Transparency lacking
BEING a long- term ratepayer, I was alarmed reading Monday’s front- page headline “Chamber of Failures” and the Office of the Information Commissioner’s 24 recommendations in 2017 for more transparency and less secrecy by Townsville City Council.
Six months later they have failed to address the list of problems.
Surely this indicates that ours is not a united or efficient council – a worrying pattern Australia- wide.
This week I also read that Jenny Hill is joining a delegation of five North Queensland mayors on a trip to Canberra to lobby the Prime Minister for funding but the visit is during the first busy week when Parliament resumes.
The top priority on the Mayor’s Canberra wish list is long- term water security.
What? This contradicts so many media releases about the new 36.5km pipeline.
The council and the state MPs have all said repeatedly the pipeline will guarantee the city’s water supply.
Something doesn’t add up when reading articles by different Bulletin journos and the WFTAG’s articles, and local social media sites.
Here’s my attempt to illustrate the confusion.
The council says the $ 225 million duplicate pipeline guarantees long- term water security. That’s it. All fixed.
The largest lagoon in the country is next.
Then, they say the stage 1 pipeline is not really long- term water security because they are going to Canberra to lobby for a second stage.
They’ve all said we need to wait for Brad Webb’s final report in September. But they must have checked his interim report from June 2017 ( which I have read), where two stages were recommended. Solar power was recommended for stages 1 and 2 to lower massive pumping costs but we haven’t heard anything about this.
Elsewhere I read the Mayor wasn’t interested in federal dollars for stage 2 due to depreciation costs but now federal dollars seem a good idea? Depreciation problem pffftt. By going with pipes made in Adelaide, the council may have saved about $ 30 million from the $ 225 million state grant for stage 1.
The Federal Government might soon promise stage 2 funding ( to impress Herbert voters).
Maybe TCC will shuffle the savings sideways towards a new treatment plant.
Isn’t this actually a local government infrastructure responsibility?
Then, in 2020, the council can claim: “We have delivered long- term water security for Townsville.”
But who said before the last election that there was no water problem, just scaremongering and borrowing millions would send the council broke?
Next, official TCC water restrictions state level 2 kicks in when the dam is at 40 per cent.
But we’ve been on level 2 since 94 per cent and are still over 80 per cent. What’s to say