Fraser Coast Regional Council Elections 2008

In less than a week we will vote again, this time for a mayor and ten councillors to form the new Fraser Coast Regional Council. Five candidates for mayor, 29 for councillor, and all without electoral divisions.

Not too daunting, if you know most of them and have been keeping your eyes and ears to the ground over the last few months?

But what if the dominant local newspaper seems "hell-bent" on promoting the editor's favourites and starving other candidates of political oxygen? Remember Peter Huth and Chris Foley in 2003? Everybody else was a "wanna-be" or "unsuitable for the task".

Or what if that local newspaper seems to regularly print only one side of a story, or frequently displays editorial prejudice or lack of impartiality? Think Amalgamation. Think Wide Bay Water. Think Strewth! Try http://strewthreloaded.wordpress.com/

Merging four shires' individualities and unique qualities into one was always going to be an interesting exercise, whether or not we agreed that it was even necessary in the first place, but finding ten suitable people to form the first super council, plus an impartial and honest person to serve as mayor, when the average citizen probably does not know any more than about half the nominees is going to mean a lot of spoiled ballot papers on the day.

But before we go looking for our ten, what are we actually looking for?

Perhaps a selection of candidates with some of the following qualities would give us a good blend of skills and talents with which to forge this new alliance of shires:

• Demonstrated business accumen and understanding of financial prudence (and not just a piece of paper with some academic qualification noted),
• An understanding of pressing environmental issues,
• A blend of Local Government experience and fresh ideas,
• Depth of knowledge of local issues,
• An understanding of rural issues and challenges,
• A genuine empathy for community groups (not just fete attenders and monument builders),
• An ability to think independently, rather than simply following the mob or a Party line,
• Intellectual capacity (Some of the candidates are having great difficulty in stringing ten words together and have no idea that spelling and punctuation are still important prerequisites to a professional career)... And, most critically,
• A willingness to be both transparent and accountable to the public for their actions.

I'm sure you have crossed quite a few candidates off already. "Seventeen years on Council" but without a thing to show for it except plaques all over town, does not make a person fit to be re-elected. Nor does attending every fete in town, but betraying the community groups that have supported you, establish the bonafides of trust necessary to expect continued support from a disappointed public.

Let us start with the candidates for Councillor...

Here is the list advised by the ECQ (Electoral Commission Queensland), in the order they will appear on the ballot paper:

• McNEVEN, Belinda
• OLUJIC, Richard
• HAWES, Debbie
• FELTON, Russell
• JENSEN, Gary
• BANKS, Brendon Arthur
• O'CONNELL, Gerard Daniel
• CURRIE, Roger Michael
• MACKELLAR, Jim
• CAMPBELL, Bob
• SOUVLIS, Peter
• KINGSTON, John Alan
• DICKSON, Darren
• HARRIS, Linda
• MUCKAN, Les
• PHILIPPI, Walter
• PAUSSA, Ernie
• HANSEN, James
• ARTHUR, Julie Ann
• STEWART, Darryl George
• HOVARD, Barbara
• DALGLEISH, David
• NIOA, Anne
• SMITH, Kevin
• McDONALD, Trevor
• SULLIVAN, Troy
• HUNTER, Allen
• BROOKS, Sue
• KUHN, Shayne
  

One of the great problems we face in finding the right blend of people is making sure that outlying areas are not forgotten post-15 March. With the population dominance of Hervey Bay it could be very difficult for the present Shires of Woocoo and Tiaro to have any sort of representation at all on the new Council. (It is interesting that four of the five mayoral candidates come from Hervey Bay.)

Ideally, we need at least five councillors from outside Hervey Bay, plus a fair mayor as chairman, to ensure balance in decision making from the new council, or at the very least, people who have demonstrated an empathy for a broader constituency than just the coastal city. Voting proportionately favouring the city of Hervey Bay as some have advocated as "fair" will simply ensure little or no representation for ratepayers from the present Tiaro and Woocoo Shires.

And we need at least five honest people, plus a completely impartial and balanced mayor, to have a workable council that will listen to the needs of the community and act on behalf of ratepayers without selling out to property developers or other sectional interests.

The Labor government had its own agenda in forcibly restructuring local government in Queensland, so perhaps the first candidates for thinking people to eliminate are the two who have supported the government from the outset... Gerard O'Connell and Belinda McNevin. These two are clearly Labor Party idealogues (stooges, if you like) prepared to do whatever the State Labor Party wants them to do, even if is against the wishes of the majority of their constituents. Good looks and youthful charm do not make up for being either gullible or ignoring the wishes of people.

And while you have your pencils out, cross off the two candidates presently serving on the Woocoo Shire Council who have betrayed their ratepayers by rushing out to fill up the pockets of their former mate and CEO before an independent abitrator could look at all the facts and hand down a fair judgement. These people need to understand we want them to work for us not their grubby little mates. (It is interesting that the only two Councillors who reportedly voted against paying out Joe Hill have both decided not to run for the new Council.)

You can also cross off the present councillors boasting about all their years of service when, in reality, they have little to show for all their meeting fees other than an assortment of plaques scattered around their neighbourhood from some official opening of someone else's achievement or of a public monument of dubious value. Sitting on all sorts of committees and never making decisions, or hiding the decisions that were made, does not qualify a person for election or re-election to public office.

On the other hand, there are several candidates whom I would think would be "must haves", because of the depth of wisdom and knowledge that they could contribute to the new council. Here we would immediately think of Dr John Kingston, the former Maryborough City Councillor, turned One Nation MP, turned Independent MP for the State Seat of Maryborough.

Another would be present Hervey Bay Councillor Sue Brooks, frequently on the outer with her present colleagues for her willingness to listen to the public rather than to property developers and others.

Councillors must be able to think through the issues of the day, clearly and decisively, without fear of or favour from political masters or vested interests.

Councillors must be prepared to act in the best interests of their constituents and must be comfortable with being fully accountable for their decisions and actions. Seventeen years of attending meetings and being paid well to do so, does not necessarily make a person a good representative of the organisations to which they belong or of the community they are supposed to be serving.


For a Mayor... I'm looking for fresh blood, an independent thinker, a person able to broker a balance between protecting the environment and developing the potential of this beautiful part of Queensland, someone with integrity and untainted by the decisions of past public life...

...MORE SOON


Full responsibility for the political opinion and assessment above is taken by the author. Authorised and published via the internet by Bevan Collingwood, 659 Teddington Road, Teddington, Queensland (presently a part of the Woocoo Shire).