For years now state governments have been trying to do away with local government by stealth. 

In NSW they have foisted many services onto local government without adequate funding, set unreasonable rate restrictions on councils and then claim councils are unviable, and now councils have to spend thousands of dollars to fight amalgamations, another impost by the state government. 

This week’s budget is all about making the state government look good. 

The surplus is made up with money that the state is making by selling off part of the electricity services stolen from local government many years ago with no compensation, cutting funding to the services foisted on councils and stamp duty, which is hurting young couples trying to buy a home. It’s not because MPs have cut their own entitlements, which are over-generous compared to the average worker.

We have three tiers of government and the one in the middle is costing the country thousands of dollars to redistribute the money given to the states by the federal government. 

When the states gave the federal government the power to collect taxes on their behalf they should have been abolished. 

We should be governed by laws to suit today’s conditions, not by the horse and buggy rules set up over 100 years ago.

Charles Everett,  

Clifton Grove