Well the first meeting of the new Fraser Coast Regional Council came and went today.. no real surprises today. Disappointing perhaps, that the councilor with the strongest vote of all candidates, Barb Hovard was overlooked for the fresh faced Belinda McNeven. However, democratic process was enacted and we are sure she will do a fine job.
For more stories on today’s events and reports on other recent local events check out our friends at http://frasercoastfreeclarion.blogspot.com/ Free Clarion is really starting to gain momentum as Bec T and her crew start to bring a credible new source of news media to the Fraser Coast.. we wish her all the best!
We’re keeping our powder dry for now but we expect to bring some hard hitting commentary very soon.. as Bill Knight mentioned somewhere else this week, the new council is under a very big microscope - The people. Never before has any council had so much expectation put upon them and the community is watching with interest.
If you have information, questions or comments on local happenings that are relevant to us feel free to send them in to bringbackstrewth@gmail.com
Finally, John Neve comes back today with his thoughts on the inaugural council meeting and continues with his Nancy Says column.
– o –
Today April 2, 2008, the new Fraser Coast Regional Council held
it’s Post Election Meeting. The room was full! Divided evenly
between relatives of our chosen leaders and cynics like me.
There were two nominations for Deputy Mayor, councillor Hovard
and councillor McNeven, with councillor McNeven being successful.
Portfolios: all the following are chairpersons;
Corporate Governance – Cr. McNeven
Arts & Culture – Cr. Harris
Community & Recreation – Cr. Muckan
Business Development – Cr. Hovard
Marketing & Tourism – Cr. Nioa
Economic Development – Cr. O’Connell
Water & Sewerage Infrastructure – Cr. Arthur
Environmental Sustainability – Cr. Brooks
Rural & Uban Infrastructure – Cr. Dalgleish
Councillors Remuneration: The remuneration tribunal set a
maximum and minimum for all classes of councils. Class 5, that’s
us, is as follows;
Mayor $101,250 – $120,230
Deputy Mayor $69,610 – $85,430
Councillors $60,120 – $75,940, plus 10% for the first four years
to allow for the transition period!
Our councillors chose to go for the top bracket!
Next meeting; Wednesday April 9, 0930hrs @ Maryborough.
BE THERE!
John A Neve
Nancy Says (Ep 6)
“Dump your baggage at door” Nancy Says. How can we Nancy,
you encouraged us to re-elect them and most of them have been!
If only Nancy had made us aware of our councils short comings,
we may have been able “to discover and share in building a grand
region”.
Nancy Says “communications has not been a strength with any of
our previous councils”! Why not? At least one had a full time
Media Officer and our local Daily selectively did it’s best for the
rest.
Nancy Says our new councillors need to “serve our region without
personal prejudice”, if only she practiced what she preached.
I hope Belinda was misquoted in Thursday’s Chronicle (FCC 3/4 p4): “It’s not about having to decide between one thing and another.”
I would have thought that tough decisions are precisely what policy managers are paid to deliver.
This really highlights my objection to Nancy’s snake oil approach to amalgamation over the last twelve months. It is so reminiscent of dear old Joh; “Don’t you worry about that, this is Queensland (sorry amalgamation).
There are more than likely some very tough decisions ahead, uless we are all going to have a rate bill that looks more like a phone number.
Let’s hope that these new councillors may be able to pull off some big wins for the region, but let’s not delude ourselves that we are all going to get exactly what we want along the way.
For instance, all those fancy new signs are probably going to cost more than Woocoo’s road maintenance bill for a whole year.
TEARS OF LAUGHTER OR RAGE?
Everybody enjoys a good laugh on April fools day , but the Munna Creek Dam and Teebar Water Park article in Tuesdays chronicle , shows appalling insensitivity and disregard for the people of the Munna Creek area , by the new Mayor who was elected on a minority of the vote . The article which was obviously supported by the CEO of Widebay Water and the editor of the Fraser Coast Chronicle is in extreme bad taste, given that the people of the region have continually been subjected to shock announcements concerning dams without community input.
The conservation sector is appalled that a citizen elected to the office of Mayor of a regional government , goaded by a CEO of a council owned corporation and Editor of a local paper , would consider that such a controversial potential water development project , should be promoted as being suitable to ‘dump’ on the rural communities of the region.
Perhaps we are now seeing the real ‘level of esteem’ the rural voters of the region are held in, by the ‘coastal status quo’?
The voters of the region should hope that this form of adolescent behavior on the part of community leaders, water provider ‘professionals’ and Journalists, will not be the norm for the new council, community leadership should be about demonstrating to the people of the region, that you are a leadership which does not have a laugh at the expense of the regional communities, which you have been charged to represent.
ROGER M CURRIE
VICE PRESIDENT
WIDEBAY BURNETT CONSERVATION COUNCIL
Roger, I fear your comments on the relationship between the office of Mayor, the CEO of a council owned corporation and the editor of a local news(?)paper are sadly indicative of what we are to expect in the future.
I do not share your optimism that this behaviour will not be the norm for the new council; I feel it will be business as usual for vested interests and party politics.
The vote for Deputy Mayor bears this out. Labor one, Nats nil, and vested interests protected.
Roger,
I agree with most of what you say on a variety of topics. But one thing that really pisses me off is when you (an others) fail to support the democratic wishes of the people by saying that Mick Kruger became Mayor with a minority vote. Of course he did. There were 5 people running. He would have to be an exceptional gentleman to get more than 50% of the vote when only a little over 20% was required. Let’s please accept the vote of the people and move on to what’s really important.
Patricia
PS No I didn’t vote for Kruger.
Patricia, no one denies Mick one the election, however, he did it with about 36% of the eligible vote! In most countries, even Zimbabwe there would be a run off between the top two candidates.To have a mandate you need 50% plus 1. Would you really accept leadership from some one with 20% support?
Sorry, Patricia, but it was not the democratic wishes of the peope that elected Kruger, it was a media campaign that pushed for one candidate only.
The result was that “Mick for Mayor” became the reality.
How else would any voter within the new boundaries have any idea of who to vote for?
The case for an alternative printed media is now becomming more obvious.
The percentages you mention are true, but I suggest would have been different given an unbiased media.
Thank you for your comments patricia , as i have stated on the other blogs , i am a great believer in freedom of speech and i will defend your right to voice it, percentages are just a mathematical interpretation of the electoral reality , please dont get it confused with the ideal of democracy, which is government by community consultation , something which Mick was very vocal about during the campaign, and i hope he intends to fullfil his claims of community council meetings in the regional centres.
Be careful about being ‘really pissed off’ , it can lead to cystitis , followed by a bladder infection. Very painfull experience , or so i’m told, there appears to be a few cases of it in the new council at the moment , or so i’m told.
ps look at it this way Pat , we do have common ground , i did not vote for Mick either!
TRAVESTON DAM
Very pleasing to see that councillors Sue Brooks and Debbie Dawes were in attendance at the GMA and STMRG presentation by Steve Posselt ,in the MarybororughTown Hall on Friday night , steve is a water engineer who pushed and paddled his kayak from Brisbane to the Murray coorong. Also pleasing to see council candidates , James Hansen and Gary Jensen in attendance as well.
Quite understandable of course that the Mayor , the deputy mayor , and remaining councillors had other committments on the night, i am sure that the newly elected council is totally comitted to stopping the Treaveston project which has the capability of decimating the regional ecomony , given that the projected yeild of 75,000mgl a year , will be required to flow into the Great Sandy Ramsar wetland to maintain the regions coastal tourism economy.
If any readers would like some background on the proposed dams impacts ,including my analysis of the potential economic impacts , please got to my blog at http//rogercurrie.wordpress , and click on the link to Traveston Dam EIS Submission.