The Forum > Article Comments > Should local government be in the Australian constitution? > Comments
Should local government be in the Australian constitution? : Comments
By Don Aitkin, published 14/5/2013Why you should care about September's referendum.
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Unfortunately, the latest blood-sport in Australia, particularly from a populist media, is 'council bashing'.
I'll admit, much of the criticism can be justifiable, however it could be argued that Local Government is a 'more legitimate' level of representation than either state or federal government because of residents direct access to council staff (compared to fed or state boffins) and closer interaction between ratepayers and elected officials.
Should LG be granted constitutionality? The question should be, will it? Politicians I have spoken to on the subject don't give it much hope. I think all of that is beside the point anyway.
Almost everyone I speak to believes we are over-governed in Australia, and I agree.
So would giving another tier of government constitutional legitimacy fix that? Of course not.
We have to start serious debate about how we should be governed, i.e. the status-quo or something more befitting the 21st century Australia.
In my humble opinion, local government should be regionalised, essentially taking on the role of the states, and state government and it's wasteful duplication (and triplication) of services be abolished.
We also need to get away from the rusted on "Statists" who continually put legal, political and nonsensical road-blocks in the road of change and we must find a way to make change.
And it's not change for change sake. The vast majority of Australians demand it!