Minister David Crisafulli is compelled to reconsider his decision to refuse a referendum for the former Stanthorpe Shire, according to a member of the Save Our Shires Action Group this week.
“After the overwhelming results of the local referendums in Noosa, Mareeba, Yeppoon (Livingstone) and Port Douglas, the Minister for Local Government must re-think his refusal to allow referenda in Stanthorpe and the fourteen other shires across Queensland who campaigned for de-amalgamation.”
“It was clear when we sought a referendum that the overwhelming number of people in the former Stanthorpe Shire wanted a return to ‘local’ government. The Minister and State Government should now recognise this.
“Attempts so far to repair the damage and ‘heal the wounds’ of the forced amal-gamation have failed. Locally the Council has done little to address the issues raised by the community. This is despite the large injection of State and Federal Government grants to repair flood damage and other infrastructure.
The problems remain the same as those raised at the meeting with the Minister in October 2012 and discussed previously with the Mayor earlier in that year.
The recent announcement of the retrenchment of a number of senior Stanthorpe staffers will exacerbate the situation for Stanthorpe.”
“The government’s efforts to scare people in the referenda areas by over-playing the cost effect of de-amalgamation also failed. The citizens of these areas, given the opportunity, voted to restore local government with an overwhelming ‘Yes’.
Their message is clear – the (Labor) State Government was responsible for forced amalgamation, the (LNP) State Government should give all the people the means to restore local government.”
Our local member Lawrence Springborg should perhaps also take a more proactive role to support his constituents in the former Stanthorpe Shire area.
“The structural problems of the SDRC remain and cannot be swept under the carpet. How long before, for example, the council assets in the former Stanthorpe Shire will be sold to fund the development of Warwick as the regional centre of the Southern Downs Regional Council?
“The campaign to restore Stanthorpe Shire and others will continue until local government is restored, re-empowering and regenerating the local community.
Attendees from around Queensland at the ‘Local Government Reform Forum – Re-empowering Communities’ on February 23 in Stanthorpe, commenced moves to form a statewide association to forcefully drive this campaign.
This group plans to influence the LNP Govern-ment to change its course and allow Stanthorpe and the other 14 shires seeking de-amalgamation to have a referendum and ‘let the people decide’.
