Howard veterans launch referendum ‘No’ vote campaign

By Julian Bajkowski Opponents to a change in the Constitution that could give financial recognition to local government through a referendum at the 14th September federal poll have launched their official campaign with an attack by former Howard government minister Peter Reith on the Nationals leader in the Senate,. Barnaby Joyce. After months of sniping […]

Bureaucrats roasted over referendum education progress

By Julian Bajkowski The Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sports has come under fire from the Opposition during Senate Estimates over the rate of progress in its efforts to mount a civics campaign to inform Australians about the looming referendum on whether or not to give financial recognition to local government in […]

Council resource bans cleared for referendum campaign use

By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet has moved to clear up confusion over whether or not strict new prohibitions on the use of council resources for partisan election campaigning would also capture local governments pushing for a ‘yes’ vote in the forthcoming referendum. According to a statement from the […]

Voters ready to debate constitutional change

By Angela Dorizas Australians are a ready to consider changes to the Constitution, but support for local government recognition is not strong enough for a successful referendum campaign. The second phase of results from the Australian Constitutional Values Survey found strong support for referenda on Indigenous recognition and changing Australia’s federal system. Conducted by Professor […]

Summit gives green light to constitutional reform

  By Angela Dorizas in Melbourne After three days of discussion and debate, the Local Government Constitutional Summit has reached a unanimous decision to reform the Australian Constitution. The Summit has developed a blueprint for constitutional reform that proposes the inclusion and recognition of local government in the Constitution to "expressly empower" the Commonwalth to […]

Final advice as summit prepares to vote

  By Angela Dorizas in Melbourne After receiving final advice from federal politicians, political analysts and constitutional law experts, the Local Government Constitutional Summit has moved into the final stages of developing a model for constitutional reform. The Attorney-General Robert McClelland today delivered the final words of advice to the summit, stressing the importance of bipartisan support. "I […]

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