August 22, 2015
by Anne Miller
Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale gave councillors, would-be councillors and local businesspeople a huge pep talk at Friday’s Mayor’s Charity Breakfast in Kingaroy.
Introducing the guest speaker, South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann said Cr Pisasale had “vision and drive”.
And by the end of the talk, few in the audience at the Town Common Hall would have been disagreeing.
Mayor Pisasale’s message was “be positive, plan ahead, talk up the region and ignore the whingers”.
And the philosophy appears to be working in Ipswich.
He said 80 per cent of school leavers now stay in Ipswich, new businesses are opening their doors and even more projects to grow the local economy were under development.
When the last coal mine closed in the city, it was barely noticed.
Earlier this year Ipswich was named the smartest city in Australia – and one of the Top 7 smartest in the world – by the Intelligent Community Forum in New York.
The philosophy is also working on a personal level: Mayor Pisasale is “living positively” with MS …
One of the key ingredients in his recipe for success is very simple. He tells 10 per cent of people “to get stuffed”.
“I’ve stopped dealing with all the morons,” Mayor Pisasale said.
“You know the morons … who write letters to the paper … who just want to whinge about everything? And destroy people to get into politics?
“I can tell you, they’re fools.
“The best thing I ever did was (learn) that most politicians spend 100 per cent of their time dealing with 10 per cent of the population to please them, and they’re never pleased.
“Anybody who says things bad about their city and tries to get media attention is hurting their city.
“I’m very strong about that because now with technology it goes all around the world.”
Mayor Pisasale said the job of his Councillors was to be a “Board of Directors” for Ipswich and to work with the community to go forward together.
“Now I spend 100 per cent of my time on 90 per cent of the people,” he said.
He said people who wanted to be elected to Council should get out and explain their policies and how much they love the region.
“Give people the reasons to elect you, not destroy other people,” he said.
“Anybody can say ‘that’s bad, that’s bad, that’s bad’. Well, you tell me, what’s good!”
Mayor Pisasale said he worked with the silent majority, the people who just wanted to get on with the job and create a great area.
He admitted there were always going to be disputes and disagreements in local government.
“Have your fights, but leave them at home … if you tell the world, they won’t come here,” he said.
 |
 (Stanwell) |
 |
 |
