important questions, the
first will be a verdict on the
have a choice between returning the
Labor Party for a third successive
term or handing the keys of The
Lodge back to the Liberal Party
and its charismatic leader Tony
Abbott. The second question that
Australians will have to answer is just
as important but has largely been
overlooked by the media and political
commentators in favour of the pomp
of Canberra politics. This second
question will be a constitutional
referendum on whether local
government should be recognised in
the federal constitution.
governments in the constitution is not
a new one. This will be the third time
since 1977 that Australians have faced
this question at a referendum, the
same question failing on its previous
two attempts. In all three attempts,
it has been a Labor government that
has proposed the change, although
this time most of the Liberal Party
appears to support the change. This
indicates that even though the ordinary
Australian might not care about the
recognition of local government,
politicians in Canberra obviously do.
longed for the recognition of local
governments for practical reasons.
Canberra wants to be able to fund
local government directly without the
under this own state constitutions for
local government. Up until recently
this was not an issue, despite the `no'
vote from the Australian people in the
1977 and the 1988 referendums, the
Federal government was still finding
ways to fund local government. This
ran contrary to the High Court's
understanding of Section 96 of the
Constitution which provides that:
financial assistance to any State on
such terms and conditions as the
Parliament thinks fit".
that the constitution would only allow
funding to local government if it went
through the state's first. That is the
Federal government could give money
to states to give to local government,
but could not give directly to local
government. This understanding
reflects the Federal character of
our constitution, that we have
levels of governments with differing
on recognising local governments in our constitution, and its
possible implications for the process of government.