Mayor's Column - Leaders in the Leader 31-7-2020
The Mayor, Cr Tony Rayner
It’s been a busy time since I was last with you. My diary is never empty and a lot has happened since my last update. By far the biggest news is the delivery of our 2020-2021 Budget, featuring a rates freeze, a better outcome from state and federal grant contributions, and a $20M capital works program.
We know ratepayers will face challenges in the year ahead – we’re facing them too. So we’ve chosen not to increase rates and utility charges at all this year – even though that decision will cost us money.
These are unpredictable times, both socially and economically. We’re committed to striking a balance between cutting costs and supporting the community through a difficult time, and that’s what the Budget we’ve handed down does, despite the challenges we faced preparing it.
Over the last two weeks Council has run a series of community consultations as part of the development of our Town Common Management Plan. The Town Common Management Plan sets out the rules and strategies for managing our four town commons – in Ilfracombe, Isisford, Longreach, and Yaraka.
It’s easy to confuse the Town Common Management Plan with our Thomson River Master Plan, but the two are very different. The Town Common Management Plan is essentially our ‘rulebook’ for managing our town commons and deal with things like stock routes, recreational and indigenous land use, emergency management, lessees, adjoining landholders, plus travelling and agisting stock.
We had good attendance at each of the sessions and I’d like to thank everyone that came along and the many other stakeholders which have engaged in the process.
We’ve made a couple of decisions at the Council meeting last week regarding special holidays, that I know many of you will be interested in.
Firstly; we’ve listened to the community and are making a new application to the Minister to nominate a special holiday to replace the one which was previously assigned to Westech this year. The date we’ve nominated is 16 November, the 100th birthday of Qantas, which of course carries a lot of historic and cultural significance for our region. We believe this is our best chance of having our request granted, however, it is at the Minister’s discretion and we need her to sign off first.
It’s important to note this would be a Special (Bank) Holiday, and not a Public Holiday due to a combination of factors which include the lack of an agricultural, horticultural, or industrial event, legislative restrictions, and the upcoming Queensland General Election.
Secondly; we’ve agreed to ask the community, for the second year in a row, to nominate their preferred date for the 2021 Special Holiday. Again, unless they are aligned to an annual agricultural, horticultural, or industrial show, these special holidays are known as ‘bank’ holidays and are not public holidays.
The department don’t give us a lot of time to seek comment – we have to nominate a date for 2021 the day after our August Council meeting – which only gives us just over 10 days or so to gather submissions before the agenda closes. This year we’ll be approaching clubs and organising committees before we open submissions, to ensure people are nominating only viable options when they select a date. That’s happening as I write this – so keep an eye out soon for details on how you can have your say on next year’s holiday.
Council is very proud to have played an instrumental part in the establishment of the Western Queensland Alliance of Councils (WQAC), which met for its inaugural assembly in Longreach this week. Not only will the alliance deliver great benefits for our region, hosting the assembly has been an invaluable opportunity to showcase our community and has put us at the heart of regional policy-making in Australia over the course of the 48 hour event.
It was a historic occasion – I’m very proud of the dedicated team at Council for pulling out all the stops in hosting a very professional and high functioning assembly.
Work continues on our Thomson River Master Plan, launched in June, with a final draft due later this year. Key to its success will be wide-ranging community engagement, and representatives from leading planning and design firm Urbis will be on site in Longreach this Saturday to meet with the community.
The project team will be out the front of Ringrose Button from 9:30am-11:30am accompanied by a street gallery to showcase some of the concepts being explored for the plan. Following that they’ll be holding a public information session at the Civic Centre from 12:30pm in which Urbis will provide an update and answer your questions. We want to hear from as many people as possible as we develop the plan, so please come along.
Until next time, please don’t hesitate to contact Council directly on (07) 4658 4111 (24hrs), or email assist@longreach.qld.gov.au. You can find also find email and phone numbers for me and all of my fellow Councillors on our website at longreach.qld.gov.au/elected-members.