Changing The Rules at Half-Time

The Local Government Amendment Bill currently before the Legislative Assembly amounts to changing the rules at half-time to score an advantage over the opposing team.

Tucked away at the end of the Bill is a little clause that is more like changing the rules at half-time because the opposing team's midfielders are scoring too many goals and then saying that any goals they've scored in the first half shall not be counted.

You'd think that CB would understand, as a former footy player, why the same rules apply throughout a game. However, he clearly knows he has not only the opposing team but also the crowd against him - and changing the rules retrospectively is the only way he can win. Typical bullying behaviour - play it my way or I'll make sure you don't play at all.

Of course, an alternative explanation is that CB has fixed the LGAB and doesn't want others to waste their time making futile submissions. That's the more charitable interpretation, but it still stinks.

The United States has a constitutional prohibition on retrospective legislation, but even though Australia doesn't there is a presumption against it, especially where it creates an offence or liability that did not previously exist. In the case of the current forced local government amalgamations, local Councils, community organisations and individuals might well have acted in the way they have in the legitimate expectation that they would be able to have their say in submissions to the Local Government Advisory Board.

So, whatever the Local Government Amendment Bill might say, I reckon that aggrieved Councils, groups or individuals would have a fair chance of success in legal action to declare the retrospective provision illegal.