March 10, 2023
A special meeting will be held by the South Burnett Regional Council on Monday (March 13) to discuss whether or not the region should scrap Divisions.
The meeting has been called by South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto.
At February’s General Meeting, Mayor Otto moved an amended motion that Council write to the Director-General of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning seeking clarification about the process of moving from a divided to an undivided Local Government area, and the timeline associated with a potential application to effect a change.
This followed a discussion initiated by Cr Kirstie Schumacher who indicated she was in favour of an undivided Council.
However, Cr Kathy Duff strongly opposed any change to the current system.
Under the Divisional system – which has been operating in the region since the 2008 Council amalgamation – all South Burnett residents vote for a Mayor and their divisional Councillor.
There are six Divisions in the South Burnett Regional Council area.
In an undivided Council (ie. a Council with no divisions, such as Toowoomba) residents vote to elect a Mayor and all Councillors.
At present, 23 of Queensland’s 77 Councils are undivided and the remaining 54 are divided.
Ironically, Toowoomba Regional Council is currently discussing whether it should change from an undivided Council to having Divisions.
Councils can swap from one system to another providing they can prove to the Local Government Minister that a change to a different system will have a public benefit and any change is supported by a majority of residents.
South Burnett councillors have been calling for public input this week on their social media pages, and Mayor Otto conducted a Q&A session on CROW-FM on Friday morning.
At Monday’s meeting, Council CEO Mark Pitt PSM is expected to tell Councillors he has been advised any submission seeking a change to the current system is likely to take at least two years.
This is past the legislated date for the next Council election, which will be held in March next year.
As well, preparing the necessary documentation to support any request to change from a divided to an undivided Council is likely to be an expensive and time-consuming exercise.
Monday’s meeting will be held at the Council Chambers in Glendon Street, Kingaroy, at 9:00am.
The meeting is open to the public.
- External link: How To Change Local Government Arrangements
So many clowns, so few circuses.
Tis a slow moving train wreck happening before our eyes.
Who is going to pay, is it going to come out of the ratepayers’ pockets? They say that it would be very expensive and prolonged exercise. If they do away with the Divisions, will that mean all the councillors will come from the one area like “Kingaroy town area” and not from the whole council area.