Celebrate Our Difference

By celebrating our difference and not trying to be another clone of the standard tourist spot the Fraser Coast can build itself as a distinct holiday destination.

By identifying and promoting attractions that are unique, or very rare, on the coastal tourist route we will develop a reputation as a location not to be missed.

Several such ideas have already been put forward, or are being considered, by individuals and groups here on the Fraser Coast.

Among the most noteworthy, that I am aware of, is the proposal by the Hervey Bay Astronomical Society to build an observatory and planetarium in Urraween. An attraction that would be utilised by both day and night and be of interest to tourists, enthusiasts and professionals alike.

Another proposal of note is that of Darryl Stewart to build a freshwater interpretive centre on the MaryRiver in the vicinity of Tiaro. Such a centre would help to inform visitors about our endangered species and conduct needed research into helping their survival.

Both these proposals combine the advantages of an interesting tourist attraction while also serving valuable educational and research purposes. They will enhance our reputation not only as a tourist destination but also as a centre of educational excellence.

I am sure that there are many other ideas already in people’s minds that only need encouragement to come to light. One of the roles of Council is to provide such encouragement.

More Information

Jim MacKellar

Candidate for Division 5

Mobile: 0418 732 506

Three cheers to Anna – NOT!!

You have to love the way politicians manipulate things to suit their own wants and desires.   Today’s announcement by Cpt’n Bligh shows complete contempt and disregard for the hundreds of council candidates who have already begun their election campaigns.  Interestingly, at home, it is no surprise that one particular councillor has kept her head down and not declared whether or not she will be running again.

The timing could not be worse for some candidates who have already booked television slots and newspaper advertisements for the weeks leading up to the original (and supposedly FIXED) election date who will now find their ads clashing with the rubbish the LNP and ALP propaganda machines will be spewing out not to mention the added cost of an additional 4+ weeks of campaigning.

However.. it could be good news for up and coming candidates who haven’t quite got their profile out there.. if there are any ambitious people out there with NEW and FRESH ideas.. get in front of the cameras, get your self known.. FAST.. because the Fraser Coast needs you!

Mistruths

With the impending Council elections we must be very careful of those who use mistruths to  try to convince voters of certain points. A mistruth is were true information is used to deliberately create a false impression.

A case in point is the information used by Brendon Falk (FCC 20-01-12) to try to create the impression that Council is not in a sound financial position.

Firstly, he uses the consolidated figures of Council and Wide Bay Water. This, of course disguises the fact that some of the consolidated figures are sums that are owed by WBW to Council. It is money that Council owes, and pays, to itself .

Mr Falk informs us that the short term liabilities (current liabilities) are $34million. But he fails to also inform us that current receivables total over $29million. And most of these are secured debts. The nett position is less than $5million. For Council <$1m.

He next informs us that $10.4million went in finance expenses without mentioning the $9.3million of interest income. Why? In fact the figures for Council show a cost of only $5.2million and interest earnings of  $8.5 million. A nett profit.

Nett income for the year does not take into account ‘book’ income from revaluation. Council’s net income for last financial year was $14.6 as stated but that for the previous year was over $19million. Not the $1.2million quoted in the letter.

Fairer rates does not mean that everybody will necessarily pay less rates. But if you think that having the people of Division 5 (Dundowran through to Howard) paying higher rates than their counterparts living in Hervey Bay is fair, I do not. And it must be fixed.

 

More Information

Jim MacKellar

Mobile: 0418 732 506

A reader’s thoughts

Dear Strewth,

As a follower and reader of your sight I just would like to say thanks for offering readers an insight into the upcoming election and you have developed a following of non Fraser Coast people.

If I may comment there are a now a few hands going up of people who have the skills required to manage  this community at last I may add…..we now just need a few more and we will be on the right track.

We have the following people:

 

1. Still Waiting same as frasercoastbarfly
2. Darryl Stewart
3. Lance Stone
4. Still Waiting same as frasercoastbarfly
5. Still Waiting same as frasercoastbarfly
6. Trevor Mc Donald
7. Daren Everard
8. Now this is my area and god help me if i have to vote for any of this lot!
9. Do we go old or new……..not my area but I am thinking new just not sure who!
10. Still Waiting same as frasercoastbarfly must agree with AndrewG a person who wants a supermarket and to save shopping trollies who had Macca as his old boss he is joking!

I think we have a base of 4 so it is only 6 to go, as the frasercoastbarfly has written about Div 7 I” believe this division is fortunate to have at least one decent candidate put their hand up already for the next election – Darren Everard. He is full of ideas and passion, and seems to be a real achiever, not just a talker, but he seems to believe

that he can do it all himself” with the other three I have suggested we have a start we just need a few more good people to come forward………..as I said 4 down 6 to go!

I think that if we get a few with some go about them we are right, we need people who want to have ago and as Darryl Stewart has written about the CV’s and employment history we need quality with proven history.

I have read with interest the CV’s in the paper and not many have done to much for me!

Thanks for your time my crew looks forward to reading the posts in the next few months!

The Bayside Basher

Qld Health payroll fiasco revisited!

The Fraser Coast Council, upon amalgamation, had a number of different systems to use, make obsolete, and combine.

 One of, if  not THE major  IT system for any council is the property and rates management system.

The new council had the “Proclaim” system from the old Hervey Bay, and the new Tech1 system “Property and Rates” which the Maryborough council was looking at using.

The staff, and there are hundreds who have to use these programs every day, were initially directed to use the Proclaim system. While those not from Hervey Bay originally had to undergo some training, most agreed that it was a good system to use.

The makers of Proclaim decided to make it redundant and were not going to support it after 2013. Council needed to plan for the future. So what did they do?

Did they run with the system already in use until support was no longer available?

NO!!

Did they look around to find out what other systems were out there and what other councils were using that worked well?

NO!!

Did they ask the end users of the programs what they thought?

NO!!

(Actually a few WERE asked but then ignored anyway!)

So what did they do???

Well, we probably should not say the “Council” here because it is doubtful many of the councillors had/have a clue what is/was going on.

But the powers that be, with the IT department taking the lead role, decided to go with the Tech1 “Property and Rates” program. This is despite the end users, every last one of them, hating the program and advising that it could not do what was needed, that it took several times longer to do most jobs, (read more staff to do same work), and that numerous mistakes will be made. Despite other Councils in Qld looking at it and deciding it was not ideal. And in spite of FCRC previous history of wanting to be “world first” only to find out they are “world joke”.

The senior managers/CEO and IT staff pushed on regardless and forced the implementation of the flawed program. And paid for it even when there were so many faults still not sorted out.

The property managers, town planners, waste section, Wide Bay Water, rates section etc etc etc all have to deal with this.

The last rates notices went out regardless with numerous mistakes. Wide Bay Water and Council had over 1000 complaints/queries on one day alone.

Whenever questions were asked of council they were always referred to the PR officer who repeated “Problems? What Problems? There are no problems!” Of course no lower level staff are allowed to speak publicly on the issue.

And nobody was. is. or will be, held accountable.

The questions are still not answered:

Why did certain people push for this system to be implemented when it was unproven, the end users said it was not satisfactory, it would need extra staff to run it, and there were going to be serious problems? Was this incompetence, or something else?

Is council going to put on more staff to make up for it?

Did they save enough money on this program to be able to put on extra staff?

Have all the glitches been ironed out?

Food for thought

G’day Bringbackstrewth,

Thank you for publishing my statement to stand for Council and thanks to your very kind correspondents for their supportive words. I guarantee that I will push the limits if I am elected.

I note that you are asking for a profile from all candidates. I am happy to supply that (attached) but, having seen some candidate profiles published elsewhere, I ask your readers to carefully analyse the detail provided to ensure that it is meaningful. For example, to say that a candidate has experience in sales or marketing or management means nothing unless actual detail is provided.

Experience in sales and marketing could be that the person sold hamburgers and told everyone that the hamburgers were the best in the world.  Someone boasting financial experience could well have been treasurer of a small not-for-profit organisation with an annual unaudited turnover of a couple of hundred dollars – a great job for a willing volunteer, but hardly relevant for FCRC. Be wary of that kind of statement and ask for further detailed information.

Your readers must make sure they are comparing apples and apples. The devil is always in the detail and glossing over detail usually means there is little or no detail there. While most job applications and interviews are essentially private affairs, I understand that people who stand for public office should be subject to much more open public scrutiny and that the electors are entitled to know enough about their candidates to make an informed decision. However, that public scrutiny must be fair and must be conducted responsibly. Your candidates still have the fairness and privacy rights of every other citizen.  Just how much a candidate reveals of his/her personal details is a matter for that candidate. It may also influence the voting intentions of the electors. The detail here must be a matter of trust between the two parties.

Cheers,

Darryl Stewart

Help wanted

Hi everyone, it is good to be back however my time is very restricted these days due to my work situation and other activities that take precedence.  However, I would like to provide a good reference point for members of the community to make an informed choice in March as I firmly believe there is a need for change and new faces to take us forward.

To help with this, if you know of a candidate or are a candidate running in the upcoming council elections, please feel free to send us a candidate profile and any website or contact details for that candidate.

Please email to bringbackstrewth@gmail.com

Cheers

Ben

Time to light the fire

It is interesting to look around at other areas to see how the council election battles are warming up.. an old favourite of ours, CairnsBlog.net is covering the election campaign up there and it is almost amusing to see potential candidates laying it out there on the blog.

For all council candidates, wannabe candidates and even currently elected representatives, don’t be scared to put yourself forwards.. Bringbackstrewth is an open forum and a great opportunity to put your thoughts out there.

The current election campaign is all but non-existent and we sincerely hope this changes and fast as the Fraser Cast can not possibly handle another four years of under performing councillors, side show antics and general seat warming that many of our current bunch are famed for.

Financial Knowledge

Any candidate in the upcoming Council elections should, by now, have a good working knowledge of the financial position of the FCRC. (Rolf Light, FCC 5/1/12)

The Councils Annual Report 2010-11 contains the Community Financial Report and Audited Financial Statements as at 30June2011. Careful study of pages 55 through 112 reveals the exact (audited) financial position of our Council at that time.

The Revenue Statement and Budget 2011-12 (pages 57 – 86) supplies the projected financial position. When studied in conjunction with the monthly financial reports presented to Council they enable any prospective Councillor, or citizen, to gain an understanding of the fiscal restraints they will face if elected.

Conducting the required study will reveal that the Fraser Coast Regional Council is not in a financial ‘mess’. In fact the exact opposite is the case.

The documents show that our Council for the last 4 years has underspent its budgets by, at least, $20million each year. They have therefore built up far higher levels of reserves than would be required by practical management standards.

When the new Councillors are sworn in, in April, they will almost immediately be involved in the budget formulating process for the 2012-13 financial year. It will be too late then for the new Councillors to be trying to gain an understanding of Council’s finances and the budgeting process. That knowledge needs to be acquired now before we ask people to put their trust in us as their representatives.

More Information

Jim MacKellar

Candidate Division 5 FCRC

Mobile: 0418 732 506

Dundowran beach development – a candidate’s view

The proposed residential development in Dundowran Beach, north of the Pialba Burrum Heads Road, raises two major concerns which are difficult to address. Most importantly, the area is a flood plain.

Many old-timers can tell you that when we get very heavy rain, more than 15” in a 12 hour period, these flats are severely flooded. The problem being that we have not had such rain for about 30 years so many people are unaware of just how deep these floods are. When we do experience such heavy rain again, and we will, Council is going to have its emergency management capabilities severely tested in caring for the people living in the many low lying areas already developed.

Is it wise to possibly compound the problem by allowing more development in places that may also be effected? Secondly, the proposal, and Council’s draft Structure plan for the area, would see up to three small roundabouts constructed on this, presently, uninterrupted stretch of road. Do we really want to turn our western approaches into another Boat Harbour Drive type traffic environment?

Should we not be looking to optimize the traffic flows through this area to better cope with the ever increasing population? Are small roundabouts on a main road the best way to achieve this? If this land must be used then we need to find uses for it that will not be severely effected by periodic inundation.

Sporting fields and recreational facilities is one use to which other regions have successfully devoted land that is thus encumbered. And Council believes that we have a need for an increased supply of such facilities. For this they have provisionally allocated land in Urangan. So one solution that suggests itself to meet the problems of supply of more land for residential development, having development above possible future flooding and the supply of more sporting fields, would be for Council to consider a land swap with these developers.

Council could give them the high and dry land they own in Urangan, with development approval, in exchange for the low lying area at Dundowran Beach which they can then turn into a sporting and recreational facility for the area.

Jim Mackellar