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Whatsapp Four regions in Qld are voting to de-amalgamate from their super councils this weekend, taking back responsibility over local parks and rubbish collection

This weekend, in an Australian first, residents of four Queensland communities will vote on whether to break away from their super councils. The polls offer voters the decision to gain back more control over their communities at the cost of what are likely to be considerably higher rates.

Five years since the then Beattie Government controversially forced Queensland councils to amalgamate into super councils, four communities are being given the chance to decide their own fate.

Fulfilling an election promise, the Liberal National Party last year called on unhappy communities to submit their case for de-amalgamation. Of 19 former councils that sought to be reinstated, only four have been deemed by the state government to be eligible. They’re Douglas and Mareeba in the Far North, Livingston in Central Queensland, and Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Now it’s up to 76,000 voters in those former council areas to decide. Local Government Minister, David Crusifulli, says it’s a historic event.

'Politicians come and go,' he says. 'They go from roosters to feather dusters in the blink of an eye. But this is an opportunity for people to actually vote for their system of governance. There’s been some historic referendums, obviously, but even changes to the constitution don’t alter your system of governance in the way that this will.'

Minister Crusifulli says voters will have a tough decision to make—choosing whether it is worth the financial cost in the long run to get their community back.

The tourism mecca of Noosa is considered the most likely to succeed in divorcing its super council. According to the Queensland Treasury Corporation, of the four councils, the cost of de-amalgamation will be lowest for individual ratepayers in Noosa. The QTC has forecast a cost of $13.6 million. That would mean a $260 rate rise in the first year, and a $142 rate rise in subsequent years.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council mayor, Mark Jamieson, doesn’t want Noosa to break away.

'Whilst I respect their right, and they’ve fought a long, hard battle for the right to vote, I think the wrong they’re trying to right may not necessarily occur as a result of their actions,' Mayor Jamieson says. 'A lot has changed since amalgamation occurred in 2008, and the Sunshine Coast, despite significant impacts of the GFC and other challenges, has really grown and developed as a region. And a region that speaks with a single voice is going to be in a superior position in terms of support from federal and state governments.'

But fellow Sunshine Coast councillor, Russell Green, who wants to be the new Noosa mayor, argues his community would be better served by a council that’s small and responsive.

'There’s a—particularly in an operational sense—range of areas where you can see where services have been reduced,' he says. 'And through the Sunshine Coast Council, which I’ve been part of, we’ve had to try and find efficiencies... we’ve had to reduce levels of services right across the coast, including Noosa.'

Proponents of de-amalgamation argue Noosa has been cross-subsidising other parts of the Sunshine Coast, but Mayor Jamieson says that’s not the case.

'Noosa contributes about 20 per cent of revenues to the Sunshine Coast and in turn about 20 per cent of total revenues are spent back in the Noosa and district region,' he says. 'So there is no notion of a cash cow. It’s important to remember that at the time of amalgamation, the debt per head of population in Noosa was about $950 per head; immediately on amalgamating with the Maroochy and Caloundra Councils that in fact reduced to about $650 a head.'

About 51,000 people live within the old Noosa Shire boundaries, from the coast to the hinterland. Of these, about 36,000 are on the electoral role. Voting in the referendum is compulsory and Minister Crusifulli says either side simply needs a majority to win.

'I want everybody to vote so there is no ambiguity,' he says. 'There [is] still some really strong passion out there and what we have to do is make sure that the regional councils—whether that be through unsuccessful votes if there are any this weekend, or those who weren’t able to progress because they weren’t able to show an argument that they could create two viable entities—we need to actually make sure that there is true buy-in from the regional councils.'

If the ‘yes’ vote gets up in any of those four local government areas, Minister Crusifulli says those new entities will come into existence from 1 January 2014.

'It gives eight or nine months to make a seamless transition,' he says. 'We’ll put in place a committee that can actually do that, to make sure that on Day One bins get collected and plant and equipment’s ready to go. We’ll have an election at the back end of that process, so that there’s a new council that can roll up its sleeves from 1 January, and we’ll move forward like that.'

While this will be Australia’s first referendum on de-amalgamation, it’s not entirely new ground. Eight years after the Kennett government reduced the number of Victorian councils from over 200 to 78, one of the merged councils, Delatite Council on the foothills of the alps, was split back into the Benalla Shire and Mansfield Shire Councils following a sustained community campaign.

Russell Bate sat on the first Mansfield Council immediately after de-amalgamation, and is now mayor.

'During those first four years post de-amalgamation, there were no major glitches,' he says. 'It went comparatively smoothly.'

While the process was expensive, it didn't leave the council with unsustainable debt, Mr Bates says. In the year after de-amalgamation, both new councils increased their rates by over 30 per cent, but since then rate increases over the past eight years have been around 5 to 6 per cent, Mr Bates says.

'Mansfield’s doing OK nine years down the track,' he says. 'And I think you would struggle to find anyone in the shire who would suggest that they’d still rather be part of Delatite; in fact, I think you’d find it well nigh impossible.'

Listen to Cathy Van Extel's report on RN Breakfast.