Published Monday, 21 January, 2008 at 06:39 PM
Minister for Main Roads and Local Government
The Honourable Warren Pitt
Friends of Noosa persist with misguided claims about amalgamations
Latest claims by the Friends of Noosa group about the local government reform process demonstrate conclusively that the group is not interested in the facts, Local Government Minister Warren Pitt said today.
Mr Pitt said the group had made fresh claims that the reform process was a sham - based on its interpretation of information received from a Freedom of Information request.
“Not surprisingly, that interpretation is full of false assumptions and wrong conclusions, with the end result that it is completely wide of the mark.
“If the Friends of Noosa bothered to read the report of the Local Government Reform Commission, they would understand just how misguided and untrue their claims really are.
“For example, because the Department of Local Government has advised that it does not hold summaries of submissions to the Local Government Reform Commission, the Friends of Noosa jump to the wrong conclusion that the submissions were ignored.
“The commission handled all these submissions independently of the department.
“The commission’s report makes it abundantly clear that the submissions were considered.
“There’s a whole chapter of the commission’s report dealing with how they were considered, and for each of the 72 new council areas the commission outlines its consideration of submissions received.
“Similarly, the Friends of Noosa claim that because they haven’t been provided with Cabinet documents - exempted from being disclosed under FOI laws - relating to legislative drafting instructions issued before the commission’s report was released, this proves that Queenslanders have been deceived about the independence of the commission and its recommendations.
“It proves nothing of the sort. The legislative drafting instructions did relate to some of the overall reform issues, but this was an entirely proper approach that was being taken to the drafting of the reform Bill.
“The drafting instructions did not contain any of the detail relating to the amalgamation of councils and new council names and boundaries as put forward by the commission. This might not suit the conspiracy theories that the Friends of Noosa are so fond of, but it is nonetheless the fact of the matter.”
Mr Pitt said the Friends of Noosa were a discredited group who continued to make false claims in an attempt to undermine the significant local government reforms that were being implemented on the Sunshine Coast and across the state.
Media contact: Minister Pitt’s Office 3227 8819
Mr Pitt said the group had made fresh claims that the reform process was a sham - based on its interpretation of information received from a Freedom of Information request.
“Not surprisingly, that interpretation is full of false assumptions and wrong conclusions, with the end result that it is completely wide of the mark.
“If the Friends of Noosa bothered to read the report of the Local Government Reform Commission, they would understand just how misguided and untrue their claims really are.
“For example, because the Department of Local Government has advised that it does not hold summaries of submissions to the Local Government Reform Commission, the Friends of Noosa jump to the wrong conclusion that the submissions were ignored.
“The commission handled all these submissions independently of the department.
“The commission’s report makes it abundantly clear that the submissions were considered.
“There’s a whole chapter of the commission’s report dealing with how they were considered, and for each of the 72 new council areas the commission outlines its consideration of submissions received.
“Similarly, the Friends of Noosa claim that because they haven’t been provided with Cabinet documents - exempted from being disclosed under FOI laws - relating to legislative drafting instructions issued before the commission’s report was released, this proves that Queenslanders have been deceived about the independence of the commission and its recommendations.
“It proves nothing of the sort. The legislative drafting instructions did relate to some of the overall reform issues, but this was an entirely proper approach that was being taken to the drafting of the reform Bill.
“The drafting instructions did not contain any of the detail relating to the amalgamation of councils and new council names and boundaries as put forward by the commission. This might not suit the conspiracy theories that the Friends of Noosa are so fond of, but it is nonetheless the fact of the matter.”
Mr Pitt said the Friends of Noosa were a discredited group who continued to make false claims in an attempt to undermine the significant local government reforms that were being implemented on the Sunshine Coast and across the state.
Media contact: Minister Pitt’s Office 3227 8819