Stanthorpe’s push to return to a shire council separate from the Southern Down Regional Council has reached a milestone, with the submission of a proposal for the town’s de-amalgamation.
A delegation submitted their proposal for de-amalgamation from Southern Downs Regional Council to the Minister for Local Government at a formal handover at Parliament house, just one day before the cut-off date. Groups wanting to resurrect their former Council shires had until close of business on August 29 to submit their proposals.
The Stanthorpe proposal is one of 19 received by the Local Government Minister David Crisafulli from communities interested in resurrecting their former Councils. Mr Crisafulli said the process was a valuable opportunity for residents still hurting from the forced amalgamations in 2008 to gauge the mood of their community.
“I commend the groups which have gone to a great deal of effort to put forward a case to de-amalgamate and we will now assess each of these according to the criteria we set out,” Mr Crisafulli said.
Bob Johnson, a member of the group that made the submission, said the submission included 104 pages of the original petitions representing over 30 per cent of Stanthorpe Shire residents.
“The Director-General accepted our submission on behalf of the minister and said the Stanthorpe document seemed quite professional and was surprised to learn that it was produced without consultants,” Mr Johnson said.
“If our submission is deemed to be a viable and sustainable proposition, arrangements will be made for a vote of Stanthorpe residents in March 2013.”
Successful submissions needed to provide a strong, evidence-based, community-backed proposal based on the pre-amalgamation local government boundaries. They needed a petition signed by at least 20 per cent of the voting population that showed an understanding of all the cost implications.
They needed to provide a detailed estimate of the potential financial costs and demonstrate an understanding that the former shire wishing to de-amalgamate would have to meet all costs involved, including their own, and those of the Council they wished to break away from.
Each proposal will be assessed on its merits before deciding which will progress to Boundaries Commissioner Col Meng and Queensland Treasury Corp for closer analysis.
The submission had to include a petition signed by at least 20 per cent of the voting population that showed an understanding of all the cost implications. Petitioners needed to demonstrate an understanding that the former shire wishing to de-amalgamate would have to meet all costs involved, including their own, and those of the Council they wished to break away from.
“These submissions must entail more than names on a piece of paper. It needs to map out a clear path for the future.
“It would be irresponsible of us as a government to allow communities to de-amalgamate on a whim only to have people revolt months later at the prospect of higher rates to pay for it. If a submission stacks up, it will go to a vote and if more than 50 per cent of the population says yes, then they will return to their former shire,” Mr Crisafulli said.
A final report, including recommendations, will be given to the Minister by November 28.
