Really Livingstone? Stop treating Northern Suburbs as a cash cow

Published on 08 June 2022

Rockhampton Regional Council today said Livingstone’s sour milk response to a compensation offer for the Northern Suburbs shows they are treating those residents as nothing but a cash cow for the rest of their Shire.

Deputy Mayor Neil Fisher labelled the Livingstone Mayor’s comments this week as a slap in the face to every resident in both communities.

“The Livingstone Mayor said this week they rejected Rockhampton Regional Council’s compensation offer ‘out of hand’ which means they didn’t even think about it or discuss it,” Deputy Mayor Fisher said.

“That is literally the job of those councillors down there and it would seem they washed their hands of any responsibility in having these discussions in good faith.

“The offer was very clear and included 50% of the rates from those Northern Suburbs for 10 years.

“Now, the Queensland Treasury Corporation report clearly shows LSC would have a net operating loss of $3.8 million each year if the transfer goes ahead. Our compensation offer, based on our calculations, would have made up $2.3 million each year which would have left LSC with $1.5 million each year.

“Now, Rockhampton Regional Council viewed this as a very fair offer.

“In fact, it would have significantly decreased any proposed rates increase as the result of the transfer. And that’s the story that Livingstone is refusing to tell their residents.

“They had a choice to mitigate the impact on their residents. They didn’t negotiate, they didn’t engage and now they are telling their residents that they have no choice but to raise rates or reduce services.

“But they did have a choice and they chose not to. Regardless of whether you agree with that or not, it was their responsibility to actually consider it instead of dismissing it ‘out of hand’ as the Livingstone Mayor said they did.

“We’ve always said this transfer would be fairer for everyone and we’ve tried to reduce the impact on the rest of Livingstone in good faith.

“And just like they have with residents in the Northern Suburbs, Livingstone hasn’t kept the faith.

“I will make it clear. Our Council is always willing to have further negotiations, but Livingstone needs to come to the table,” Deputy Mayor Fisher said.

The independent QTC report can be found here: https://www.ecq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/43113/QTC-Financial-impact-assessment-report.pdf