24th September 2007Anna Bligh was heartless and showing she had no compassion or empathy
with small town Queensland by continuing the ALP’s hard line on council
wipe-outs, the State Coalition said today.
State Coalition Leader Jeff Seeney said Anna Bligh’s arrogant put down
of Queenslanders having their democratic right to vote on forced
amalgamations showed every Queenslander needed to stand up to the ALP
and its push for centralist control.
“Anna Bligh is showing her true socialist left colours and anyone who
thought she might soften Labor’s hard line to wipe-out local communities
needs to think again,” Mr Seeney said.
“Eighty-seven councils have decided to hold plebiscites ….to give
their residents a say, but all Anna Bligh wants to do is condemn the
plebiscites as a waste of money.
“Well how much of a waste of money was the AC Nielsen push-polling
conducted by Labor in Brisbane where no was going to be affected by
forced amalgamations.
“How many hundreds of thousands of dollars did the ALP waste on that
dishonest polling where people who weren’t affected were asked loaded
questions and the results were used by Labor to justify their
politically-driven wipe-out of local communities where tens of thousands
of council jobs are at risk.”
Mr Seeney said it was time for the people in centres such as Cloncurry
and Charters Towers and in the remote communities of the Cape and Torres
Strait to have their say.
“This fight is about democracy. If amalgamations are so right, why
doesn’t Anna Bligh join the Coalition in encouraging everyone to have
their say?
“She’s not listening and by labelling the plebiscites a waste of money
she’s shown her true colours.
“I urge every Queenslander interested in democracy to send the strongest
message to Kevin Rudd, because Anna Bligh and the State ALP aren’t
listening.”
Media Contact – Jeff Popp 0438 153 857