As the national election approaches, I often read discussions about the referendum for Constitutional recognition of local government. While the system of local governments is different between Japan and Australia in terms of unitary system or federal system, their importance is recognised the same way because they are the nearest government bodies to citizens.
Japan’s local government is based on the Constitution of Japan. It regards local autonomy as indispensable to democracy, clearly placing local governments within the national government structure and guaranteeing their autonomy. Chapter 8 of the Constitution contains four articles which guarantee local autonomy and describe its basic nature and principle.
I am going to attend ALGA National General Assembly in June and look forward to hearing further discussions on this very important topic for the local government sector.
