Supposedly due to "dysfunction", NSW local government minister Paul Lynch sacked another elected local council on July 9. Based on the recommendation of commissioner Richard Colley, who headed up the recent public inquiry into the council, Lynch declared all elected offices of Shellharbour City Council (SCC) vacant.
SCC, immediately south of the notorious Wollongong City Council (WCC), will now be run by an appointed administrator until 2012, the next time democratic elections are scheduled.
This is the second time this year that residents on the NSW South Coast have had their democratic rights taken away, after WCC was sacked and replaced by administrators in March. But don't think for a second that dysfunction was the real reason behind the sacking: that would imply that the ALP head-kickers are in some way allies in the struggle against problems such as dysfunction, misconduct, even "systemic corruption".
The very opposite is true. Think about it, if NSW Premier Morris Iemma had any consistency he would have sacked himself for dysfunctional behaviour long ago!
The development-driven behaviour of WCC and SCC — both dominated by ALP councillors — has meant the councils are seriously out of touch with the communities they supposedly represent. Also, the outrageous conduct of ALP councillors has received massive public exposure from the ongoing Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation into WCC and the public inquiry into SCC.
In this context, the ALP was facing annihilation in the local council elections in September this year. Iemma's desperation to avoid electoral disaster is behind the council sackings, nothing else. The people of Shellharbour, like Wollongong residents, now face four years of an unelected "council" run by people appointed by the ALP state government. The same ALP that created this situation in the first place!
The first and most important job for the community is to recognise Iemma's tactics and demand that council elections take place in September. It will take a big political effort to reverse the state government's intervention into both councils. Nothing short of a united campaign that mobilises community disgust will do — action in the streets is needed.
The community should also support the call by Wollongong Against Corruption (WAC) for a Royal Commission into corruption in local councils.
But, importantly, the community should also launch a campaign — with others across NSW — to legally entrench the rights and responsibilities of local councils and shires. Such a campaign is absolutely necessary to stop Labor and Liberal state governments from sacking and restructuring councils as they think fit. As long as the minister has a "get out of jail for free" card, the government will use it when they have no other choice. It's easy to imagine a conservative state government putting the "dysfunctional" label on a council that's a little too radical or independent for their liking.
Residents should have the right to sack their elected councillors, not the state minister. The Socialist Alliance believes that councillors should remain loyal to their electoral platform, and accountable to their constituents by subjecting them to the right of recall by the community. If signatures are received from 10% of the population in the ward or local government area in the case of a mayor, a by-election should be called. This is one point the Socialist Alliance took to the last election.
If the ALP's minister for local government didn't have the right to sack councils, the people of Shellharbour and Wollongong would be going to the polls this September. There's no doubt they would start the clean-up process themselves. But if the community had the right to recall their councillors, both SCC and WCC would probably have been replaced long ago.
In the face of corruption scandals and dirty deals, the ALP would likely be thrown out, replaced by Greens, independents, maybe even a socialist or two: a council that put community need ahead of corporate greed. The kind of council Iemma would really like to sack.
Chris Williams
[Chris Williams is a member of the Socialist Alliance in Wollongong.]