Region’s rocky road to amalgamation
WHEN Paul Antonio was called into Brisbane 10 years ago, the Millmerran Shire Council mayor had little clue that Premier Peter Beattie was planning to dissolve his council.
“I remember going to Brisbane that August day in 2007 when Peter Beattie walked in the room and said ‘this was what was going to happen’,” he said.
“We’d all drawn boundaries, we’d tried to work together as councils with sharing resources. It was all out the window in 10 minutes flat.”
The current mayor of the Toowoomba Regional Council was a vehement opponent to the amalgamation of eight local shires into one super-council a decade ago.
Within months, an area that used to be served by more than 70 councillors had dropped to just 11.
“We protested pretty strongly, and it’s interesting that the first council had five former mayors and four former deputy mayors,” he said.
“It was a very interesting transition. I think that we’ve done the best we can but the rules are what they are.”
Millmerran was a centre in the fierce fightback against amalgamation, with Cr Antonio describing the move in 2007 as “sterile, one dimensional, undemocratic, irrational, soul-less”.
Ironically, Cr Antonio admitted his contempt for the model drawn up by the ALP Government at the time helped prolong his political career.
“I was certainly anti-amalgamation,
‘‘ WE’D DRAWN BOUNDARIES, WE’D TRIED TO WORK TOGETHER AS COUNCILS. IT WAS ALL OUT THE WINDOW IN 10 MINUTES FLAT.
PAUL ANTONIO
which was the reason I got elected,” he said.
“I had a particularly good vote in the first council election.”
While clearly softened in his approach to the topic now, Cr Antonio still believes the transition from local to regional government should have been done differently.
“We had eight shires into one region, with totally different standards, values, financial models,” he said.
“If I was in charge at that time, I would’ve been more inclined to merge communities with shared interests.
“I wouldn’t think that downtown Millmerran, Pittsworth or Oakey had a lot in common with Toowoomba, but that’s what we’ve got.”
The Toowoomba Regional Council is now a $500 million organisation with 1700 employees across nearly 13,000sq km.
Cr Antonio believed the current councillors had done a “good job” in the time since, but said merging the councils exposed the shortfall in consistent external funding from state and federal governments.
“Pre-amalgamation, if we built things like sewerage plants, we knew that we would get a 40 per cent subsidy – that
doesn’t happen now,” he said.
“Subsidies and external funding are now competitive, difficult, rolled out as political sometimes, like if it’s a marginal seat.
“Toowoomba has real demand on building this community.
“The money that flows into this community is so critical to the development of this community.”
Four Queensland councils have since de-amalgamated, but Cr Antonio can’t see it happening in the Toowoomba region.
“I really think it’s latter days now – I think we’re stranded,” he said, sounding resigned.
“Once an egg has been scrambled it’s pretty hard to get it back in the shell.”