Noel Crichton-Browne: Introducing compulsory local government voting doesn’t address the issue

Hannah Beazley’s proposal that WA local government elections be compulsory due to the poor turnout at Saturday’s election does not address the cause of the low vote.

To force electors to vote for candidates in a body intended to administer and govern the provincial matters of their neighbourhood with a financial penalty for failing to do so misplaces the role local government should have.

There is a vast difference between the two constitution tiers of government and the intended minor parochial role of local government, which gives compelling cause for compulsory voting in State and Federal elections and voluntary voting Local government elections.

The powers of the Commonwealth parliament are set out in the Constitution and are binding on the courts, judges, and the people of every State and of every part of the Commonwealth.

The States have powers on all other matters save for those vested in the Commonwealth as set out in the Constitution.

Local government is merely a creature of State legislation which provides that each council should have ”such powers as the Legislature considers necessary for the better government of the area in respect of which the body is constituted”.

Its powers rest entirely in the grace and favour of the State government. Given that local government is a creature of State legislation, its standing reflected in the poor voter turnout rests entirely with the State government. Forcing electors to vote for a system they clearly reject ignores the problem.

Ms Beazley says councils are “the level of government that’s closest to the people. A lot of what the community sees in their everyday life and the services that they get … are provided by council. They’re a really important level of government and it’s really important that the community is involved.”

The WA Department of Local Government cites “street trading, reserves and foreshores, signs, parking, the Dog Act 1976, the Cat Act 2011 and the Cemeteries Act 1986” as among councils’ responsibilities.

Perhaps if councils were forced to restrict their interests and activities to local affairs, ratepayers may well feel inclined to take a greater interest.

Two referendums by Federal Labor governments to have local government recognised in the Commonwealth Constitution with a view to increasing the standing and authority of local government were both overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. In the most recent referendum, 70 per cent of WA voters voted No.

Given the Local Government Act is a creature of the WA State parliament, it is entirely within the gift of Ms Beazley to strip away from local government the countless areas into which they involve themselves at the great expense of their ratepayers.

For political purposes, Federal governments fund local governments, bypassing the State. This is done principally through grants whereby the Commonwealth provides funding to the State on the condition it is passed to local government to be spent on purposes designated by the Commonwealth.

In some instances, the Commonwealth, in a constitutionally questionable course, funds local government activities directly. At the recent Federal election the Labor government promised a digital score board for a Perth suburban cricket club and a new patio for a Perth senior football club.

Equally, the State funds local government works and services in which the State has legislative responsibility.

The consequence of these two funding mechanisms is that Commonwealth, State and local governments’ responsibilities become both blurred and triplicated. Many government obligations have in various forms fallen into the responsibility of all three levels of government with each requiring administrative authority.

Unnecessary duplication and triplication of government services costs taxpayers billions in taxes and rates.

Increasingly, this problem is exacerbated by local governments intruding into a wide range of State and Commonwealth welfare services which are funded by the city’s ratepayers.

Recently a delegation of councillors from Fremantle, East Fremantle, Melville, Cockburn, Kwinana, and Rockingham flew to America for a 12 day visit to learn more of the significance of the AUKUS deal. Was there something they could not have learnt from their own governments to the extent there was anything of significance that they needed to know on behalf of their rate payers?

While the Labor Party has been deeply embedded in WA metropolitan local government for years, compulsory voting will institutionalise the partisan party political structure of local government in this State with the consequence that local government will demand recognition of their new standing. This will result in council decisions being coloured and dictated by ideological views imposed outside the council chamber.

All political parties formally endorse local government candidates in Victoria and NSW with candidates bound by party policies. A number of these councils have carried motions on the Gaza war and other deeply divisive political issues.

This is hardly in keeping with the WA local government obligation “for the better government of the area in respect of which the body is constituted”.

Noel Crichton-Browne is a former Liberal senator for WA