Dr Jones’ message for Chch residents?

Press, 26 February 1986, Page 9

Dr Jones’ message for Chch residents?

Dr Michael Jones’ message for Christchurch residents is likely to be: “The battle of amalgamation will be won at public meetings.” In his White Paper on Victorian amalgamation in Australia, Dr Jones said the people of Victoria had to decide whether they really cared about local democracy. “If they do not attend public meetings and hear both sides of the argument, the advisers who have captured the premier (of Victoria) are correct: local government is an empty shell that can be moulded at will to suit the fickle whims of the political party in office at a particular time. Local government as well as the

Local Government Commission is on trial.”

The Victorian commission had enormous powers, Dr Jones said. It could abolish any local authority in the state without an act of Parliament. The act which established it said,the comission may regulate its own proceedings, shall not be bound by rules of evidence, and may inform itself in such a manner as it thinks fit

The commission is chaired by Mr Stuart Morris, a lawyer. Dr Jones believes the “procedural injustice and politicisation of the quasijudicial process in areas like the Local Government Commission must be

emphasised” in the amalgamation debate. The commission had made it clear it wanted to execute many Victorian authorities, he said.

He noted that some attempts to challenge the decisions of the New South Wales Boundaries Commission, the New South Wales equivalent of the Victorian commission, had been successful but the Supreme Court had referred them back to the commission as the only body that could deal with the issue.

“The Local Government Commission is in effect a court of law that will act as judge, jury and executioner for many local authorities in Victoria,” he said.