April 30, 2020
History was made in Kingaroy on Wednesday afternoon when new South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto held the first of his promised “after Council meeting” press conferences.
During his election campaign, Mayor Otto said he would hold monthly briefings for the media after every Council meeting.
This inaugural session was held in Kingaroy Town Hall.
Mayor Otto explained in greater detail some of the items discussed at the Council meeting (see Soundcloud file, below), including:
- The appointment of the various portfolio holders (see separate report)
- The sale of properties in Oasis Estate due to unpaid rates, and
- Council’s push to make grazing permits – levied by the State Government – either cheaper or free (see separate report).
southburnett.com.au queried the number of Council staff stated during the meeting, ie. 336, which appeared to be greater than staffing levels in 2018 when a round of voluntary redundancies was held.
Mayor Otto later clarified that while the number of people employed by the South Burnett Regional Council at present was 336, the number of FTE (full-time equivalent) employees was 304, a decrease on previous year’s numbers.
Discussing Economic Development, Mayor Otto said a new Economic Development strategy would include significantly more consultation and engagement with the community, and in particular, with the private sector.
“That will be a document that will be much more comprehensive and will represent the views of the key players in our local economies,” Mayor Otto said.
“I am very confident that (Economic Development portfolio holder) Cr (Kirstie) Schumacher has got the passion, the drive, the experience and the connection with industry – both agricultural industries, the tourism sector as well as the manufacturing industries locally to be able to progress that forward.
“I believe we have got a lot of good opportunities. We are in a great geographic location, we have a wealth of natural resources, we have got a lot of intellectual capital in our region – some really intelligent people – and we have got some people who are leading the way.
“I am particularly keen to see opportunities that could come out of the COVID-19 restrictions being released and where that might open up opportunities for us in tourism.
“We are really working hard with the Tourism Advisory Group and VSB (Visit South Burnett) at the moment to make sure we have got our house in order when it comes the time to open the doors to those new tourists.
“In addition to that, I think that agriculture clearly has a significant future here … we will also be looking to attract those major large corporate players to the region.
“We do believe that we have some strategic advantages, geographically we are well-placed in terms of access to the port, in access to Wellcamp. We have the land.”
Mayor Otto said he would also start the process and support wholeheartedly the adoption of a new Arts Policy by Council.
“Arts and culture are an important part of any community,” he said.
