Historical Evidence why Gold Coast City Council needs us...

Budget cuts may slow capital works projects

Posted Wed Jun 9, 2004 10:19am AEST

Capital works projects at Coomera, Beenleigh and Surfers Paradise will be deferred if Gold Coast city councillors agree to prune the city's proposed budget.

Council officers have found a way to save $6 million and will put the recommendations to the final council budget meeting today.

Outgoing finance committee chairman Eddie Saroff says the reduction will do away with the need for council to borrow money.

"The officers have identified a number of projects that won't be able to commence in the '04/05 budget and it was commonsense that those projects should be moved out of the budget rather than look towards taking up further loans simply to balance the budget and that's been achieved, and I am sure the rest of the council will see that as the right way forward," he said.

The budget is due to be handed down on June 25.

Beenleigh and Eagleby bagged by Gold Coast Bulletin

Hello everyone....this is really very important....if you ever thought that it was more prestigious
to be part of Gold Coast...read on and find out what people down there think of us...

On Tuesday September 4th the Gold Coast Bulletin published a front page story entitled...Do we want to keep Eagleby. As this article has now been removed from the website www.goldcoast.au which archives the Gold Coast Bulletin stories verbatim, I will transcribe it from my personal copy....

Do we want to keep Eagleby
Councillors voted last night to hold a referendum on whether Eagleby
and Beenleigh should remain part of the Gold Coast, which raises
the question: why bother?

Premier Peter Beattie has said he will push ahead with plans to include the northern suburbs in a new Logan City super council regardless of a Federal Government offer to pay for the referendum.

The gritty, inland commuter centres have little in common with the Gold Coast holiday playground. Beenleigh has a rum distillery and fields of sugar-cane, while Eagleby is a classic struggle town with the social problems that brings.

Mayor Ron Clarke is a strong supporter of the referendum, along with councillor Ted
Shepherd who says losing the rates base would be a massive blow to the city's economy.
But residents of the suburbs contribute much less to city coffers than other Gold Coast
ratepayers. The average rates payment in most of Eagleby and parts of Beenleigh is $1550,
compared to $2300 in Robina.

Even Beenleigh councillor Ray Hackwood admits the taxpayer-funded vote 'isn't going
to make a difference'. The referendum will quiz more than 40, 000 residents of the suburbs, but you can vote now on our website.

So that was what appeared on the front page of the Gold Coast Bulletin...I checked the website
and ironically the vote was around 80% to keep us and 20% to dump us....remember voters would
be readers of the Gold Coast Bulletin...of course it did not tell you how many votes there had been....

Ok ....so the story continued on page 4....this article remains pretty much as printed except they have changed the title...the original title was....

Eagleby a sore point
'Let whole Coast vote on keeping low-rate areas'
by council reporter, Geoff Chambers

Opposite the story was a google-earth style map of the area....and a box which showed comparative statistical data highlighting the differences between Eagleby and the Gold Coast, including:

Unemployment Rate
Eagleby 11.2% Gold Coast 5.8%

Average Individual Taxable Income
Eagleby $32,968 Gold Coast $36,602

Population with Bachelor Degree
Eagleby 2.6% Gold Coast 7.3%

All I can say is 'how rude'...They must have got quite a lot of flack because they have
since removed the original front page article and changed the title of the page 4 story....
it now appears as below....

September 7, 2007 07:02am

Council backs referendum for Eagleby

04Sep07

THE Gold Coast City Council knows a vote won't change anything but last night still decided to press ahead with a taxpayer-funded referendum on amalgamations.

After the council retained the Yatala industrial cash cow in the August State Government local government reform announcements, the consensus of most Gold Coasters was that the northern divisions -- home to the Gold Coast's lowest rate-paying housing estates -- wouldn't be missed.

At yesterday's meeting, southern Gold Coast councillors argued that many Gold Coasters were happy with the reform and that Beenleigh and Eagleby were always going to amalgamate into the new Logan City super council.

But the council's decision to allow the referendum will now see more than 40,000 Beenleigh and Eagleby residents included in the statewide postal vote, asking them whether they support the local government reform process in which 156 councils will be slashed to 72.

Councillors Greg Betts, Rob Molhoek, Ted Shepherd and Eddy Sarroff remained against the referendum and argued the vote should include the entire Gold Coast.

"I am against the motion. I don't think it will properly reflect the feelings of the entire Gold Coast. Some on the southern Gold Coast are quite happy about the whole process," said Cr Betts, who supports the amalgamation.

Cr Dawn Crichlow said in the Greg Hoffman report from 1995, which recommended the Albert Shire and Gold Coast council amalgamate, he mentioned that Beenleigh and Eagleby could not remain part of the Gold Coast City Council.

"That report said that within 10 years Beenleigh would have to become a council on its own or be amalgamated," she said.

Cr Molhoek said the entire process was politically motivated by the Federal Government to win votes.

"This is a process which is pushing forward and regardless of the vote these parts of the council are going to become part of Logan. This is ratepayers', or in this case taxpayers' money, and it's a waste because there is a political agenda at play," said Cr Molhoek.

The Local Government Association of Queensland last week pushed for October 20 as the preferred date for a vote but the Federal Government is expected to hold the referendum two weeks before the federal election, which is yet to be announced.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says the amalgamations will go ahead regardless of the referendum.

Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke put forward the motion.

"This vote is to approve a referendum north of the Albert River and conduct plebiscites to allow these residents a fair chance to express their views about the reform which I know many of them aren't pleased with," said Cr Clarke.

"Just today we have received a petition against the amalgamation and if the Australian Electoral Commission funds the referendum I believe we should allow these people that democratic right."

Long-time Beenleigh councillor Ray Hackwood said he was interested to see what his 'local residents were thinking'.

But, he remained sceptical about whether it would change the looming amalgamation.

"I don't have a problem with one being held but no matter what the results are, this is not going to stop the inevitable," he said.

"But at least I would get a feeling of what they are thinking. This was always going to happen and I have resigned myself to that fact.

"It isn't going to make a difference."

Cr Shepherd claimed the loss of Beenleigh and Eagleby could potentially devastate the Gold Coast economy.

"This is a big issue and it will affect the entire city. There are great ramifications south of the Albert River," he said.

"We are going to lose up to 40,000 residents and the $696 million in assets without compensation. This loss of rates is going have repercussions and I support a full referendum across the Gold Coast."

The average rates payment in most of Eagleby and parts of Beenleigh is $1550, compared to about $2300 in Robina.

Cr Sarroff said he did not want to give local residents 'false hope'.

Beenleigh Community....Urgent Attention....Read what the Gold Coast Bulletin is saying about us

September 7, 2007 06:54am

Limbo locals lost to Logan

05Sep07

EAGLEBY and Beenleigh residents claim they are the 'forgotten people' after being forced into amalgamation with the Logan City super council and shunned by the Gold Coast.

The neighbouring townships have been handed no assurances by the Gold Coast City Council or Logan City Council about their future.

On Monday, the Gold Coast City Council voted to hold a referendum on whether Eagleby and Beenleigh should remain part of this city, even though area representative Ray Hackwood said the taxpayer-funded vote 'isn't going to make a difference' under the State Government's reforms, which demand amalgamations and boundary changes.

Eagleby Community Association president Ian Bray said yesterday the three buildings used by the organisation were leased from the council and the Eagleby festival relied on council funds of $12,000.

"We are in limbo and we are all pretty fed up by how we have been treated, especially in terms of the lack of information that has been provided to us. It seems that we are the forgotten people," said Mr Bray.

"Eagleby as a whole supports the referendum because it gives us a say and anyone who says anything else than that is wrong because a lot of people around here would like to stay a part of the Gold Coast.

"If it is going ahead we want to know what is happening. It's small things that are going to affect us as well, like having to cut down from two bins to split bins."

A local, Julie Bishop, and other residents The Bulletin spoke to yesterday, said Eagleby had become their own patch of heaven.

"I moved here from southern Brisbane when I realised that housing in the area was much more affordable," said Ms Bishop.

"Once you get here you find that it's still like a small town with the rivers and bushwalks only a short walk away.

"Eagleby isn't as developed as Beenleigh and it still has its community halls and CWA meetings. You won't get that on the Gold Coast."

The suburb also includes an Islamic mosque, with a major influx of Sudanese refugees in the area.

The Eagleby wetlands and a major sewerage plant are also found there along with a Driza-Bone factory.

Acting Logan City Mayor John Grant yesterday confirmed that under current circumstances, rate notices for Eagleby and Beenleigh residents would likely increase when the new council was formed.

"As part of the transition committee, which I am chairing in the absence of the mayor, we are working as best as we can to ensure the right thing by them," said Cr Grant.

"We can only set up the dialogue and analysis before March 15 but we don't make the final decision. This is an important process and in terms of a referendum I think that was a decision the Gold Coast council could make but it will not change the outcome."

Cr Hackwood, who oversaw the amalgamation of the region into the Gold Coast in 1995, said he was dismayed the northern Gold Coast had been shunned by its southern counterparts.

"The description of Eagleby asserted that it was a low socio-economic outcast with huge social problems.

"This is far from the truth," said Cr Hackwood, who has a park named after him.

"The mystery to me is that often people who criticise the area have not taken the time to visit and make their judgment from afar. The Eagleby wetlands attract many visitors both nationally and internationally.

"The riverfront parks in the area are the equal of any elsewhere in the city and the BMX facilities are of world standard and the historical village is visited by hundreds of school children."

Farther west, Boonah Shire Council yesterday released the questions it will include in a survey to its residents. Boonah, which will become part of the new Scenic Rim council, has avoided spending taxpayers' money on a referendum after being threatened with legal action by the State Government.

Mayor John Brent said the council had decided to go with the survey as part of the council's weekly newsletter.

"The survey asks residents five questions, including whether they support the process used by the State Government to amalgamate the Boonah Shire Council into the new Scenic Rim regional council," said Cr Brent.

Residents will also be asked whether the changes would affect a range of community-based activities, including local representation.