STOP MEDDLING

THE Lockyer Valley Regional Council should stop trying to meddle in issues that are clearly the responsibility of the State and Commonwealth Governments.

If they are dissatisfied with the representation provided by Member for Lockyer Jim McDonald and Member for Wright Scott Buchholz, they should simply say so.

They need to stop engaging in cheap populism, and then financing it by squandering the money and resources of those who pay rates and rent on residential properties.

Their attempted interference in the Inland Rail project has been clearly rebuffed by the project managers. This seems to have gotten up the nose of LVRC Mayor Tanya Milligan.

She accuses them of being “disrespectful” and then rushes out and has her photo taken at the Gatton railway station, whilst pointing her thumb at a diesel locomotive.

The Inland Rail Corp used to hold public consultation meetings at the Shire Cultural Centre, but has now switched to the local supermarket car park.

Was this because the LVRC refused to continue making the centre available, or was it because the corporation was tired of these meetings being dominated by the nimby brigade?

Another issue is the irresponsible plan to build a water pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam to “the Lockyer water sources”; I am still puzzled about that last bit.

If this foolish plan ever gets off the ground, it will clearly be a State and Commonwealth responsibility.

Yet this bunch of local authority councillors elected by very undemocratic means, have already allocated $164,000 of our money to help finance a business case for something that has no hope of financially stacking up.

I recently revealed how the LVRC waived infrastructure and development fees of $429,100 for the construction of a backpacker hostel.

I obtained this information by reading the agenda of the council meeting that approved such largesse.

I fear I will never be able to do so again. A similar proposal to waive the infrastructure fee for a recent expansion to a motel was on the agenda of the council meeting of November 14.

It was listed as a closed forum item. Now we will never know if they waived these fees, nor will we ever know their reasons for doing so.

When are you going to intervene, Local Government Minister Hinchcliffe?

GRAHAM WESSLING, Gatton