Many people must be feeling quite bewildered by what has just been decided by a State Government that made a pre-election promise of “no forced amalgamations”. I certainly wasn’t aware that the people of this state had decided to abandon local government in favour of regional.

It’s hard to imagine why the community of Tallaganda Shire was consulted for the regional review at all, when the views of just about everyone who spoke at the public meeting have been ignored. And it’s hard to believe how such a huge change to our system of so-called democracy can just suddenly happen, as seems to be the case. It would be interesting to know who made the proposal for this boundary change and why it was chosen for referral to the Boundaries Commission above others.

I hope our community, together with all those others that will be affected if this attack on our autonomy is allowed to proceed, will stand firmly to do what it can to resist these changes. My commitment to the abolition of state governments in favour of strong local government as part of a tight national framework is growing by the day.

Catherine Moore
Charleys Forest
via Braidwood

To the Hon. Craig Knowles
Minister for Planning, Infrastructure and Natural Resources
Dear Minister,

The Braidwood Greens are extremely concerned about the Environmental Planning and Assessing Amendment (Development Consents) Bill 2003, which would allow the Minister to extend the lapsing period on Development Consents for Projects of State Significance for a maximum of three years.

Extending a five-year Development Consent without further evaluation could pose new risks to the environment given how environmental circumstances and knowledge of best practices change over time. An example of this is the area’s hydrology, which has changed since 1999 with the embargo on water licences that have come into effect.

This Bill is an extremely inappropriate response to the situation at Lake Cowal. Third party litigation has not been brought by environmental opponents of the development. Rather, litigation has been primarily over the issue of the collection and destruction of Aboriginal artefacts and all litigation has been brought to the courts by Wiradjuri Elder, Neville Williams. (more…)

Thankyou for the opportunity to participate in this review of local government in the ACT region.

The Braidwood Greens have been active in Tallaganda Shire for 10 years, and more recently in Yarrowlumla Shire and the Queanbeyan City Council area where there is now a new group, the Queanbeyan-Monaro Greens. (more…)