The 'visionary' council mergers leave many out in the cold

Statistically, Dalby together with Wambo could elect 4.2 councillors and most likely the mayor. Chinchilla could elect 1.7 councillors whilst Tara 1.04. The western extremity of the new regional area of Murilla and Taroom will elect 0.7 and 0.3 councillors respectively. What a statistical mess for a “visionary” political system aiming to deliver equitable and just representation.

Murilla and Taroom will have to co-operate to elect one councillor. Chinchilla and Tara could combine to elect three councillors. This would leave Dalby and Wambo four councillors plus the mayor. Political and economic power will reside geographically in the eastern extremity of the Regional Council.

If electors from the eastern end of Chinchilla and Tara (both adjoin Wambo) supported a Wambo candidate, the situation becomes ever more geographically distorted. Five councillors from the former Dalby-Wambo Shires plus the mayor would come from the eastern extremity of the Region. This would recreate a mini Queensland situation with political and economic power dominated by a small densely populated geographic area.

Both the premier and minister have said that the way is still open for the new system to be divided into wards. It has been left to a group of western mayors to devise a system of division. When the statistics of the new Dalby Regional Council is considered, there can be no equitable representation unless it is heavily gerrymandered in favour of the numerically weak areas.

Candidate selection becomes crucial. Talented candidates could find themselves unable to command sufficient electoral support compared to lesser talented; but, more popular personalities. Numerical strength will reside in the towns. In other words, town candidates are more likely to win a council seat than farmers. Hence rural industry representation is most likely to decline at regional level with an impairment of diversity of thought and industry representation in regional politics.

The outcome of this situation will provide party politics an opportunity to enter regional government. It has always been a point of local government pride that official party politics has been unable to capture interest at local government level. This must end for any semblance of representation to emerge. While town representation would normally be the repository of Liberal and Labor interests, resentment generated from this reform could well work against Labor across the board reaching to the federal level.

The distance from Dalby town to Wandoan (division 2, Taroom) is 194km. An equivalent example for a Brisbane residents would be to have a councillor elected from Tiaro (south of Maryborough). Conversely, because the numerical power lies in  Brisbane, a Tiaro resident would be represented most likely by a Brisbane councillor. This system cannot be explained except by philosophy.

This reform process reflects the philosophical thinking of the technocrats recruited by Labor’s in the 1950’s and 60’s internal reform process. The question now becomes: is this the first wave of neo-technocratic philosophy?

Philosophical thinking from the past is no basis to go forward for regional Queensland.