February 15, 2024
All four South Burnett mayoral candidates were in action together for the first time at the Murgon Business and Development Association’s (MBDA) meet’n’greet on Wednesday night.
Guests at the social evening also had the opportunity to meet the three candidates who are standing for Division 5, which covers the Murgon area.
The business get-together was hosted at the Barambah Bush Caravan Park and followed a similar format to the meet’n’greets which have been organised for some time by the Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
There were drinks and a barbecue to enjoy before the focus turned to the guest speakers.
Peter Croxford spoke about his family’s caravan park which also includes cabins and a large camping ground set in 140 acres of natural bushland.
Jason Virtue, from Regional Business HQ, spoke about business disaster preparedness and the one-on-one services which are available to help businesses draft emergency plans.
It was then time for the Council hopefuls to speak.
MBDA president Amy Wicks said that to be fair to everyone, the speaking order would be drawn from a hat.
The three candidates for Murgon’s Division 5 – Stuart Battese, Heath Sander and Allan Walters – were invited to speak for three minutes each.
The four mayoral candidates – Tom Wilson, Gavin Jones, Kathy Duff and Kirstie Schumacher – then took turns at the microphone (see recordings, below).
Amy’s daughter Hayley, 10, kept the candidates on time with a bell.
After the speeches, guests were invited to buttonhole the night’s speakers if they had any questions.
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Division 5 Candidates
In the order they spoke on the night:
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Mayoral Candidates
In the order they spoke on the night:
Thanks for publishing this. Cheers.
Thank you for recording the Mayoral candidates and Div 5 candidates’ event in Murgon. It’s great that your technology captures the candidates in action, most importantly where they come from in life and the leadership qualities they possess to lead the future of this great South Burnett.
What we need is a confidence in the leadership qualities of the next Mayor and Councillors to continue to build on the growth of the region. It’s important for us, who don’t know each of them personally, to observe how they present and deliver vision, style and manner of speech.
Noticeably some candidates were reading from prepared speeches, whilst others were speaking from the heart.
The candidates’ past community input and hard work for the benefit of the region is also important to acknowledge. Their track record is an important factor.
What we want, though, are their ideas for security and future growth of the region without duplicating facilities. This would be an extra cost to Council rates.
It’s also a waste of councillors’ energy to overplay the blame game on roadworks and obsess about red tape. Roads are an operational issue dependent on how much money councillors adopt in the budget.There will always be potholes somewhere in the region and red tape often ties back to State and Federal Government legislation.
Growth is a strategic approach to drive economic development and our region’s future.
The candidates who get the balance right and drive the South Burnett forward hopefully will be our next Mayor and Council team.