Bundaberg council fails to approve timeline extension on quarry owned by Wayne Honor

The Bundaberg council was unable to vote on a quarry matter this week, partly because the quarry is owned by one of its own councillors; a situation which caused an exodus from the chambers. This is what happened.

Bundaberg Regional Council was unable to approve or deny a request to expand the timeline on a quarry expansion on Tuesday, partly because the quarry is owned by one of its own councillors.

The application from Coachtrail Investments was to extend the completion date for completing an expansion of the quarry at Clarkes Road, Delan, which is owned by Wayne Honor and his wife, Judy.

Half the councillors, including Mr Honor, left the room when considering the application because they had a conflict of interest.

Councillors Greg Barnes and Jason Bartels were already absent from the meeting and gave their apologies.

Bundaberg councillor Wayne Honor owns a quarry at Clarkes Road, Delan.

The exodus left just five councillors in the chamber, including Mayor Jack Dempsey, which was not enough to vote under the laws.

Discussion ensued on whether the matter should be referred to the CEO due to the laws that state councils need to have a certain number of councillors present to vote on a motion.

Division four councillor Tracey McPhee wondered if handing over to the CEO was the right choice given two other councillors who were absent could be back by the next meeting.

Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey. Photo Paul Beutel

Mr Dempsey told Ms McPhee that given they didn’t know if the councillors had conflicts with the development, it would be best to refer the application to the CEO.

Mr Dempsey called all the conflicted councillors back into the room to instead vote on whether the matter should be handed over to the CEO.

He told Mr Honor he could stay and vote on the action because it wasn't a vote on the quarry itself, but Mr Honor didn’t accept the Mayor’s gesture, and left the room in the name of transparency.

The councillors voted unanimously to refer the fate of the decision of the quarry to the CEO.