Major change proposed for Ipswich City Council

Ipswich City Council seeks change, return to single-councillor divisions In short: The Change Commission will assess whether Ipswich City Council should return to 10 single-councillor divisions. It currently has four divisions, each represented by two councils. What's next? The council will prepare a submission, including results of its community consultation. Queensland's independent body overseeing electoral changes to local governments will assess a major proposal to return Ipswich City Council to single-councillor divisions. In September, the council voted unanimously to request a review of its multi-councillor divisions, which were installed after the council's sacking in 2018. Queensland's Local Government Minister Ann Leahy confirmed to 612 ABC Brisbane there will be a review. "I have referred Ipswich City Council's proposed electoral arrangements to the Change Commission for independent assessment under the Local Government Act 2009," she said in a statement. This comes as community consultation found residents supported returning to single-councillor divisions, with 53 per cent of 812 respondents wanting the change. Why Ipswich is only multi-councillor divided council in Qld The city's current system of four divisions, each represented by two councillors, was introduced to improve governance after the council's corruption scandals. The report recommending multi-councillor divisions for Ipswich stated single-councillor divisions "fostered a 'tale of 10 small cities' approach to leadership, rather than a whole-of-city commitment". Before the sacking, councillors each had a $680,000 discretionary fund plus more to award community grants — all without any oversight. "There was no framework in place to review whether (say) a new park in one suburb was more or less important to a road upgrade in another suburb, from a city-wide, strategic perspective," the report stated. Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said there had been "significant changes" to the Local Government Act since 2018, including a limit on discretionary funds to .01 per cent of the rate base for all councils. "In our council — I have a grand total of $26,000 a year that I can decide. Every councillor has $26,000, and that's for things like a local P&C wants nets for soccer fields, and how that is spent is published each month," she said. She said Ipswich was still the only council in Australia with a Transparency and Integrity Hub and that would continue if the bid for single-councillor divisions was successful. "I always think transparency is your friend. We need to be really transparent with residents on how we're spending money and making decisions," she said. Current model 'confusing', 'causes double handling' Cr Harding said it was clear to her and her fellow councillors that multi-councillor divisions were not working. "We're known as a robust council but this is something we are unanimous on," she said. "The red tape is enormous because we have to double-handle everything, especially resident queries. "There is confusion from residents about who their councillor is, because the divisions are so big." Cr Harding said that if councillors tried to share responsibilities by, for example, each going to a different community event on the same night, it did not work out. "People at the events will still get upset because they want both their councillors there," she said. "[The administrator] thought it would be 'divide and conquer', and that probably works for bureaucrats but not with elected representatives. "Residents want to see the whites of our eyes." Ipswich City Council will prepare a submission for the Change Commission, which will include the results of its community consultation. The council's first request to return to single-councillor divisions in 2022 was rejected.