Now This IS Anti-Democratic

The Local Government Amendment Bill now before the Legislative Assembly removes the requirement for the Local Government Advisory Board to seek submissions for a minimum of six weeks on amalgamation proposals. In other words, there would be no opportunity for affected individuals or organisations to comment formally on the proposals.

This is pure political pragmatism - as is demonstrated by the fact that it, at least in theory, only applies until December 2016 (ie when Col Pot intends that the current proposals will have been forced through). However, there is a lurking danger, as that date may be extended effectively indefinitely (ie a later date might be a century away) by an Order of the Governor in Council - ie as required by the Government of the day without further parliamentary debate or approval.

Tony Simpson might, with his own warped logic, regard the Dadour provision as 'anti-democratic', but the removal of our right to comment is anti-democratic by any standards.

Local Government Amendment Bill 2013