BARNARBY Joyce, the Nationals candidate for New England, yesterday said a referendum on recognising local government in the constitution has been set up to fail.
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The federal Government announced that it is planning to hold a referendum on recognition of local government in the Australian Constitution at the same time as the federal election planned for September 14.
“The Coalition has always supported the appropriate financial recognition of local government in the Constitution,” Senator Joyce said.
“However, the Labor Party and its ministers have so many things going on at the moment and so many distractions that this whole approach is a mess. I have never seen a bunch of people so completely and utterly disorganised.
“We have this Green-Labor-independent alliance stumbling, bumbling fiasco. The Coalition is forced into this invidious position of having to stand by their word to local government but the outcome will be completely compromised by the incompetence of the Green-Labor-independent alliance,” Senator Joyce said.
New England MP Tony Windsor said that Local Government has been lobbying for this recognition for many years and he is pleased that the Government is now putting the question to the Australian people as agreed in the “Agreement to form Government” negotiated by Mr Windsor and fellow independent MP Rob Oakeshott at the outset of the hung parliament in September 2010.
“Local Government plays a very significant role in Australia and should have been financially recognised in the Constitution many years ago,” Mr Windsor said.
“So I am pleased that this announcement today ticks another box in our agreement and thank the Government for this.
“I now look forward to bi-partisan support for the referendum and in doing so encourage the Australian people to recognise the need to make this change and vote ‘Yes’,” Mr Windsor said.