagamations now underway.

Footnotes

#fn1" id="fn1">1. Howard's support for democracy in Queensland stands in stark contrast to his own record in Government and to his own attitude to forced amalagamations in New South Wales and Victoria. See, for example, Media releases by the Indepenendent NSW Federal MP Peter Andren (since deceased) Howard's paper thin hypocrisy on amalgamations and my article Dictatorial Conduct published in Online Opinion on 21 Sep 07.

#fn2" id="fn2">2. This was revealed in the Latham Diaries, with examples of how the Victorian, New South Wales and Tasmanian state Labor governments had acted to harm his own election prospects. Sadly, Mark Latham has, himself, more recently emulated this behaviour which he had so rightly exposed in his own diaries, by turning on Federal Labor in two articles published in the Australian Financial Review (see article Mark Latham's Political Gift to John Howard dated on 19 Nov 2007 on Margo Kingston's web diary).

#fn3" id="fn3">3. See Cate Molloy : Forced council amalgamations planned by Property Council of Australia, 7 Sep 2007

#links" id="links">

Links

Peter Beattie bent on destruction of Rudd's chances Margo Kingston, 18 Aug 2007

Online Opinion discussion forum: Don't let Peter Beattie save John Howard's political hide 8 Aug 2007

Dictatorial conduct by James Sinnamon, 21 Aug 2007

Queensland's burning - local government amalgamations Beattie-style by Scott Prasser, 27 Sep 2007

/NoForcedAmalgamations

www.localdemocracy.com.au

www.friendsofnoosa.org

Dear editor,

If the leaders of the "Friends of Noosa" coalition had learnt anything from recent history, they would understand that their "Dump Labor" campaign ("It's war on Labor", 6 Sep), aimed at the Federal Labor Party, which has opposed
forced amalgamations from the outset and has fully supported John Howard's legislation to allow Queenslanders to express their views on this issue at the ballot box, will have almost the precise opposite effect to that intended.

In 2003, the then Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks broke an election promise of 2002 to build the Scoresby Freeway, instead building the Eastlink tollway in partnership with a private consortium.

Mark Latham, leader of the Federal Labor Party at the time, recognised the threat that the justifed backlash by Victorian voters posed to Federal Labor's election prospects and urged Bracks, at a meeting in 2004, to change that decision.

Bracks refused.

It is a matter of record that Federal Labor paid the price at the 2004 polls for Bracks' actions, whilst Bracks, himself, was re-elected in 2006 as a consequence of voter revulsion against "WorkChoices" and other policies of the same Howard Government that he had helped to get re-elected.

Of course, it could be argued that Kevin Rudd should be more outspoken on this issue. Nevertheless, the leaders of the "Save Noosa" coalition are punishing the wrong people.

I urge them to cease forthwith their campaign against Federal Labor and, in particular, to remove their "Save Noosa - Dump Labor" hoarding which is now prominently displayed on the northern Bruce Highway approach to Brisbane. Instead, they should focus their energies on encouraging a high turnout to the planned plebiscite on amalgamations and on demanding that the Premier and his local Government Minister Andrew Fraser respect its outcome.

They should not assume that city-dwelling Labor voters are necessarily their enemies.

James Sinnamon

#ResidentsLetters" id="ResidentsLetters">

War on Labor a bridge too far

Like many others, I am appalled by Peter Beattie's forced amalgamation of our local council.

However, I feel extremely uneasy when I see a front page image representing a fellow human being - no matter what their failings - dumped into a rubbish bin while people stand around applauding (The Noosa Journal, September 6).

Blaming, scapegoating and declaring war on an enemy group may feel like a good way to vent frustrations, but history shows us that politically motivated polarisation rarely resolves problems. More often (especially when carried to extremes) it contributes tohuman suffering.

Personally, I can't see how "declaring war" on Labor - or for that matter declaring war on anyone - is going to fix the amalgamation mess. Aren't there enough wars on the planet already?

Humanity has a proud history of fighting against injustice. Let's not confuse that history with the phoney heroics of those (on all sides) whose self-serving political agendas make them willing to exploit an issue for electioneering purposes.

After all, who is to say a State Liberal government wouldn't have forced amalgamation? They did it in Victoria, despite massive protest.

Beach protest was simply shocking

I am a member of the silent majority and a normal, ratepaying citizen of Noosa, concerned as everyone regarding its future. However, I was disgusted with the behaviour depicted on the front page of your September 6 edition.

The antics of destroying effigies of people is more in line with the frenzied endeavours of a mob on the streets of Mumbai, not the streets of Noosa.

It has become blatantly obvious that the so-called Friends of Noosa - and I use the term with scepticism - are being led around by the nose and manipulated by people with their own agenda.

I recently heard Glen Elmes speak at a function and was impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm. It would be most disappointing to learn that he condoned this disgrace against his contemporaries, albeit from the opposite
side of the political spectrum.

Those who have read "The Latham Diaries" will have found startling confirmation of the fact the State Labor Premiers are cynical enough to deliberately damage the electoral prospects of their Federal counterparts in order to better ensure their own survival at the state level.Adapted from an article cross-posted to Online Opinion. Also, see article on webdiary "Peter Beattie bent on destruction of Rudd's chances" by Margo Kingston.

Those who have read "The Latham Diaries" will have found startling confirmation of the fact the State Labor Premiers are cynical enough to deliberately damage the electoral prospects of their Federal counterparts in order to better ensure their own survival at the state level. Former NSW Premier Bob Carr expressed it thus in his own diaries on 6 November 2001, quoted on pages 305-306 of "The Latham Diaries"(2005):

Published polls and the Party's polling starting to show Federal Labor edging up. Can't believe it. ... (Michael Egan, NSW State Treasurer said,) 'We'll be the ones weeping if Labor wins.' Yes - the secret agenda: State Labor wants to run against a rotting hated Coalition Government in Canberra. A Labor Government there only makes a third (State) term harder.

Mark Latham commented: "People used to get expelled from the Labor Party for this sort of treachery. Yet when it appeared in Marilyn Dodkin's book on Carr last year, no-one batted an eye-lid. Has it become part of the system? Everyone now expects Carr Labor to selfishly look after itself, cheering for a Howard victory, ..."

And certainly Bob Carr, together with his Victorian and Tasmanian counterparts did just that, as Latham abundantly illustrated, and we have them largely to thank for Howard's victory in 2004, together with "Work Choices" and all of his other policy abominations.

Which brings us to the forced council amalgamations in Queensland. There are no sound reasons derived from Labor principles to justify Beattie's current plans to abolish so many local governments which are in tune with the needs of their constituents. Indeed, it was a former Queensland Hanlon Labor Government which gave local government the powers they have enjoyed up until now (see "When amalgamations failed" by Dr Mark McGovern of the QUT).

The only possible motives that I see are:

1. To take away the powers that local communities now have to prevent the further ravaging of their regions by property developers, and
2. A cynical political stunt, in emulation of Bob Carr, to use the perpetuation of John Howard's rule to ensure the survival of his Government at the next State election.