7th September 2008
In the days before the rest of NSW holds their local government elections, the Illawarra Greens hosted a public forum yesterday to discuss some of the reasons for the failure of democracy in Illawarra Councils.
Convenor Jill Merrin said, “democracy has taken a hit in the Illawarra over recent years, and we wanted to look at some of the strategies to clean up government.”
“With both of our Councils being sacked this year, there is obviously something going very wrong. The ALP-dominated Councils have become intimately involved with the development industry, and until that nexus is broken, we can only expect more of the same in future.”
Greens MP Lee Rhiannon spoke about the ongoing scandal that is the influending of decisions through political donations in NSW. She also spoke about the parallel weakening of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act in recent years.
“Despite Premier Iemma’s pledge to clean up donations following the Gong-Gate scandal, donations are still flowing from developers to the major parties. Now it is just more difficult to trace them because they are being funnelled through the party”, said Ms Rhiannon.
“The only solution is for the Rees government to properly ban corporate donations, and move towards full public funding of elections.”
Graham Larcombe, of Wollongong Against Corruption, spoke about WAC’s plans to introduce a Charter for Ethics and Good Governance. Over the last year WAC has also been active in raising the issue of corruption in the Illawarra, and lobbying for a Royal Commission.
The Illawarra Greens identified the current ward structures in Wollongong and Shellharbour as a “gerrymander”.
Ms Merrin said, “the ward systems we have now effectively benefit the ALP, to the detriment of independents and smaller parties. Until these are changed to a more democratic system, with proportional representation, the ALP will continue to take the people of the Illawarra for granted.”
The Illawarra Greens presented their proposal for structural reform in Wollongong, to move to four Wards of three Councillors, instead of six wards of two councillors. Based on the electoral figures from the last election, the proposed structure includes Wards of approximately 27,000 electors each. See our proposal in detail click the menu item above headed ‘Council Restructure Proposal’.
“The Commissioner for the Inquiry into Shellharbour Council has recognised this and recommended a move to larger wards, and we believe that the same change needs to happen in Wollongong. The fewer wards that exist in a Council, the greater the level of representative democracy,” said Ms Merrin.
The meeting called for:
• Democratic elections for Wollongong and Shellharbour Councils by March 2009
• Structural reform to Wollongong and Shellharbour Councils voting systems
to ensure democratic proportional representation, before the next
elections
• Premier Nathan Rees to honour former Premier Morris Iemma’s promise to
ban political donations before the next elections
• A Royal Commission into corruption in the Illawarra
The meeting also supported the Wollongong Against Corruption “Democracy Now” rally to be held in Wollongong on election day, 13th September.
For more information, contact Lee Rhiannon 9230 3551, 0427 861 568, Jill
Merrin 0422 655 711