by Alison Ryan

2019

Local Government Councils work hand in hand with Federal and State governments and partner up with various UN bodies to implement Agenda 21 goals (UN SDG 2030). Under Liberal/National and Labor and Greens – it’s all been full steam ahead. Nowadays, Asian friends tell me the Australian education system is 2 years behind that in other Asian countries.

The top experts enlisted to create change in curricula for Global Education under the SDGs come from the ranks of the Trilateral Commission, such as Tom Kompas, Professor at the University of Melbourne, and ANU. Other Australian/NZ members on the TC list from the Asia-Pacific Group are:

Prof Quentin Grafton, Director of Food-Energy-Environment-Water (FE2W) Network, Chairman of UNESCO Chair in Water Economics & Transboundary Water Governance, Director of Centre for Water Economics, Environment & Policy (CWEEP) at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Convener Geneva Actions on Human Water Security, Convener Water Justice Hub

Allan Gyngell, Fellow Australian Institute of International Affairs (FAIIA),Convenor, Coombs Forum; Director, Crawford Australian Leadership Forum

*John R. Hewson, Former Federal Opposition Liberal Party Leader, Australia Professor and Chairman of Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, *Executive Committee

Tom Kompas, Director of Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU; Director of Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics (ACBEE); Editor-in-Chief of Asia and the Pacific Policy Journal, University of Melbourne

Mike Moore, Former New Zealand Ambassador to the US; former Director-General, World Trade Organization, Geneva; former Prime Minister of New Zealand

Michael Wesley, Director, Academic Outreach and Research, National Security College, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) at University of Melbourne
See: The Trilateral Commission

Michael McCormack (Nationals MP) is quoted: “local government should be recognised in the constitution”, from a news report on Monday 17 June, 2019, “Local councils vote for a referendum”.

Australia’s councils have voted to demand a referendum giving local government constitutional recognition.

The motion, calling for the government to initiate a referendum “at the earliest opportunity”, was carried 201 votes to three at the National General Assembly of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) in Canberra on Monday.

“Local Government presently depends on the continued will of the various State legislatures to empower local government to exist and perform various functions,” the motion put forward by Toowoomba Regional Council states.

“It seems preferable that the Commonwealth entrench the right for councils to exist and perform certain roles.”

If agreed to by the government, it would be the third referendum on giving local councils constitutional recognition after previous referenda held under the Whitlam and Hawke Labor governments both crashed.

It’s also not the first time ALGA has taken a crack at a referendum. A motion for a referendum within five years was passed at last year’s NGA but was given a polite thumbs down by the federal government, which said in a subsequent letter to ALGA it had no immediate plans to change the constitution.

[However]
Qualified support from the government in Monday’s vote came after Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told delegates earlier in the day that local government should be recognised in the constitution to enable direct funding.

“I think, I believe, I know that local government should be in the constitution,” he said to applause from the audience.
“There is probably no more important thing than the commonwealth be able to fund local government directly, so that we can avoid going through the bureaucracy and so that we can get the money direct to where it needs to go, and that’s right on the ground.”

But he added a referendum had to be worded in the right way to convince the Australian public, and it had to be put to them at the right time.

“I know we’ve had referenda on it before, but next time when it goes up – and it has to, it should, it must – we have to get the wording right. And we have to put it in at a time when the Australian voting public is in the mood that they’re going to carry it.”

The referendum was among the first of a total of 121 motions that are up for debate over the next two days.

Motions to restore Financial Assistance Grants, support recycling and take action on climate change also featured heavily in Monday’s debate.

Motions passed at the ALGA NGA
# That the federal government declare a climate emergency
# That a minister be appointed to assist councils in their response the changing environment
# That the federal government establish a national strategy for climate change adaptation and resilience
# That the government consider indemnifying councils that take climate change mitigation initiatives
# That the current drought be elevated to natural disaster status
See: Local councils vote for a referendum – Government News

Regionalism is also a tool of the UN for integrating economies. The 5 UN Regional Commissions – United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA) work like underground moles at the subregional and regional levels to make an end-run around national sovereignty.