{"id":345834,"date":"2024-03-26T15:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=345834"},"modified":"2024-05-20T18:53:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T08:53:33","slug":"no-portfolios-hello-parochialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/03\/26\/no-portfolios-hello-parochialism\/","title":{"rendered":"No Portfolios? Hello Parochialism …"},"content":{"rendered":"

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March 26, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

A Council system which was introduced in the South Burnett 12 years ago to counter parochialism could be scrapped when Kathy Duff emerges as our region’s new Mayor.<\/p>\n

Kathy confirmed last week that rumours she wants to axe Council’s portfolio system are true.<\/p>\n

The portfolio system allocates region-wide responsibilities to various councillors (eg. roads, water, waste, arts, tourism etc).<\/p>\n

However, if this system is scrapped, I believe it will be the first step in ensuring that whatever gains we’ve made since amalgamation will gradually – but inevitably – disappear as the South Burnett descends back into a collection of squabbling towns.<\/p>\n

Why do I think so? Here’s some background:<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Wayne Kratzmann introduced portfolios to the South Burnett Regional Council shortly after he was elected in 2012.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portfolios meant Councillors were allocated responsibility for broad areas of Council operations – usually those they were most interested in – and then shouldered the work of steering these “big picture” efforts in addition to their role in representing their Divisions.<\/p>\n

At the time he introduced it, Mayor Kratzmann said a portfolio system offered a number of important advantages.<\/p>\n

The biggest of these was ensuring all councillors would have a region-wide view rather than a narrow, parochial one, and would therefore bring much better-informed opinions to problems that crossed multiple divisions.<\/p>\n

Others included building up individual expertise in each of the portfolio areas so Councillors could be less reliant on external advice and be far better informed in their own portfolio areas.<\/p>\n

Portfolios also allowed Councillors to act as sounding boards for strategic issues and suggestions from members of the public relating to their portfolio, not just residents from their individual Division.<\/p>\n

This encouraged more informed discussions at Council meetings than had otherwise been the case.<\/p>\n

While some Councillors were sceptical at the time – including a few who saw (correctly) that portfolios would significantly increase their workload – it soon turned out Mayor Kratzmann’s views were correct. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, portfolios have proven to be so successful the system has operated ever since, and most of our neighbours (ie. Toowoomba, Western Downs, North Burnett and Gympie councils) have adopted similar systems themselves.<\/p>\n

The payoff has been that our region has made great strides in overcoming the jealous, resentful parochialism it inherited from the 2008 amalgamation, particularly in encouraging a South Burnett-wide view of progress.<\/p>\n

All Divisions have received a fairly equal share<\/a><\/strong> of Council’s expenditures and they’ve been applied to tackle big problems kicked down the road by pre-amalgamation Councils who never had the funds to tackle them.<\/p>\n

When he stood down in 2016, Mayor Kratzmann ranked the introduction of portfolios as one of his best achievements, and this view was echoed by incoming Mayor Keith Campbell when he stepped into the role.<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Brett Otto also retained portfolios when he was elected in 2020.<\/p>\n

But now Kathy Duff – who is not quite Mayor as I write this, but seems likely to be – wants to axe the current system and return to the inferior one it replaced.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Well, Kathy told me she believed portfolios had caused “a lot of division” in the last Council.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She said this was because poor communications meant some residents found it difficult to work out who they should speak to about a problem (ie. a Divisional Councillor about a pothole in their street, or the Portfolio chair about the general state of roads across the region); and some Councillors forgot to inform other Councillors about meetings called to discuss particular issues with residents.<\/p>\n

Kathy said she believed that by axing portfolios, Councillors could focus purely on their Divisions, and could find solutions to highly complex, region-wide problems simply through discussions at meetings.<\/p>\n

I suggested that rather than sacrifice a proven effective system, perhaps it might be wiser to look at what communication stuff-ups were allegedly causing problems in the previous Council and simply correct them.<\/p>\n

But no, Kathy seems determined to throw the baby out with the bathwater and re-create the type of Council which existed in pre-amalgamation times with councillors focussing on their town(s) only.<\/p>\n

Yes, rates were a lot cheaper back then but that’s a very “rose-coloured glasses” view of the past.<\/p>\n

In reality, our individual councils were either bankrupt, or not far off it (a sobering fact still widely denied by some ex-councillors who lost their jobs in 2008).<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of the old councils were incapable of effectively tackling region-wide problems because they lacked the financial clout to do so.<\/p>\n

The devolution of responsibilities from the State Government to councils also meant they now have to shoulder issues – such as paying for the replacement of infrastructure – they had rarely faced alone before.<\/p>\n

There was also a fierce rivalry between the parochial warriors in the old councils to out-compete one another, something some people seem to be still yearning for these days.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this rivalry plays badly in an amalgamated council and has also left us with a significant oversupply of pools, halls and other services – a crippling fiscal burden that no councillor seems courageous enough to tackle.<\/p>\n

Everyone dreaming of the “glory days” before amalgamation must accept the fact there will never be another Murgon, Wondai, Kingaroy or Nanango council.<\/p>\n

Pretending otherwise – or dangling false hopes – is just wasting time when we have several very serious issues to solve over the next four years, such as the closure of the Tarong Power Stations, fixing our water infrastructure and building new landfills to take our waste.<\/p>\n

Now, you may think that perhaps I’m just a voice in the wilderness who’s averse to change.<\/p>\n

But in the past week I’ve spoken to several former councillors who worked under our portfolio system and they all agreed the extra workload involved was well worth the benefits it generated.<\/p>\n

They also shared the view that axing the portfolio system would be a backwards step.<\/p>\n

Still – Mayor or not – Kathy only has one vote on the issue of portfolios.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So it will be interesting to see which of our other six councillors – if any – support turning their backs on progress in exchange for shouldering a greatly reduced workload and the bitter, ill-informed squabbles a focus on divisions will probably produce.<\/p>\n

Let’s all watch this space.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Update May 20, 2024:<\/b> At the SBRC’s April meeting Councillors resolved to scrap portfolios but to review the results in 12 months time and return to the portfolio system if its replacement didn’t deliver better outcomes. This prudent (and in my view, very reasonable) move was suggested by Crs Erkens, Heit and Potter and carried unanimously.<\/p>\n

Related articles:<\/b><\/p>\n