Clearly the community is discontent with our current Council. A newly formed SRRC Rate Payers Association are calling for all concerned SRRC residents to attend their opening meeting on Monday 1st November at 10am at the Beaudesert Golf Club.
We Queenslanders are paying a high price for the forced amalgamations of smaller community based councils. The State Government did not consult the people who had a democratic right to vote on these mergers. We were not given that opportunity.
Whilst the Government claims that the amalgamations create Councils which will be more financially sustainable, it is clear that many councils are far worse off. More and more communities like Warwick, Stanthorpe, Maryborough-Hervy Bay, etc are calling for the sacking of their councils. Dissatisfaction and frustration with local councils is why groups like the Gold Coast Ratepayers Association and now the SRRC ratepayers Associations are being formed.
Tamborine Mountain is a unique part of the Scenic Rim with its own history and community values. The TMPA has for many years kept development away from this beautiful and diverse place, making it a mecca for people to visit and enjoy with their children and grandchildren away from the speed of suburban life below.
It is also a sanctuary for those who want to retire in peace as well as for the artist to paint and sculpt, the authors to write, and a place for the very sick to heal. Everyone who visits and lives here has only the utmost respect and love for this very unique and beautiful place.
Development is not the issue. It is inappropriate development that is not wanted. We don’t want development that will change the basic landscape and community feel, or the sort of development that turns Tamborine into a mini Gold Coast!
For those that prefer suburbia and the Gold Coast way of life, exactly what you want is only 30 minutes away . . . downhill!
Whilst our Council cannot be fully blamed for the actions of the State Government to merge the councils, our Council has a duty to its ratepayers to listen to the voices of its community especially when they feel that their Council is not acting in their best interest.
A Leading Academic's Views On Secession
A wonderful article on local government and secession by communities was written by Professor Percy Allen of Percy Allan & Associates. Percy Allan is a Public Policy and Management Consultant with his own practice in NSW.
Percy wrote an article about his own community called “Secession, A Manifesto for an independent Balmain Local Council”.
It makes for interesting reading which should also leave us with ‘Food for Thought”. What he has to say is pertinent and relevant to our situation on Tamborine.
First Professor Allan examines the arguments for large councils. “Larger councils have a larger mass to distribute the services required which often results in larger rates. A smaller council, albeit with a smaller rate base, can focus with the consultation of the community on specific complaints about development, parks and the like.”
Dr. Michael Jones is a noted Australian expert on local government. Dr Jones has summarised overseas research on the relationship between size and production efficiency on the one hand and distribution of effectiveness on the other.
Professor Allan said of Jones' work, "Dr. Jones’s conclusion is that bigger councils do have economies of scale for “producing” services, whilst smaller councils are more responsive to communities in distributing where most needed."
The Scenic Rim Regional Council is a very small council when compared to a Brisbane or Sydney Council. However, in this instance the needs of its ratepayers are not being addressed. So is pulling away from SRRC a viable option?
Our Councillor Derek Swanborough on the 30th June 2009, quoted in the Tamborine Mountain News that his analysis of the rate revenue by locality, shows that Tamborine Mountain will contribute $7.16 million in rate revenue and that the combined localities of Boonah, Beaudesert and Bromelton (when water and sewerage rates are removed), will contribute $6.14 million.
Professor Allan addresses the issue of financial accountability in local government this way: “Unlike State or Commonwealth governments, local councils do not have ministers with specific portfolio responsibilities who have to account for their actions to parliament. Instead, councillors have the right to act as parliamentarians in legislating policy, as a cabinet in making administrative decisions and act as a quasi-judicial body in deciding disputes over councils rules and regulations.”
Professor Allan concludes, “General Managers and other senior executives of councils differ from normal public servants in that they are not accountable to a minister, but to a body which combines the roles of a cabinet, a parliament and a court.”
"This fusing and lack of separation of roles often means that in councils without a clear governing majority, no one may be held to account for the appropriateness or otherwise of policy decisions, the effectiveness of service delivery, the efficiency of council operations and the responsible management of council finances.”
So back to the question of “Is Tamborine ready to Secede”?
The concept is one that many would gladly embrace as long as the following could be answered:
- Do we have the support of the whole of the community? Or only a few?
- Will our rate base at current levels be enough to sustain the needs of the community?
It is important to note that it would not be the first time that Tamborine has operated with its own council. Tamborine Mountain ran successfully for many years making its own decisions. Are we ready to once again secede and go it alone?
The beauty of running our own show is that the community can come to the monthly meetings, discuss and debate what needs to be done, they will know how much is in the coffers and everything can be negotiated with everything laid out on the table.
For those in the community that don’t attend the meetings and be a part of the decision making, they will then have no re-call if what they want does not get done! This is how democracy should work.