October 25, 2019
by Anne Miller
The 2020 South Burnett council elections are going to be keenly fought if this week is any indication, with two candidates formally announcing their intention to run for Division 4.
Division 4 takes in the northern half of Kingaroy and is currently held by Cr Terry Fleischfresser, who has also confirmed his intention to recontest the position.
The first candidate this week to raise her hand was Kirstie Schumacher, a community relations adviser at Stanwell who is currently a member of the Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) executive committee.
Kirstie formerly worked at South Burnett CTC and at the South Burnett Regional Council.
She threw her hat in the ring at the KCCI meeting on Tuesday night, telling the audience she would be taking a sabbatical from Stanwell and was looking forward to getting out and talking to people to find out the issues that were most important to them.
The second campaign launch this week was a more formal event held in the Kingaroy RSL Club’s “White Room” by Kingaroy accountant Brett Otto.
About 50 people turned up to listen to Brett explain his long-standing family heritage in the Coolabunia area and spell out his vision for the future of Kingaroy.
“I thought, maybe it’s time that I stepped up and continued what my ancestors have done,” he said.
He was introduced to the audience by Mulanah Gardens business owner Rhonda Kath and endorsed by Fraser Coast councillor Rolf Light, who travelled to Kingaroy for the launch.
Brett identified three challenges council faced: debt ($60m by 2022, he said), water security, and aged care; and four key areas that, if elected, he would like to make his priorities: economic development (especially developing links to Wellcamp Airport), inspiring youth, beautifying Kingaroy, and the provision of a retirement village and affordable accommodation for the elderly.
He showed two videos to the audience, one from community development consultant Peter Kenyon, and the second an excerpt from the ABC-TV series Old People’s Home For 4-Year-Olds
Brett said Kingaroy looked “tired” and needed beautification not just revitalisation.
He had walked up and down the main street but only one shopkeeper he had spoken to was a member of the KCCI, yet Council was only liaising with the Chamber about its plans for the CBD.
“I talk to the businesspeople and they say they have no idea about what’s happening with the revitalisation,” Brett said.
He would also like to see Council take the leadership in improving the lives of older people.
Brett then invited his audience to close their eyes and imagine a Kingaroy in three year’s time: a bright and colourful welcome to Kingaroy sign greeting people on the D’Aguilar Highway, the area across from Taabinga State School on Walter Road lined with trees, a water park on the old Pound Street depot site, a motel to replace the empty and asbestos-ridden shops in Kingaroy Street, people dining in the streets as pig trucks were now being diverted around town, uni students studying at the TAFE college, and new industries employing hundreds of people developed on Clark and Swendson Road.
Strangely, the one topic that dominated all pre-election campaigning ahead of the 2016 poll hasn’t been mentioned by anyone yet: roads.
