November 18, 2013
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann has slammed as “un-Australian” the ambushing of a council staff member on his way to work by an A Current Affair TV crew.
In a report, “Housing Estate Hell”, aired tonight by the Channel 9 current affairs program, the South Burnett Regional Council is labelled as “greedy” for not picking up the tab to complete the stalled Memerambi development after the developer went into liquidation.
A reporter doorstops Planning, Environment and Communities general manager Stan Taylor as he is arriving at work to quiz him about Council’s level of assistance to the homeowners.
Mayor Kratzmann said a reporter “jumping out of the bushes” to film a council employee was “crazy”.
“It’s un-Australian,” he said.
Mayor Kratzmann said the first he knew about the ACA crew was when they turned up and started filming around the outside of the Kingaroy Council Chambers.
He confirmed that no one from the TV show had made any attempt to contact his office before the TV crew turned up.
“I was disappointed they they didn’t offer us the opportunity to comment,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“To turn up without any notice … I guess that’s how some media work.”
Mayor Kratzmann said that despite the TV report, Council would be continuing to “work through” the Memerambi development.
“It’s something we have inherited and it’s something that we have to get right. But we have to go through the proper processes,” he said.
“I want to ensure that our ratepayers across the board don’t have to pay for it.”
He said he hoped there would be something to put to the December meeting of Council, and if not then in early 2014.
However this timeframe was tied to the legal action in the Planning and Environment Court between the landholders and the developer to which Council has been attached as a third party.
“I certainly sympathise with the people who have invested but they made that decision,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“It was the developer’s responsibility to provide the infrastructure.
“Council staff have been working hard with the investors to try to get a suitable outcome.
“We just have to get it to come to an end. We are going though the hearing process and waiting for clearance from that so that it can come back to Council.”
Mayor Kratzmann said he had not seen the A Current Affair report as yet because it was screened at the same time he was representing Council at a St John Ambulance presentation ceremony, however he had been telephoned by a friend who had seen it Sydney an hour earlier.
“I don’t really want to watch it because I know it will just make me angry,” he said.
- Related article: Which Way Now For Memerambi?
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