Reform of councils put on the agenda at forum
POLITICIANS, academics, councillors and members of the public from around the state converged on Stanthorpe for a local government forum to discuss the economic reasons for amalgamation.
Save Our Shires Action Group chairman Bob Johnson said the Saturday forum was the success the group had hoped it would be.
"At the end of the forum there was great enthusiasm to form a state-wide group to advance genuine local government reform," Mr Johnson said.
"This group intends to negotiate in strength with the State Government on this issue."
SOSAG spokeswoman Mary Rofe said the forum had achieved several objectives.
"The conviction that the forced council amalgamations of 2007 were wrong can now be validated by expert academic evidence," she said.
"There is also renewed hope that governments can be convinced to reconsider wholesale amalgamations as an antidote to rising costs."
Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott said he thought it was important that those with concerns about amalgamation utilised the forum to voice those concerns.
Senator Barnaby Joyce spoke about the need to reconsider boundaries of local governments and the assistance that federal grants could provide.
"People in certain geographic areas have the right to be represented differently to those in the districts next to them," he said. "If (de-amalgamation) is the will of the people of Stanthorpe then they should be able to do it.
"But we should never assume that just because some people in the town want it that everyone does."
