{"id":139181,"date":"2016-04-03T16:10:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T06:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=139181"},"modified":"2020-06-30T09:39:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T23:39:23","slug":"a-win-for-common-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/04\/03\/a-win-for-common-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"A Win For Common Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>April 3, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Dafyd Martindale<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent local government elections on March 19 appear to have been a win for common sense.<\/p>\n

Not only in the South Burnett, but everywhere else locally as well.<\/p>\n

While the counting that began after the polls dragged on interminably, enough votes were counted by returning officers on the first night to provide a fairly clear picture of the outcome.<\/p>\n

Mayors Paul Antonio and Mick Curran were both returned by overwhelming margins in Toowoomba and Gympie, respectively.<\/p>\n

Arnold Murray took the top job in Cherbourg. And former Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell, who looked set to become the South Burnett’s next Mayor by 8:30pm on polling night,\u00a0was finally confirmed in the role today after preferences were distributed.<\/p>\n

In the South Burnett’s Divisions, Cr Kathy Duff was returned unopposed in Division 5 for the second time in a row.<\/p>\n

Roz Frohloff is the new representative for Division 1; Gavin Jones has taken Division 2; Danita Potter, Division 3; and Terry Fleischfresser and Cr Ros Heit have both been confirmed in Divisions 4 and 6.<\/p>\n

This means the South Burnett will be led by an experienced Mayor and will have three other Councillors aboard – Kathy Duff, Ros Heit and Terry Fleischfresser – with previous local government experience.<\/p>\n

Their depth of knowledge will no doubt be of great assistance to first-time Councillors Roz Frohloff, Gavin Jones and Danita Potter as they begin the long learning curve involved with settling into their new jobs.<\/p>\n

It should also help ensure continuity and a smooth transition from the old Council to the new.<\/p>\n

We think that’s a very big win for all our region’s residents because nothing can upset the applecart as quickly – or cause as much pain in the hip pocket – as a badly run Council.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But if Saturday’s elections were a win for common sense and a vote for the status quo, they were also a spectacularly embarrassing loss for one particular group in our region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Residents Action Group – along with their spin-offs South Burnett Council Watch, the South Burnett Free Press and Nanango & Districts SBRAG – saw all their candidates and fellow-travellers comprehensively rejected at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

While none of SBRAG’s candidates had the courage to openly fly their group’s flag during the election campaign,\u00a0it seems most residents were awake to them.<\/p>\n

Each one received the drubbing at the ballot box they deserved – in our opinion, anyway.<\/p>\n

One Mayoral candidate, in fact, was so completely rejected he managed to be beaten by informal votes and was the only local candidate to forfeit his $250 nomination deposit. <\/p>\n

This is\u00a0probably the most humiliating defeat ever seen in a local election.<\/p>\n

SBRAG should be perfectly clear on this: their two-year campaign of attempting to whip up hatred and division in our communities failed on March 19.<\/p>\n

It failed comprehensively and spectacularly.<\/p>\n

Instead of the “new faces and new ideas” they championed, this nasty little group saw many thousands of hours of their work – and many thousands of dollars spent printing and distributing shameful leaflets and newsletters – go up in smoke.<\/p>\n

They also saw what few shards of credibility they may have retained with their most die-hard followers blown to smithereens.<\/p>\n

Voters turned their backs en masse to the lies and smears that have hallmarked SBRAG’s two years of disgraceful behavior, and opted for honesty and decency instead.<\/p>\n

That, too, is a victory for common sense.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One final thing this election showed is that the procedures currently being used by the Electoral Commission Of Queensland need a root and branch overhaul.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is unacceptable that Queenslanders needed to wait more than two weeks for election results to be declared.<\/p>\n

There is clearly something wrong with any system that turns in this sort of Third World result.<\/p>\n

In the South Burnett, the delay in declaring the March 19 election has already lead to the postponement of an induction course for new Councillors; and it threatened to lead to a postponement of the new Council’s first meeting.<\/p>\n

As former Mayor Wayne Kratzmann pointed out last week, we would not accept this sort of delay in a State or Federal election.<\/p>\n

We should not be expected to accept this in a local government election, either.<\/p>\n