A comment if I may

The upcoming local election seems to be heading for a whitewash of the existing seat warmers from were I sit which is 10 days away and 4 days at home, as I have had to leave the area to find employment.

The fact of the matter is at the present stage our would be mayors are not doing much to excite many of those who live on the Fraser Coast!

My little summary of those brave enough to put there hands up for a seat and the top job:

Mick……..been there too long and is past it!
Gerry…….has not done much in 4 years and did not do much before that!
Chris……..a Kiwi who tries to sell real estate we got the daily
double there.

Councillor candidates:
Isabel ……..who is she and what has she done?
George……wants a supermarket in a tourist area and is is looking at saving shopping trollies?
Mick H ……tell us what you think not what Chris is telling you
Sue ……….time for a change
DD………….next
Les…………was lucky to get a seat last time and it will not happen again!
Jimmy……..god help us
Rolf…………sorry mate you were rude to my nanna in your post office you have not changed
The Butcher….will have ago and seems to be able to get things done…..just needs to find some mates good luck you will need it!
Johnny………too old
Jan…………….25 year of business experience……but, did you not cost the Bay a by election?
Julie ………are you not still on leave from the state government?
The Bunnings Bloke…….. just what we need another bloke who stands around and talks all day without doing anything
BMN ……….gone
Debbie………what have you done in 4 years?

This is the way I see it and in my camp that has a lot of people from the Fraser Coast at it we they all say the same……..

The donkey vote will win out I think!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess now that I am making real cash I can afford to pay the fine!!!!!!!!!

Andrew Garland

End of the road

Over the past three years I’ve enjoyed (mostly) being the moderator of BringBackStrewth.  From early beginings where I took over where the original Strewth! left off to now, it has been my pleasure to offer this discussion platform, share your thoughts, ideas and concerns about issues affecting the Fraser Coast.

Early on it was fun even trying to pick out the identities among the aliases, some glaringly obvious whilst others to this day remain a mystery.  Often it was hard to know what information that was being fed in was accurate and which was for want of a better word crap.  Sometimes we got it right, sometimes we missed the mark.  There were the odd occasion where we got grumpy letters from a certain Brisbane law firm but we pressed on.

In the last 12 months, life has taken a completely different path for me, work and recreational pursuits have had my focus on opportunities elsewhere and I simply haven’t had the time to give the blog what it really deserved.

Today I wrap up what will be the final posting for BBS with a big thank you to each and every one of you who contributed.  From the late Alan Smith who in the early days was a prolific contributor aka ‘Bayzeyes’  to others such as Fraser Coast Barfly, The Truth, Spida,  CopYalater, The Observer, Inside Trader, Praetorian, The Seeker, Mr Walker (and all the others who amused and informed and otherwise entertained us), the usual suspects John Neve, Audrey Robb, Jim MacKellar and the like and others who put their names to comments.. I salute you all.  It has been a great experience but now it is time to move on to much bigger things.

Cheers,

BBS

Council pay strike

You will have seen that the Council’s workforce have lost faith in their negotiations with our esteemed Council over their new agreement.

Just a thought – did Council arrive at the figure of 2.7% by calculating how much they would be able to claw back through increases to the rates and charges over the same period? Thus making the offer totally revenue neutral?

Of course, if you are on the salary of an executive  2.7% is a substantial sum of money but if you are one of the actual workers it doesn’t add up to quite so much.

Jim McKellar

Secrets

What? A secret “community” member on the selection panel for the next council CEO (Chronicle, March 23)?

Please tell me it’s not developer Glenn Whinney or Daniel Poacher, one of his successors as the head of the UDIA, or even Chamber of Horrors head Bernard Whebell, or worse even still, former CEO now consultant Leigh Bennett.

C’mon FCRC, come clean and tell us who this secret community” member is. What have you got to hide?

Dirk Hartog

Lets Not Be Too Hasty

It would seem that the issue of Council divisions is not quite as cut and dried as Mat Nott (FCC 11-03-11) seems to think.

 

The operative word in the excerpt from the Ministers document is ‘impose’. Mr. Lucas does not believe that the state should ‘impose’ divisions on the Councils.  But some the Councils, including the FCRC, have now requested that their regions have electoral divisions. And that is a whole different kettle of fish.

 

Now the state government can support the return of divisions, as recommended by their committee, without being accused of imposing them on the Councils. It would be fair to say that the state government may have played very clever politics here to achieve an outcome they desired by meeting the Council’s own requests. Requests the Councils made after the government asked them to consult with their communities on the issue. There is a state election soon and they must be seen to be delivering on the wishes of the people. Such is the way of politics.

Always Someone Else’s Fault

To fix the problems of the Fraser Coast, we need to present a united front to the State Government, according to Councillor Gerard O’Connell (FCC 22-02-11). As if all our problems are their fault and none of the doing of our own Council.

As Mr Poacher points out ‘only 4% of the State Governments infrastructure tenders for the December quarter were in the Wide Bay’. Well, as the Wide Bay has approx 4% of the state’s population would you not think that was a fair share for us?

No, Cr O’Connell, the solution does not lie with the state government. The solution lies in you, and your other Councillor mates, getting off your bums and actually doing something to help our region.

Stop whinging and whining about how it is everybody else’s fault, stop the endless talking, talking, talking and actually do something positive and practical.

For starters, look at the operations of your own departments in Council. As Mr Poacher says, ‘We need incentives for people to bring their businesses here, like making the approval process for new developments quicker and easier…’.

The present approval process of the FCRC is so expensive and torturous that it forms the greatest disincentive to investment in our region imaginable. Cost and difficulty are the reasons economic development in the Fraser Coast has ground to a halt.

Yes we do need to spend money on infrastructure, but Council’s money. So far this term Council has underspent its capital works budgets by over $50million. How much better would our infrastructure be if, just for once, we actually saw all that money invested in works, not invested in the bank.

So come on Cr O’Connell, lets have an end to all the talk and grandiose plans and lets see some good positive, practical economic development action from our Council before it is too late.

Jim MacKellar

 

The end for Maryborough?

With the news today that Downer EDI is not going to tender for the large Queensland Rail train contract, we have to wonder what does the future hold for Maryborough.

It does not take a rocket scientist to determine that the failure of EDI to secure more work for it’s Maryborough employees will leave a huge hole in the local economy.

This situation however is not new, it has been played out time and again for decades and it is past due that the local council, state government and others came together to provide a viable alternative to the city’s dependance on a poorly performing manufacturing sector.

Where are our leaders?  Where is the future for our region if they will not step up and find the answers?  Fighting the government for the work to go to EDI was commendable but now that has failed, it is time a viable alternative is found AND secured.  If not, expect to see a mass exodus of trained tradespeople as they depart for areas like Gladstone or Mackay in search of a future for their families.

Complaints and Investigations

Keith writes:

On 21 September 2010 a complaint by the Mayor and Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Fraser Coast Regional Council was referred to the Tribunal under section 171(3) of the Local Government Act 2009.

The complaint alleged that a person or persons unknown had released confidential information discussed in closed sessions of the Council to the Fraser Coast Chronicle.

In the course of its consideration of the material made available to it, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that some Councillors of the Fraser Coast Regional Council remain confused about their obligations under section 171 of the Act governing the use of information, particularly confidential information.

In these circumstances, the Tribunal strongly recommended to the Mayor and the CEO of the Council that they arrange further, and additional, training for all Councillors of the Council in relation to the whole topic of the use of information obtained by them during the course of performing their role as a Councillor, especially information obtained during the course of closed meetings of Council.

The release of confidential information by Councillors is viewed as serious misconduct by the Tribunal. This view is enshrined in the Act where any contravention is mandated for Tribunal action.

I for one am appalled that our councillors who have all been councillors before still do not know what their roles and responsibilities are. Lets hope it comes back to haunt them all at the next election.

Jim’s vision

Jim Mackellar has forwarded us his vision statement for the Fraser Coast Region.. what are your thoughts on where we as a community should be headed and how should council fit in to this?  Over to you Jim:

My Vision for Our Region

The Fraser Coast Region is a diverse and varied area that truly epitomizes the old rule – ‘one size does not fit all’. A vision for the region must take this diversity into account. Thus my vision is in several parts.

Council – An efficient and effective Council that contributes positively to the prosperity and lifestyle of the people of the Fraser Coast.

Hervey Bay – The friendly, family orientated holiday destination, supported by many varied service enterprises serviced by an efficient modern infrastructure system.

Maryborough – A hub of small to medium manufacturing enterprise supporting the prosperity and lifestyle of the regions people.

Rural and Coastal Communities – United communities encouraging the relaxed, Australian lifestyle enjoyed by our non-urban residents, supported by strong, home-grown community organizations.

Jim MacKellar

 

Another one gone?

Dear Bring Back Strewth,

What a difference a few days away in a big city can do for a bloke.

Well blow me down I get of a plane this morning and the bush telegraph tells me that we are about to see the departure of Kim Roberts……Gee he lasted a while in his job of sorting out the running of the FCRC and it staff.

Mr Roberts was talked up by some as the executive manager who was going to do this and that and sort out the whole show……well that real worked!

Was it not Mr Roberts who had taken over the running of the Economic Development Department…..is it a case of to much to be done or was Mr Roberts pushed out before a new CEO is appointed.

On the subject of the CEO nice advert in today press lets hope it attracts the right person for the job…..new blood, new style and it could be new hope of our area going forward.

On the subject of going forward this week the Seagull is off to Western Australia for business and is planning to go and have a look at the City Of Bunbury and district before our old CEO hits town and turns the place in to a basket case like the Fraser Coast.

Regards

The Seagull