04-02-2020, 06:52 AM
The relevance or irrelevance of local councils.
Australian Councils are an anachronistic leftover from British traditions probably refined over the centuries from the old feudal system of governance, the “Lord of the Manour”etc.
With the advent of democracy the local council became the arbiter of purely civil local issues.
We hold Local councils out to be part of a democratic process, but are they really?
How many of us actually know who their local council is? How many of us have actually met a councillor? How many of us know who the Mayor is?
Perhaps in small country towns some would, but in huge cities, even the big regional centres I doubt very few do.
In the modern world, increasingly, councils as all bureaucracy’s do, have expanded into very expensive entities, their core functions becoming buried in a plethora of issues with little relevance to the rate payers, who really only want their garbage collected and their roads repaired.
I very much doubt many people seek election to councils with altruistic motives of civic duty, for the vast majority I believe being a member of council is largely a self interest activity.
How many view being a councillor as a stepping stone to higher office in the political spectrum, rather than serving the needs of ratepayers?
How many councillors are political activists who view local council as a way of imposing their particular political agenda’s or beliefs?
How many councillors are property developers, or affiliated with them with a view to profit?
How many councils govern in the local interest?
How many citizens of this country view local councils as corrupt?
After CASA, the so called privatisation of Airports has been the greatest disaster to befall aviation in Australia.
Airports were once viewed as vital pieces of national infrastructure.
In the modern world they are viewed as monopoly cash cow’s, prime real estate ripe for development or from a local council perspective an inconvenient liability.
CASA killed off the general aviation side of the aviation industry in much the same manner that Europe did by over regulation, destroying the aviation related cottage industries that supported country airports. If these airports are finally closed because local council’s see no intrinsic value to their constituents, they are gone forever and the mantle of the tyranny of distance once again adds a nail in the coffin of rural Australia.
The oft heard mantra the user must pay is trotted out by various councils to account for draconian charges they attempt to retrieve from users of their airports and at the same time impose draconian restrictions on the airports usage, defeating the whole point of the airports being in the first place, as a convenient useable public utility.
In Armidale’s case, there is some general aviation activity at their airport and they are lucky enough to have an RPT service as well. As with all commercial activity there is always a limit to what users can pay in terms of fees. Set that bar too high and businesses start looking for alternatives or close their doors. By driving general aviation off their airport Armidale council chooses to ignore the fact that those users are local rate payers, the jobs they provide feed funds into the local community. If GA is gone and the user must pay the costs will get passed to the RPT sector which in turn gets passed on in the price of a ticket with the added risk of airlines pulling out of servicing the town as buyer resistance to sky high regional fares diminishes passenger numbers.
The whole airport privatisation fraud will come back to bite us one day, once airports are gone, short of another war, they will be gone forever along with the collapse of rural Australia.
Work has started at Bankstown airport on stage one of the ulitimate master plan to close the airport to all but rotary wing. Once the Airport lease was passed illegally to State Super
(The airport Act Prohibits a trust from owning an airport) it was always going to happen.
Their development arm which illegally operates the airport (the airports act prohibits a property developer from running an airport) has the earth movers in, spreading asbestos contaminated dust and PFAS residue across the suburbs. On the northern side the whole precinct from the high flyer to the terminal is slated for demolition to make way for further industrial development. Sad, but reality, you cant beat the big end of town. When such huge amounts of money can be made governments are prepared to turn a blind eye to the law and the breach of their lease provisions.
Australian Councils are an anachronistic leftover from British traditions probably refined over the centuries from the old feudal system of governance, the “Lord of the Manour”etc.
With the advent of democracy the local council became the arbiter of purely civil local issues.
We hold Local councils out to be part of a democratic process, but are they really?
How many of us actually know who their local council is? How many of us have actually met a councillor? How many of us know who the Mayor is?
Perhaps in small country towns some would, but in huge cities, even the big regional centres I doubt very few do.
In the modern world, increasingly, councils as all bureaucracy’s do, have expanded into very expensive entities, their core functions becoming buried in a plethora of issues with little relevance to the rate payers, who really only want their garbage collected and their roads repaired.
I very much doubt many people seek election to councils with altruistic motives of civic duty, for the vast majority I believe being a member of council is largely a self interest activity.
How many view being a councillor as a stepping stone to higher office in the political spectrum, rather than serving the needs of ratepayers?
How many councillors are political activists who view local council as a way of imposing their particular political agenda’s or beliefs?
How many councillors are property developers, or affiliated with them with a view to profit?
How many councils govern in the local interest?
How many citizens of this country view local councils as corrupt?
After CASA, the so called privatisation of Airports has been the greatest disaster to befall aviation in Australia.
Airports were once viewed as vital pieces of national infrastructure.
In the modern world they are viewed as monopoly cash cow’s, prime real estate ripe for development or from a local council perspective an inconvenient liability.
CASA killed off the general aviation side of the aviation industry in much the same manner that Europe did by over regulation, destroying the aviation related cottage industries that supported country airports. If these airports are finally closed because local council’s see no intrinsic value to their constituents, they are gone forever and the mantle of the tyranny of distance once again adds a nail in the coffin of rural Australia.
The oft heard mantra the user must pay is trotted out by various councils to account for draconian charges they attempt to retrieve from users of their airports and at the same time impose draconian restrictions on the airports usage, defeating the whole point of the airports being in the first place, as a convenient useable public utility.
In Armidale’s case, there is some general aviation activity at their airport and they are lucky enough to have an RPT service as well. As with all commercial activity there is always a limit to what users can pay in terms of fees. Set that bar too high and businesses start looking for alternatives or close their doors. By driving general aviation off their airport Armidale council chooses to ignore the fact that those users are local rate payers, the jobs they provide feed funds into the local community. If GA is gone and the user must pay the costs will get passed to the RPT sector which in turn gets passed on in the price of a ticket with the added risk of airlines pulling out of servicing the town as buyer resistance to sky high regional fares diminishes passenger numbers.
The whole airport privatisation fraud will come back to bite us one day, once airports are gone, short of another war, they will be gone forever along with the collapse of rural Australia.
Work has started at Bankstown airport on stage one of the ulitimate master plan to close the airport to all but rotary wing. Once the Airport lease was passed illegally to State Super
(The airport Act Prohibits a trust from owning an airport) it was always going to happen.
Their development arm which illegally operates the airport (the airports act prohibits a property developer from running an airport) has the earth movers in, spreading asbestos contaminated dust and PFAS residue across the suburbs. On the northern side the whole precinct from the high flyer to the terminal is slated for demolition to make way for further industrial development. Sad, but reality, you cant beat the big end of town. When such huge amounts of money can be made governments are prepared to turn a blind eye to the law and the breach of their lease provisions.