The Harden Railway Station. Circa 1889. Another era looks to have passed through the region last week with Harden, Boorowa and Young Councils ceasing to exist. They have been merged in to the Hilltops Council which is also being called ‘Helltops’ Council, in a forced amalgamation of the 3 former Shire Councils.
OPINION – As a now former Harden Shire Councillor and the Editor of The Twin Town Times, I have previously found myself in a role where I have worn two hats. They included doing what is best for the Harden Shire community as a Councillor and to provide as much information to the readers of the Twin Town Times to help strengthen and grow our local area.
I could write for pages and pages about the broken election promises, the waste of time and money which the State Government has put us through, the movement of goal posts and the disgraceful process in which the Baird government has been able to deliver the outcome they have wanted for so long. Others have highlighted those issue already in this week’s paper. In this editorial I will focus just on where we are now headed and use the new buzz word ‘Interim’.
The residents of the old Boorowa Shire may be rejoicing at the current situation. They have former Boorowa Mayor, Wendy Tuckerman appointed as Administrator of the brand new whizz-bang Shire Council, Hilltops, until September 2017. Former Boorowa General Manager, Anthony McMahon will now be the Interim General Manager for the same period. Minister for Local Government Paul Toole said he would reward those Councillors who were willing to work with the State Government to ensure the new merged Councils were a success. Tuckerman is obviously seen favourably by Toole.
I didn’t respond to Paul Toole’s request to join the then unknown entity a couple of months ago. The simple fact is it strayed from the basis of democracy to appoint who he wanted and not democratically elected Councillors. If I was to run at the next election and ask residents to vote for me it would be democratic. The current situation is not. However, someone will have to represent us now and I hope that some of my fellow former Councillors will apply for a role.
I have lost all faith in the process and believe that Toole may have already picked his men or women. He has made his captain’s pick. New Administrator Wendy Tuckerman sent a similar letter to Toole’s on Monday afternoon this week asking for expressions of interest to join the new Interim Hilltops Council.
It will only be window dressing as Tuckerman has the current powers of a God in regard to the 18,000 odd residents of the new Shire. They will be at her mercy. Boorowa may think they are in the box seat in regard to the direction of the new Council so far. This may be the case for a very short period.
When this period is over and Tuckerman’s role is complete. How happy will the residents of the former Boorowa Shire be knowing that she has supported the three-way merger all along, guided the new interim Council and left them with little or no representation after that for the future. Come September 2017 candidates from across the Hilltops area will be asked to run for office on the new Council. These candidates will be drawn from the entire Hilltops area.
There is no ward system in place to give fairer representation to the former smaller Councils of Harden and Boorowa. I repeat there is no ward system in place to give fairer representation to the former smaller Councils of Harden and Boorowa. It is highly unlikely that residents will come out in droves and support candidates from other townships or former Shire areas. Would people support a candidate from another town who has little or no direct engagement in their community? I think not. They will vote for their own. This will mean that candidates from Harden and Boorowa will be up against candidates from Young and we all know if you have the numbers in local government you don’t win just some of the time, you win all of the time!
The following figures are available on the electoral commission website and are taken from the most recent local government elections held in 2012. They show just how influential Young may be at the next election in September 2017. If you start sufferring from feelings of dread while reading on, I apologise, but the numbers don’t lie. At the 2012 election, Young had 7553 residents cast votes of which 324 were informal votes. They had a turn out of 85.37% of the registered adult population. Totalling 7,229 voters. Harden had 2,500 residents vote of which 94 were informal votes. They had a turn out of 87.6% of the registered adult population. Totalling 2,406 voters. Boorowa has the lowest population recorded of the three Councils, 1,573 residents voted of which 48 were informal votes. They had a turn out of 83.23 % of the registered adult population. Totalling 1,525 voters. Have a quick look at these figures. Young -7,229 voters, Harden – 2,406 voters, Boorowa – 1,525 voters. Thats 11,160 voters. This number may go up or down slightly, however, dramatic change is unforseeable.
The current system leans to Boorowa having the least representation of the three areas on the new Hilltops Council. Was the decision by Boorowa to merge with Harden and Young such a good one now? Boorowa residents had nine Councillors to consult, attack and or demand change from. To talk to and to get them to take concerns back to the former Boorowa Council. Nine Councillors to actually vote on something which may benefit the Boorowa people. Soon they could only have one! The new Hilltops Shire will have 11 councillors elected at the September 2017 election. If another strong candidate from Boorowa runs or a couple of strong candidates from Boorowa run Tuckerman could find herself not re-elected at the democratic elections and out of office. This would be very unfortuante after all her hard work ensuring that the new Council is a success! A co-ordinated strategy may needed to be employed by residents of Harden and Boorowa to ensure the best possible representation. Too many candidates from the smaller towns will dilute their respective towns vote. This may result in little or no representation on the new Council.
When you look at the raw figures Boorowa (1,525) may only get one candidate and maybe two on the new Hilltops Council. Harden (2,406) may get two candidates, maybe three on the Hilltops Council. This may leave Young with 7,229 voters the ability to have seven successful candidates maybe eight on the new council. I hope the now former Councillors of Boorowa are happy with the predicament they have helped deliver the townsfolk of Boorowa by including them in a merger with Harden and Young. By pursuing a forced merger the former Boorowa Council has provided their residents with the very plausible outcome of either one or maybe two representatives on the new Hilltops Council and maybe none starting September 2017. Anything is possible.
The Hilltops Phoenix magazine has been providing both Wendy Tuckerman and former Young Mayor, Brian Ingram a platform to reach residents across the three shires from its inception earlier this year. Each week Tuckerman and Ingram have featured prominently. Up to date there has been little if no interest from the A4 newsletter in asking other Councillors their opinion on matters. Plenty of Boorowa and Young Shire ratepayers money has been spent in the form of advertisements in the publication to date. Will the residents of Harden Shire see value for money in a newsletter which features very little about Harden compared to Boorowa and Young? Especially when Harden already has two newspapers in town? Does any of the money made by the Hilltop Phoenix actually filter back to the Harden, Boorowa or Young Communities?
The residents of the new Hilltops region will be at the mercy of Tuckerman for the next 16 months. After that democracy returns. The Hilltops merger will forever be seen as a forced amalgamation brought on by the Liberal and National State Government on the three former Councils of Harden, Boorowa and Young. Harden and Boorowa were never able to amalgamate together because they never met the population requirement of 10,000 residents, as set out in the Fit For The Future criteria. Unfortunately this left Boorowa in a position where they were stuck with little option than to go with Young. They didn’t have to include Harden though. Not wanting to be eaten alive by Young, Boorowa Councillors voted to include Harden in their merger option with Young, bringing three shires in to the mix and sealing the fate of Harden who plainly and simply said they didn’t want to be a part of it.
The Labor opposition is making noises that they will support de-amalgamation if elected at the next State election. It has occurred in Queensland after it was found that it simply didn’t work. In 2013, the former Noosa, Douglas, Livingstone and Mareeba shires were given the opportunity to vote to de-amalgamate their councils. All voted to have their councils re-instated by the start of 2014 under old shire boundaries. Queensland Local Government Minister David Crisafulli released the regulations and named the four figureheads set to guide the de-amalgamation of four Queensland councils. The Liberal and National parties have deserted the people they were elected to protect. If you vote for either of them at the next election, State or Federal, you have rocks in your head.
Matthew Stadtmiller
