Council amalgamation, like many things, sounds terrific. If we had fewer Councils within Tasmania, surely this means less cost to the already over-burdened tax-payer? We have had amalgamations before and may I say, “forced” amalgamation as many in those effected districts were against it. Regardless, the powers that are, went ahead. It was some years ago that the latest round of amalgamations went through and as one who opposed them I knew firsthand the opposition which existed, such as in the Huon Valley and on Bruny Island. Now, we are going through another round; it is the sound Fabian principle which is at work; bit by bit and by stealth.
The questions we must ask ourselves are two important ones: firstly, has amalgamation proved financially beneficial to the rate-payer? The answer is NO. We are still subject to high rates, less for our rates and an annual increase in rates. Secondly, we must ask – do the rate-payers and residents have a greater say in local government because of amalgamation? The answer, (again) is NO. The further your seat of government is from you the less input you will have; ask the residents on Bruny and those within those now non-existent municipalities in the Huon. Ask ourselves; what input do the ratepayers of Tasman have in Nubeena? Limited I would suggest. If the seat of local government is, say for instance, at Sorell, the residents will have even less and little influence.
The Socialist agenda for Tasmania (and elsewhere for Australia) emanating from the United Nations is to regionalise the State. In other words, three main areas, south, north and north west. This way State Governments will be done away with extra power being centralised in Canberra and let me say quite openly Tony Abbott is an admitted centralist; so we have a problem of both major Parties being centralists. Power, increasingly over the years, has been centralised in Canberra, whereby now the Tasmanian Government is really just an administration centre.
Truly we need another Joseph ‘Jo’ Darling; that great Tasmanian politician who stood up to Canberra during the war and won!
It is true that the existence and the role of State Governments is written into the Australian Constitution, while local government is not. The reason why local government is not in the Australian Constitution is because they existed within each colony before federation. Federation was formed because of the colonies and as municipalities were a colonial, then State responsibility, there was no need (and still no need) for it to be included.
With the State Governments being mentioned, the power mongers and social manipulators have a problem. To do away with State Governments, we must have a national referendum.
Changing the Constitution in the past has always been a problem for Governments as people have an in-built fear of Government and great suspicion of its true intention. However, there has been a massive brain-washing campaign over the years with the theme that Tasmania, being a small State, is over-governed and it costs us too much.
Let’s look at some facts. In Australia we have three tiers of government i.e. Federal, State and Local. (In the USA they are four). Our fore-fathers, knowing the corruptive spirit of man and his quest for “power” (the second-oldest profession) designed our system of government to break up that ‘power’ and put checks and balances to counter-act the greedy appetite for governments to increase its hold over the people, whom it supposedly represents. So the three tiered system of government is there to divide power and responsibilities; in other words to decentralise power. By getting rid of one tier of government you will only put more power into lesser hands – and that’s the name of the game. As far as costing us more; this is really a furphy. Whole departments can be abolished saving the tax-payer hundreds of millions of dollars annually. What costs is the unnecessary funding of many pet projects, political favourites, minders, useless departments and social curriculums promoted by political considerations rather than what is in the interest of the public. Yes, we are over-governed, but not in structure. We are over-governed with the growth of governments and the many commissions, Boards, Departments and individuals, who never answer to the public nor have they ever been approved by the public. Australia is one of the most over-governed people in the Western World in that we have become so controlled by Government. The Andrew Bolt affair of late has shown us that public expression is no longer to be tolerated by the courts and government and that we must toe the line in all things. To highlight this over-bearing attitude by governments, have you noticed over the years, how we are all now being watched and reported on? We have become a “pip” society and …”you don’t even have to give your name…” so the rhetoric goes.
Council amalgamations sound nice; but beware; it is just another quest for power; let’s not be fooled by this thrust. When governments tell us that it is good for us, think the opposite. Governments exist to entrench their power and that power is at the expense of the people.