April 12, 2023
The South Burnett could miss out on flow-on benefits from the 2032 Brisbane Olympics because the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) needs “to put its house in order”.
This fear was expressed at South Burnett Regional Council’s Liveability, Governance and Finance Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday.
WBBROC formerly consisted of the South Burnett, North Burnett, Cherbourg, Gympie, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg councils.
Bundaberg pulled out in January 2021, apparently because of internal tensions within the organisation over water issues, although no official reason was given at the time.
After Bundaberg left, then-North Burnett mayor Rachel Chambers (who resigned from the NBRC in December 2021) took over the role of chair, with Gympie mayor Glen Hartwig as deputy and Fraser Coast Regional Council CEO Ken Diehm as treasurer.
At the time, South Burnett mayor Brett Otto expressed interest in the chairman’s role. The South Burnett Regional Council also offered to take over secretarial duties for the organisation.
WBBROC last met on July 26, 2022. Its main website and tourism promotion website are no longer online.
Wednesday’s discussion arose after Cr Kirstie Schumacher raised the fact other regions had already begun advocating to host Olympic teams or events, and there could be State Government funds available to upgrade sporting facilities.
However, Mayor Otto said the State Government and the Premier wanted to work with broader regional organisations rather than individual councils.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have an active, functioning ROC (Regional Organisation of Councils) at the moment,” Mayor Otto said.
He believed it was important the Wide Bay-Burnett “put its house in order”.
He thought “nothing substantive” had been done in the Wide Bay-Burnett in regards to planning for the Olympics, and feared the region could be left behind because there was no mechanism or framework in place.
Cr Schumacher said she was also concerned that there was no “unified, regional voice” in the lead-up to the Olympics.
She believed WBBROC had been “parked”.
“The function, the framework is still there. It is just not active for whatever reason,” Cr Schumacher said.
“We cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity. I look around at our sporting facilities, we are perfectly placed to help, to be a part of the Olympics.”
Cr Schumacher said she also was keen to see South Burnett food and wine gracing the tables at Olympic ceremonies.
“This work really needs to start now,” she said.
Mayor Otto said without a functioning ROC, the South Burnett would be left behind in this space, and many others.
“This is just one key area of opportunity for our region that we are unable to take advantage of because we do not have a functioning framework through which we can design and advocate for the infrastructure and the funding,” Mayor Otto said.
He said it was “inequitable and inappropriate” that mayors should be dealing directly through local Members and Ministers on matters that the Premier and Cabinet had made clear should come from ROCs, the bodies designated to play that role.
Cr Schumacher said it was clear that without a functioning ROC, the South Burnett was missing out.
Councillors voted unanimously “that the Committee recommends that Council delegates to CEO (Mark Pitt) the authority to engage with Wide Bay-Burnett regional councils as to pro-active engagement and dialogue in reframing and reactivating the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils as a matter of strategic priority”.
Mayor Otto said he would also approach other mayors informally to discuss the matter.
WBBROC was formed in 1999 to represent the interests of all councils within the Wide Bay-Burnett region to lobby Federal and State governments on behalf of member councils on matters of common interest.
Issues WBBROC has worked on in recent years include the development of a regional biosecurity strategy, lobbying for telecommunications upgrades to remove mobile phone “black spots” and regional road improvements.
- Related article: Bundaberg Pulls Out Of WBBROC
