Council Matters

The last time they wanted to do this...

was to get rid of two pesky councilors. Is this de ja vu?

I do not know if you are aware of the Local Government Act provisions on elections which state that for multi member divisions the election must be first past the post. There is no provision for preference voting. That means you get one vote but get 2 representatives. It is not like the old Act where preferences decided the result - remember the 1991 election. The new Act changed it all in 1994.
Given the spread of political sentiment here that means you will always get one right and one left elected provided that only one candidate from each persuasion stands. Otherwise the result could be 2 from one side. It will probably mean the entry of party politics into the local government area with independents standing no chance whatsoever unless they are exceptional and very well known.
The proposal would mean that candidates would have to be well supported financially as each campaign would rely on media and word of mouth. The old days of door knocking would be finished. Each of the proposed divisions would have about 20,000 electors come 2008 - impossible to cover by personal contact. Each divisional campaign would be in fact a mini-mayoral contest. The logistics for candidates are also horrific - especially for the hinterland where there would be at least 12 booths to be manned on polling day. I would envisage that the hinterland division would run west of the highway for the whole of the city (Beerburrum to Glenview) plus east of the highway into Little Mountain.
The above are the factors to be considered re the election. There are massive problems during the operational life of the Council. I looked at these briefly in 1998/9 when Don Smith was floating the idea - essentially at that time to get rid of Vivian an Andrew- and discarded it.
The main problem is that this Council is riddled with Aldous supporters who have no idea of how to run a democratic council and have given all responsibility to the officials who are tightly controlled by the CEO. THUS THEY HAVE LITTLE TO DO.
If we go down the Smith model then one ends up with an economic-rationalist, business driven council with little consideration of socio-economic issues besotted with development issues.
Just a sobering thought. It is not widely known but Caloundra Council is high on the list of local government areas development in the State Government model. Most of this development is scheduled for the next 7 years over the 20 years time frame. Investa is putting up to 40,000 residents in the Glenview/Sippy Downs are (most in C.C.C.) and Stockland is planning for 60,000 on Caloundra Downs. That will double the existing population. Or another 20,00 residents (excluding children) in each of 3 divisions. ALL THE PLANNING AND APPROVAL FOR THIS WILL OCCUR IN THE NEXT COUNCIL.
(just for those who like conspiracy theories - Caloundra Council cannot supply water/sewerage for these extra 100,000 on current assets and forward plans. The Beattie pipeline from Traveston will probably run right past both.)

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