January 13, 2016
Three of the region’s peak business and community organisations will be holding community forums next month so members of the public can meet candidates for the 2016 Council elections in person.
The Nananago Tourism and Development Association (NaTDA), Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and Murgon Business and Development Association (MBDA) will all be holding forums in February.
NaTDA will invite all candidates standing for Divisions 1 and 2, along with Mayoral candidates; MBDA will do the same with Division 5 and 6 and Mayoral candidates.
The KCCI will invite the current three Mayoral candidates (Cr Keith Campbell, Cr Damien Tessmann and Mr Michael Brown) to address their next Meet ‘n’ Greet in early February; and may hold a separate public forum for Division 3 and 4 candidates after the close of nominations.
Gloria Kirkness, president of NaTDA, said it seemed a large number of new faces would be putting themselves forward for the March elections.
Ratepayers were naturally concerned the best candidates were elected.
The forums will allow the participants to outline their ideas to interested voters in person, and possibly answer questions from the floor.
Dates and venues for the forums will be announced soon after a date for close of nominations has been set by the Queensland Electoral Commission.
Queensland’s four-yearly local government elections are scheduled for Saturday, March 19.
The South Burnett like so many rural shires has specific business associations and interest groups seeking clarification of prospective candidates’ views related to their business interests. It is also in the public interest that business associations present their policies publicly to allow prospective candidates to respond appropriately to these policies. This would also allow members of the public to present informed and relevant questions to both candidates and representatives of these business associations at community forums.
My reading of this story is that all these forums would be open to the general public except for the KCCI’s Meet & Greet, which is really just for members. But if the KCCI hold a candidates meeting for Division 3 and 4 candidates, I think they’d be holding it for the general public too. Personally, I congratulate all three of them for doing it. I don’t know at least half the people who’ve put their hands up to date, so hearing them outline their ideas in person would be a big help.
All three of these organisations have played a significant role in local politics in recant years. This is a simple request and should be seen as a valuable tool for the general public to evaluate each candidate on policies relevant to all three organisations.This will also allow informed public participation in any policy discussion that will affect them as residents and ratepayers of this shire. The owners remain on all three of these organisations to publicly forward their policies thereby setting the agenda for these forums.