Daily Talk Forum
  • Advertise
  • Search
  • Member List
  • Calendar
Hello There, Guest! Login Register
Daily Talk Forum › General Discussions › Current Affairs, News and Politics v
« Previous 1 ... 76 77 78 79 80 ... 172 Next »

Beattie admits council stuff up



Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 1 Votes - 2 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Threaded Mode | Linear Mode
Beattie admits council stuff up
Coffee Break Offline
Gold Member
*****
Gold Members

Posts: 8,841
Joined: May 2008
Reputation: 26
Post: #1
Beattie admits council stuff up

QUEENSLAND Premier Peter Beattie has admitted he "stuffed-up" by legislating to stop referendums on controversial council mergers after an opinion poll revealed most Queenslanders wanted a say on the issue.

Citing new government-commissioned research which found 52 per cent of Queenslanders believed referendums should be held on the mergers, Mr Beattie said his Government had been too heavy handed in its approach to the issue.

Prime Minister John Howard last week introduced legislation to override the Queensland laws but the Bill will not be passed by the Senate until next month, meaning councils that hold votes in the meantime were risking the sack.

However, the state's Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser yesterday declined to sack a central Queensland shire that hosted a vote on the issue and Mr Beattie said others were now free to hold referendums of their own, using federal money.

“We will obviously pull back from any measures that would stop councils having a vote,” Mr Beattie said.

“If they want to have a protest vote they're entitled to do it, if they want to take advantage of John Howard's money they can,” he said.

“If John Howard wants to use money out of Sydney and Melbourne to fund those polls then so be it.”

Mr Howard said his intervention last week had forced Mr Beattie's hand.

“If my Government had not acted as we did, Mr Beattie would have continued to act in an arbitrary jack-booted fashion, trampling over the rights of the people of Queensland,” Mr Howard said.

Mr Beattie said the government-commissioned ACNielsen poll also showed most Queenslanders were in favour of local government reform while half supported the boundary changes passed through state parliament this month.

The poll found 73 per cent of the 1000 people surveyed state wide believed stronger council boundaries were needed to deal with population growth.

Respondents were split, however, on the boundary changes as recommended by an independent commission with 50 per cent in support and 48 per cent against.

Mr Beattie said he was delighted with the poll results which he claimed showed the community believed the Government had “got it right” by intervening to force the mergers.

“We are sticking to the boundaries as law, the amalgamations will go ahead, they will not change, he said.

“We are certain now that Queenslanders support it.”

Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney dismissed the figures and said the government had fashioned the questions in a biased way to get the answers it wanted.

Mr Seeney said questions such as `Do you think councils need to be strengthened?' were a case of push polling.

“It's a bit like asking people whether they love their mother, of course you're going to say yes to that,” Mr Seeney said.

“For Mr Beattie to come out this morning and claim that somehow or other the poll justifies this decision is breathtakingly dishonest.”

News Limited

Money Making Sites - Minisite Hosting - TriVita - Gold Membership - Advertise
08-19-2007 01:22 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply


« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Post Reply 


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread: Author Replies: Views: Last Post
  'Mentally sound' Fritzl now admits murder and slavery cyrano 1 1,203 03-19-2009 05:15 PM
Last Post: cyrano
  Russian Navy admits causing Irish oil slick; Ireland says aircraft carrier caused it cyrano 0 830 02-28-2009 08:19 AM
Last Post: cyrano
  EC admits no laws support nominee complaints lukamar 0 1,070 05-03-2008 03:23 AM
Last Post: lukamar
  Council of State backs Buri Ram red cards lukamar 1 1,016 01-07-2008 07:19 AM
Last Post: lukamar
  CNS admits power clique documents genuine lukamar 0 759 11-16-2007 01:16 AM
Last Post: lukamar

  • View a Printable Version
  • Send this Thread to a Friend
  • Subscribe to this thread
Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Advertise on Daily Talk Forum
  • Webmaster Forum
  • cPanel Hosting
  • SEO Directory
  • Toronto
    • Contact Us
    • Daily Talk Forum
    • Return to Top
    • Lite (Archive) Mode
    • RSS Syndication
    • Help
    • Portal
    • Membership
    • Advertise
    • Banners
    • Privacy
    • Rules

    • Review DTF at Alexa
    • Review DTF at Nortons
    • Site Map

    • Links
    • Your Link Here
    Current time: 04-14-2021, 03:15 PM Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2021 MyBB Group Theme created by Justin S