Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the grievance debate is the appropriate forum in which to raise this serious issue in the interest of the ratepayers of the Townsville City Council. We remember the Queensland ALP minister Gordon Nuttall. He had to step down as minister because he told lies to a committee of the parliament. This will not happen again—I do not mean the lies, just the stepping down, because the Queensland state government has introduced legislation into parliament to enable politicians to tell lies in the place. Queensland ALP government politicians are exempting themselves from the Criminal Code if they cut loose and tell a few porkies.

With the ALP condoning the telling of lies, I have been increasingly concerned about the increase in incidences where I know that the Mayor and the Townsville City Council have been plain untruthful to Townsville ratepayers. It is not a pleasant thing to say to the parliament, but the reality is that the mayor simply no longer has any compulsion to be anything more than loose with the truth.

Through the parliament tonight, let me give the people of Townsville some specific examples. Remember when the Townsville community became aware that the Australian Communications Authority had decided to sell a parcel of land at Pallarenda. The ACA met on two occasions with the mayor’s right-hand man in planning and no objection was raised to the sale. Clearly the Director of Planning would have discussed the council’s attitude with the mayor, as he does every other sensitive development. Yet when the sale became public the mayor, with a straight face, told the people of Townsville he knew nothing about it. Remember too the mayor continues to tell Townsville ratepayers that he will keep rate rises to the consumer price index. This too has proved to be untruthful because recent history shows that rates have gone up above the CPI. The mayor apparently thinks that he is above public scrutiny and that he can tell the people one thing and then do the opposite.

I ask the mayor tonight about his promise to alleviate the drainage problems close to my electorate office in Cranbrook. At the last three elections, Mayor Tony Mooney has said that he will address the flooding in the suburb but, again, his promise was a lie. The drainage problems have not been addressed and, again, the mayor thinks he can tell the people one thing and do another.

Now I turn to the mayor’s record on the Jezzine Barracks issue. With a straight face he told the people of Townsville that he has been unable to negotiate with me. Another Mooney lie. In fact, the reverse is the case: Tony Mooney has gone out of his way not to work with me on this issue. He is in the paper all the time saying he will do this or that, but he never picks up the phone to talk to me. In fact, in order to force Tony Mooney to bring a delegation to Canberra, I had to fly home on a parliamentary sitting day to achieve that outcome.

On the Chalco refinery project, Tony Mooney has been telling the people of Townsville one thing yet supporting another. A week ago he circulated an expensive glossy brochure that gave ratepayers the clear understanding that the refinery would be built in the state development area at Stuart. But behind the scenes he has been having discussions about placing the refinery in the Woodstock area. I do not like that. But Tony Mooney is all about saving face, when he should really be all about properly informing ratepayers. The port access road is another example. Tony Mooney has taken every opportunity to be critical of the federal government for not providing funding for the road but all along he has known that the state Labor government withheld information from me that I could otherwise have used to back a case for funding. This is no way for the mayor of the city to work with the federal government. The ratepayers of the city must come to realise that their mayor politically works against their best interests.

A week ago the council was asked about parking provisions for Centrelink staff at the new office on Ross River Road. The council’s answer was that the federal government is not subject to town planning conditions and they wiped their hands of it. They misled the Townsville Bulletin reporter, who asked about the issue knowing full well that the building was not owned by the federal government and that the private owner was subject to council conditions. So it did not surprise me in the least when, in a later article, the council claimed that they had been told that there would be only 50 employees on the site. Again this was not true. Any council worth their salt would have known that Centrelink would not have 50 people in a building almost 5,000 square metres in size.

I have heard of many other examples where the mayor has said one thing to major investors in the city and then done something entirely different. Major investors no longer trust the mayor of the Townsville City Council. Unfortunately, I cannot reveal these examples, because the investors concerned would suffer a most vindictive fate. But what it is already public is the example of the Townsville Mall. Again Tony Mooney said one thing to the people of the city and then did another. Moreover, his mishandling of the truth in relation to his dealings of the mall with the Chamber of Commerce is breathtaking. I understand that ratepayers may have very little interest in matters of a technical nature, but they do need to be alert that their mayor has no qualms in being loose with the truth. They should indeed be alarmed.

Many senior people who deal with both councils tell me that Townsville and Thuringowa are chalk and cheese. Thuringowa has an open, can-do attitude with staff and councillors, who are open and approachable at all times. Ratepayers can contact Mayor Les Tyrell at any time, and I certainly find that Les, his councillors and his staff are an example of excellence in local government. The same cannot be said about Townsville City Council. I feel for the senior staff at the Townsville City Council, who have to work in such a difficult atmosphere. Mayor Tony Mooney is very hard to contact. He runs the council as an autocrat. He does not accept criticism where criticism is due and now there is this increasing tendency just to lie to ratepayers. This is a disgrace and not worthy of Australia’s largest tropical city.

At almost every council meeting the mayor uses the time of the council to attack the federal government or opposition councillors. Thuringowa Council on the other hand always bring their ideas, problems or concerns directly to me and together we work for the best interests of the Thuringowa ratepayers. Townsville Council is freezing itself out for the sake of political point scoring and political witch hunts, and Townsville suffers because of it.

I think it is time that the business community stood up and blew the whistle on the mayor and his uncooperative council. I believe that it is time that the ratepayers recognised that all of the new projects are in Thuringowa and that nothing is happening in Townsville. I believe that it is time that Tony Mooney must behave much more honourably in the interests of our city.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the grievance debate has expired. I put the question:

That grievances be noted.

Question agreed to.