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Ministerial Statement
The Hon. TONY KELLY (Minister for Rural Affairs, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister Assisting the Minister for Natural Resources (Lands)) [5.33 p.m.]: The Local Government (Council and Employee Security) Bill, which will come before Parliament either later today or tomorrow, will allow the Minister to delay elections when the Boundaries Commission is considering an amalgamation proposal or boundary change or when a council is the subject of a public inquiry. The bill will also improve employment protection for council staff and will allow councils to apply for rate variations over seven years on a fluctuating basis rather than on an annual basis.
The New South Wales Government will proceed with the bill but I want to clarify the situation and offer some certainty to councils that are discussing boundary changes. The Government first proposed legislation last year and, if it had been passed at that time, we would have been able to delay elections before then. However, that did not happen. So today I give a commitment that, regardless of whether the legislation passes through the upper House, we will not delay any more elections. I would like to delay some local government elections, especially the election at Walgett, whose council is the subject of a public inquiry under section 740 of the Local Government Act. I do not believe it is in the public interest to proceed with elections when a council is the subject of such an inquiry. However, I am not prepared to jeopardise additional employment protection or the financial security of councils. The Government will seek to ensure that the bill is passed at the earliest opportunity. I do not know whether that will happen tomorrow or when Parliament resumes after the local government elections. Even if the bill is passed I give an undertaking that I will not seek to delay any further elections.
The four new local government areas that were proclaimed today—Peel Regional Council, Liverpool Plains Shire Council, Upper Hunter Shire Council and Gwydir Shire Council—will hold their elections on 26 June. The new local government areas in southern New South Wales—Cooma-Monaro, Eastern Capital City Regional, Greater Argyle, Greater Queanbeyan City, Tumut, Upper Lachlan, and Yass Valley—will also hold their elections on 26 June. Most councils asked to hold their elections on that date. The Upper Hunter election will take place on 25 September 2004 under administrator John Jobling. Clarence Valley Council will hold its election on 5 March 2005. Severn and Glen Innes councils—which had their elections delayed while a voluntary amalgamation proposal was discussed—will hold their elections on 18 December 2004, although they could be brought forward. Obviously the elections are also delayed of the three councils that are under administration following their dismissal after public inquiries.
The Hon. DUNCAN GAY (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [5.36 p.m.]: The Opposition welcomes the announcement by the Minister for Local Government. Dare I say that the shadow Minister for Local Government in the other place, Andrew Fraser, all Opposition members, most crossbench members and I suspect some Government members believe it is about time. Today is 17 March and the 2004 parliamentary session resumed on 17 February. It is not unusual for bills to be introduced by a Minister other than the Minister with portfolio responsibility for the legislation. A draft local government bill has been out to consultation for some time. The bill could have been introduced in the lower House in the first week of the parliamentary session, rubber-stamped by the Government—which has a majority in the Legislative Assembly—and then sent to this place a week later on 24 February. Yet it is now 17 March and a week into pre-polling for the local council elections. People have distributed election material without knowing whether the elections will proceed.
According to the scuttlebutt in this place—and I think it is pretty right in this case—the Government always wanted to introduce the bill as late as today. What does that tell us? It tells us that the Government is out of control. It has no direction and it does not care. Candidates in the local government elections needed to print their election material—I dare say even Labor candidates are in this position—but they did not know what would happen. The Coalition was lobbied by the Country Mayors Association, which represents the larger councils, to support a provision in the draft legislation. The association's president lobbied me at the Western Division shires conference to support the Minister. He has obviously been rolled since then because the Shires Association opposes the legislation. The Opposition welcomes the Minister's statement. But why can we not have some planning in the local government area? The Government's only plan for local government appears to be its plan to break its election promise. That is not good enough.