1925 Brisbane City Council election

Transcription

(Former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman): Welcome to Brisbane and welcome to City Hall. Officially opened in 1930, City Hall is the people's place, hosting free concerts, civic events, morning teas and citizenship ceremonies. It's heritage listed and known as one the grandest city halls in Australia. But after many decades, structural and heritage work is now required. When it reopens, City Hall will be more user-friendly and environmentally sustainable. Brisbane will be able to enjoy it for many more generations. I look forward to welcoming you back to City Hall soon. [Music] (Kimberleigh): Hello. My name's Kimberleigh and I'm going to take you on this local government tour of Brisbane City Hall. Let's start by taking a look at this very grand building. You just heard Lord Mayor Campbell Newman say it's one of the largest city halls in Australia. Brisbane City Hall actually occupies 2 acres or 0.9 hectares of land in Brisbane's central business district. The land is bounded by Ann Street to the west and Adelaide Street to the east. The building itself has over 250 rooms, including the Council Chambers, offices and public spaces, such as the Main Auditorium and the Museum of Brisbane. It seems hard to believe but the site of City Hall was originally a swampy water hole. Plans were being made to build a grand city hall as early as the 1880s. In 1917, architects Hall & Prentice were asked to submit design for municipal offices and a public hall. Their design was finally submitted in November 1919 and soon after they were commissioned to oversee City Hall's construction. [French accordion music] City Hall was officially opened in 1930. It took 10 years to construct and it cost almost 1 million pounds by the time it was completed. [Piano music] This is the Council Chambers. It's where the Lord Mayor and Brisbane's elected councillors meet to conduct the business of local government. There are three forms of government in Australia. Do you know what they are? Federal, state and local. Brisbane City Council is a local government constituted on the 3rd of March 1925 under the City of Brisbane Act. Local governments like Brisbane City Council often have a greater impact on people's everyday lives than other levels of government. This is because of the everyday services that local governments administer. Can you think of some everyday services that Brisbane City Council is responsible for? There's the footpaths you walk to school along, and the bus or ferry you ride on. Don't forget the public swimming pool, local park and bikeways you enjoy on the weekends. There's also the golf course that mum and dad use, and the library that your whole family visits. Other services include animal control, bushland management, cemeteries, community arts, drainage, garbage collection, local roads and bridges, street lighting, weed control and so much more. [Bells ringing] Australia's political system is based on the democratic Westminster system used in the United Kingdom. In a Westminster system, the members of government are elected by popular vote. In the case of local government, it's every 4 years. In Brisbane, elections are held in March. 27 councillors are elected, one of whom is the Lord Mayor. They represent the 26 wards of the City of Brisbane. The elected Council must govern for the full 4 years. Residents living within the boundaries of each of the wards elect the councillors. One councillor who serves full time on the Brisbane City Council represents each ward. All eligible voters throughout the 26 wards elect the Lord Mayor. So, in effect, 2 elections are held at the one time. The elected members are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the city and the services that I just talked about. The Lord Mayor and councillors attend council meetings in these Chambers and make decisions about these services and other important things. Council meets at 2 pm every Tuesday except when Council is in recess, which happens at Christmas, Easter and during other holiday periods. There are 3 types of Council meetings. Ordinary meetings, special meetings and budget meetings. In ordinary meetings, general council business is discussed. Reports are considered and there's a period of question time. Petitions are presented and minutes from the previous meetings are reviewed. Special meetings occur as needed but only after a written request has been lodged to discuss special Council business. A special meeting is more likely to occur when Council is in recess. Budget meetings are held in June each year. The Lord Mayor presents his budget speech and the councillors vote on a motion to adopt the Council's budget. Let's take a look around Chambers and at who sits where during Council meetings. The Chairperson of Council sits at the front of the Chambers. It's his or her role to keep to the agenda and run an efficient meeting. The Lord Mayor takes his position here and the Deputy Mayor sits here. The Brisbane City Council has 8 standing committees that make recommendations to Council. The 8 Chairs of these committees sit across here. The Leader of the Opposition sits here, 2 sword lengths away from the Lord Mayor. But there's no risk of swords being drawn these days though. Official business of Council meetings is recorded in the Minutes of Proceedings. The person who records the Minutes sits here. Everyone sits in the same seat each time they attend Council meetings. Now, do you remember what day and time I said that Council meets? Brisbane City Council meets every Tuesday at 2 pm unless Council is in recess. Some bells ring, at 2 pm, for 2 minutes to summon the councillors to the Chamber. The bells can be heard throughout City Hall. After the bells have stopped, this rope is hooked into place and no additional people are permitted to enter the Chamber. The Chairperson takes his or her seat and decides if the meeting will proceed. A quorum is needed for the meeting to go ahead. A quorum is made up of half the total number of councillors plus one. Therefore, a quorum for Brisbane City Council is 14. If a quorum is not present, the bells are rung again for 2 minutes, after which the Chairperson decides the fate of the meeting. It is a very rare occurrence for a quorum not to be present. The media regularly attends Council meetings and reports proceedings from special seating within the Chamber. Very few governments have this facility. The media is usually restricted to gallery areas. Members of the public are welcome to attend Council meetings by taking a seat in the public gallery. They're welcome to sit and observe the meetings in silence. Do you remember how many councillors Brisbane City Council has? There are 27, one of whom is the Lord Mayor. Each one has been elected by their local community to work on behalf of that community. Let's hear from one of them. (Margaret de Wit): Hello. I'm Margaret de Wit, Brisbane City Councillor for the Pullenvale Ward, which is in Brisbane's western suburbs. I've worked in this position since I was elected in 1997. I love my job because it means I get to help the people of Brisbane. I play an important role in helping to shape the services that Council makes available. I spend a lot of time listening to people and learning about what they want from Council. I then try to find solutions to their requests. I decided to become a councillor because I wanted to help shape the future of my community and my city. Being part of the workings of Brisbane is very exciting and rewarding. Council is working very hard right now to develop Brisbane into the 21st century. Everyone can contribute and help Brisbane to be the most liveable city whether you're an elected member of Council or another Brisbane resident. Perhaps you might become a Brisbane City Councillor like me one day. You don't need any formal qualifications but you do need a genuine interest in people and in helping others. (Kimberleigh): Now it's time to understand the difference between the role of a councillor and the role of a Lord Mayor. Brisbane has a Lord Mayor but other cities have Mayors. Do you know why? We need to look at Brisbane's history to understand why our city has a Lord Mayor. [Pipe and guitar music] The first election for Brisbane's Municipal Council was held in 1859. A notable builder, John Petrie, was elected the first Mayor of Brisbane. Did you notice I said he was elected Mayor and not Lord Mayor? Brisbane received its city status in 1902, and in 1925 State Parliament passed the Greater Brisbane Act, setting up a single, city wide, local government for the whole of Brisbane. The legislation joined 2 cities, 6 towns, 10 shires and a number of ad hoc boards into one municipality. From this time onward, the Mayors of Brisbane took on the title of Lord Mayor to signify that Brisbane is the capital city of Queensland, and amongst the largest municipalities in the world. In Brisbane, the Lord Mayor acts as the city's ceremonial figurehead at official functions, and carries the authority of Council between Council meetings. Have you seen Brisbane's Lord Mayor at work? If you have, what have you seen him doing? You may have heard him speaking on radio or television about roads, bridges and tunnels. You may have seen him in the newspaper, welcoming important visitors to our city. Perhaps you read his views on the environment, waste services and public transport. The Lord Mayor's role as Chief Executive or Leader of Brisbane City Council comes with many official responsibilities, including attending official functions and welcoming new Australian citizens at citizenship ceremonies in the Main Auditorium. Let's take a look at one of these ceremonies now. [Song sung by a choir]: We are one but we are many, and from all the lands on Earth we come. We share our dreams… (Former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman): Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am honoured and I'm delighted to welcome you all here this evening. We have, ladies and gentlemen, 635 people all here for one important reason: they want to become Australian citizens. Would the the candidates making the Australian Citizenship Pledge now please stand. From this time forward, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey. (Female host): The Rayshapova family arrived from Uzbekistan in February 2006 and the Ballantine family arrived from South Africa in February 2006, and reside in the Gap. The Lasigis family arrived the Philippines in May 2005 and reside in Hammond. (Former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman): Ladies and gentlemen, will all our new citizens now please remove your certificates from the envelopes to symbolize the grant of citizenship at my hands. Now everybody else, ladies and gentlemen, everyone else in the Auditorium, please now stand and give our new citizens a great big Aussie welcome. [Orchestra playing and audience clapping] (Former Lord Mayor Campbell Newman): Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! (Audience): Oi! Oi! Oi! [Orchestra plays “Waltzing Matilda”] (Kimberleigh): Did you notice what the Lord Mayor was wearing? At times, he wears official, ceremonial clothing. The robes and Merrill chain are not intended to glorify the Lord Mayor. Instead, they're a uniform of office, and are used and respect and honour the people whom the Lord Mayor serves. The Merrill chain grows and changes over time as each Lord Mayor is able to add his or her own link. This link was added by Brisbane's first Lord Mayor William Jolly. When the current Lord Mayor Campbell Newman leaves office, his own link will be added to the chain. One of the Lord Mayor's other important responsibilities is to administer Sister City agreements. Sister City agreements are formal, strategic arrangements to promote and advance the economic development and social infrastructure of each sister city to the mutual benefit of both cities. Brisbane has an agreement with 8 sister cities. Kobe, Japan; Auckland, New Zealand; Shenzhen, Peoples Republic of China; Semarang, Indonesia; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Daejeon, South Korea; Chongqing, Peoples Republic of China; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is traditional for sister cities to exchange gifts as a symbol of the agreement they have in place. These are some of the gifts that Brisbane has received from sister cities around the world. Notice that some of the gifts are official symbols of cities that have given them. Brisbane City Council uses a number of official symbols to represent our city. Do you know what they are? There's the coat of arms, city shield, flag and corporate logo. Brisbane's coat of arms features 2 gryphons supporting the city shield. Gryphons are mythological creatures, chosen to represent the city because of their spirited nature. The shield was designed in 1946 and is a tribute to Sir Thomas Brisbane, a prominent astronomer. The shield's symbols represent commercial activity and peace while the motto “Meliora Sequimur” means “We aim for the best”. The city's colours, blue and gold, are reflected in the wreath at the top. Brisbane's flag is based on the coat of arms and is flown daily in King George Square outside City Hall. Where else have you seen the Brisbane flag fly? You'll find it on the back of all CityCats and at Southbank amongst other places. The flag features gold caducei which are winged staffs entwined with serpents, gold gryphons, gold Stafford knots, white stars and white wavy lines on a blue background. That brings me to Council's corporate logo, which features the historic Brisbane City Hall. For many Brisbane people, City Hall is a place of great stability, and our city's community and cultural centre. [Organ music] (Kimberleigh): City Hall is much more than Brisbane's seat of local government. Many important individual events have taken place here, some in this very room known as the Gold Mirror Room. The Olympic torch was received at City Hall, on its way from Athens to the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. There have been civic receptions for numerous units of Australian and overseas armed forces, and Olympic and Commonwealth athletes. Bridal expos, fashion parades, orchestral concerts, operas, balls and gala events have been hosted here. Many dignitaries have been received at City Hall during their visits to Brisbane, including members of the British royal family, his Holiness Pope John Paul II, his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, and Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the former US president, and Lord Louis Mountbatten of Britain have also visited City Hall. Mick Jagger performed at City Hall when he was 21 years old. Catherine Zeta Jones, Billy Zane and Sarah Michelle Geller visited regularly while filming the Phantom and Scooby-Doo movies. Other movies filmed in part in City Hall include Inspector Gadget 2, and Steve Irwin's Crocodile Hunter. The television series Cybergirl was also filmed here. At the beginning of this DVD, the Lord Mayor said that we looked forward to welcoming you back to City Hall soon. You could come here on a tour with your school, or with your family on the weekend. Or you could walk through City Hall's front door as a councillor or the Lord Mayor. Anything is possible so set your sights high. Every one of you have the potential to be an excellent Lord Mayor. Good bye for now. [Music]