Today's announcement by Premier Beattie that he would withdraw threats to sack councils if they conducted amalgamation ballots, represents a victory for the people of Queensland.
The Queensland Government has backed down on its plan to stop Queenslanders from participating in referendums on the local government amalgamations.
Mr Beattie's decision to withdraw his legislation has come in response to sustained pressure from my Government to give Queenslanders a say on the amalgamation issue.
If my Government had not acted as we did, Mr Beattie would have continued to act in an arbitrary jackbooted fashion, trampling over the rights of the people of Queensland.
In flagging plans last week to change the Commonwealth Electoral Act to ensure Queenslanders could participate in plebiscites in local government areas, my Government cleared the way for the Queensland people to express their views without penalty.
The Australian Government's offer to fund the conduct of the ballots remains on the table.
It should be remembered that the Government is not expressing a view as to whether or not an individual merger should occur.
Rather, the Commonwealth believes that people should have the right to express a view on the actions of a government without threat of penalty.
However, if there is a strong expression of opinion in local government areas that choose to go ahead with the ballots, the Queensland Government may be forced to reconsider those amalgamations.