Are local councils legal?

One question that people all over Australia keep asking RestoreAustralia is whether our local governments are legal or not.

In fact, this question was resolved by the 1988 Referendum that asked four questions:

• (39) Parliamentary Terms (not carried)
• (40) Fair Elections (not carried)
• (41) Local Government (not carried)
• (42) Rights and Freedoms (not carried)

The third question is relevant to the debate about whether local government is legal or not. The question posed in the referendum was:

The Australian Constitution recognises Government at Federal and State levels, but makes no mention of local government. Constitution Alteration (Local Government) 1988 proposed to alter the constitution so as to recognise local government. The proposal was put to a referendum in the Australian referendum, 1988.

Results

A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to recognise local government.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

Notice that the question did not mention Local Councils. Instead, it sought to legalize Local Government. These are not one and the same.

Before this referendum, we had local COUNCILS, consisting of local volunteer residents. These Councils provided better services for a lot less money than the current incorporated private entities operating under an ABN number do today.

The first official Local Government in Australia was the Adelaide Corporation which was created by the province of South Australia in October 1840. The City of Melbourne followed in 1842. All of these early forms failed; it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that the various colonies established widespread stable forms of local government, mainly for the purpose of raising money to build roads in rural and outer-urban regions. Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments brought in notions of metrics and efficiency developed within the private sector to the local government arena; as a result, major amalgamation programmes in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania took place, while minor regional initiatives were deployed in parts of Queensland and New South Wales.

These entities have gradually “legislated” themselves more and more powers until we see the form they take today; they enforce illegal laws and even take property from citizens illegally and unconstitutionally by force if the property owner cannot or will not pay Rates.

Any entity operating under an ABN number, as local governments are these days, is a business, and it is therefore not entitled to levy any taxes, no matter what they call them. Rates are a tax, and this is clearly illegal, as our Constitution states that only the Federal Government is empowered to collect taxes.

As the 1988 referendum vote came back with a resounding NO, the people of Australia clearly stated that they did not accept local government in any way, shape, or form. Yet the local governments have ignored the will of the people and they continue to pass illegal laws to prop up their illegal activities.

As you will see in the video below, not only are local governments illegal, but they have been taxing us illegally under false pretences. In Victoria for example, council rates consist of 2 parts. One part is called “municipal and garbage service charges” and it is not affected by the price of the property – meaning all the properties in the same council area pay the same. The other part is called “general rates” and it is affected by the value of the property – meaning those who have more expensive properties pay higher general rates.

Therefore, under the Constitution, the second part of the rates payment is deemed a tax, as it is affected by the value of the property, and this is clearly illegal. Yet, when challenged, local governments refuse to answer questions directly, or they just lie. And as we will see in the video below, they are ignorant of the law. Yet, ignorance of the law is no excuse. They are still bound by the law whether they know it or not.

This is why RestoreAustralia is actively working to amend the Constitution so that We the People can gain the right to Initiate referendums to amend the Constitution and decide the type of government We the People want. You can support this work by gathering signatures on the petition that will accompany a motion to Parliament to amend Section 128. If you haven’t read our 1901 Constitution, we highly recommend that you download it from our website. You can only claim your rights if you know what they are. And you can only understand why we the people need the right to initiate referendums if you have read the 1901 Constitution and understand how badly it protects our rights in today’s modern world. Here is the link to The Petition, and here is the link to download the Constitution.

This is the definition of local government entity available from ASIC as to what a local government entity is: (click on link) Local council description (NOTE: The image below was designed for the 2013 elections when we were going to be asked to vote in a referendum…it is no longer valid, but the page it links to is still very valid)

It states a local government “is either established by the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory (whether under a law or not) to carry on an enterprise or established for a public purpose by an Australian law,”

Is this for real… “under law or not”????

In effect, this says that local councils are Constitutionally invalid and can not exist at law. Now the question of Local government Act is also constitutionally challenged, as the state can not make a law that the Commonwealth can not make. Also the act is not assented to as it holds no letters patent.

But lets assume that the states are able to operate without Law. Would this then mean that ASIC, and not the Parliament, is able to legitimise ultravires activities for a fee by allowing the registration of an ABN and ultravire powers to non existent un-lawfull entities?

According to the Local Government Entity ABN 53680434639 Quilpie Shire

A government entity is:

1)    a department of State of the Commonwealth
2)    a department of the Parliament
3)   an executive agency, or statutory agency, within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999
4)   a department of State of a State or Territory
5)   an organisation that:

(i)       is not an entity, and
(ii)      is either established by the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory (whether under a law or not) to carry on an enterprise or established for a public purpose by an Australian law, and
(iii)       can be separately identified by reference to the nature of the activities carried on through the organisation or the location of the organisation
(iv)    whether or not the organisation is part of a department or branch described in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) or of another organisation of the kind described in this paragraph

ARE THESE PEOPLE SERIOUS!?

Well, I guess they are. They are charging homeowners a TAX and calling it RATES. They are imposing fines on We the People without our approval. They are paying their executives HUGE SALARIES without our approval. The Quilpie Shire Council CEO is paid over $200,000 a year, not including the salary his wife gets as a council staff member as well.

Do you know what is going on at your local council?

Isn’t it time you find out? Who is getting paid what? What illegal activities are they involved in…such as charging RATES, imposing FINES, etc?

Finally, how DARE local councils approve mosque applications without consulting local residents? Even though they say that the State Government Planning Act authorizes them to do so, when were We the People ever asked if we wanted to give the State Government the authority to authorize a PRIVATE CORPORATION to make decisions on behalf of the community?

The whole government edifice is built on lies. It’s time to change this, don’t you think?

Sources:

http://www.restoreaustralia.org.au/local-government-legal/

http://www.restoreaustralia.org.au/illegal-councils/