Standing up to price hike

MORE than 500 locals have put their name to a petition, hoping to reawaken an important issue that was put to bed last month.

Nanango local Jane Erkens has reached out to the community, asking them to share their hardship in this time of drought, in protest of council’s decision to raise the price of standpipe water from $4.10 to $10.

While Ms Erkens has expressed gratitude to the council for the good work they have done, she believes that in this instance the community is not being heard.

As a local business owner at Nanango Real Estate and active member of the community, she regularly hears heartbreaking stories from those who are struggling to cope financially.

“People are struggling. I’ve had people who rent from me coming in, embarrassed, and saying they don’t have enough for a full week’s rent because they had to buy a load of water,” she said.

“Last year, we lost 30-plus cattle to the drought. We ended up with many calves without mothers, and that’s more work for the already struggling farmers. I recently had a lady ring me - she is 70something-years-old - she has been paying a neighbour $40 a week to get her a pot of water for her rescue horses.”

In a fact sheet released last month, the price hike was attributed to a lack of restrictions placed on how much water could be taken from a standpipe. The idea was to increase water security by discouraging non-essential use of standpipe water.

Ms Erkens said this was not relevant to Nanango, which has a steady water supply.

“Our water comes from Barkers Creek, the bores on Barkers Creek. Those bores are full,” she said. “They recently did a 100-hour test pump on each of those three bores, which has shown a good supply of water there.”

Another reason cited for the decision was to reduce the price disparity between towns and standpipe water.

Division 1 Councillor Roz Frohloff backed the rise in charges, promoting it as a viable method for creating more equity in the region.

Cr Frohloff argued the Western Downs Council charged an average of $17.90 per kilolitre for their water supply, and Maranoa Council charged $14.20 per kilolitre.

Ms Erkens argued this was like “comparing apples with doughnuts”.