Bruce Saunders calls for inquiry into Fraser Coast Council

Claims the Fraser Coast‘s tips will take rubbish from both Bundaberg and Gympie and a new admin centre could cost millions more have brought the battle between a state MP and the council back into sharp focus.

Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders has explosively called for an inquiry into the Fraser Coast Regional Council, citing the $93 million Hervey Bay CBD project he has nicknamed the “Taj Mahal” and his fear that a new waste facility in Maryborough would turn the city into the Wide Bay’s “dumping ground”.

The council responded to those claims late on Wednesday, defending some and denying others.

Speaking on Triple M on Wednesday morning, Mr Saunders predicted the cost blowout of the project, which is the construction of a new Hervey Bay library and council administration centre that will incorporate a disaster resilience centre, was going to be “big, it’s going to be huge”, saying he estimated the cost would be $140 million.

He said there should be a referendum from the Fraser Coast people to decide if that was where they wanted the money spent.

“Why don’t we go to the people and ask the people of the Fraser Coast, do you want to spend $100 plus or $140 million dollars on the building, or do you want your gutters fixed, roads fixed, infrastructure fixed on the Fraser Coast?

“I challenge the councillors, I challenge them, go back to the people and let’s ask the people what they want.”

Mr Saunders said the council had said it was a project for the future.

“But we’re going to be paying for it for a long time with rate rises,” he said.

The new building would be partially funded with $40 million awarded from the Hinkler Regional Deal, but the council would need to borrow more than $50 million to construct the new facilities.

Mr Saunders said money had just been poured into Hervey Bay Library by the State Government for a building that the council was going to sell off.

“This money could have been spent better, that’s what I’m saying, it could have been spent better, it could have been spent on infrastructure.

“When you have a look around the region, Howard for instance, we need more footpaths, we have an elderly population out there.

“We could have better footpaths in Howard. We could have a better bus stop at Tiaro.

“I could go on and on where we could spend the $100 million they are going to borrow.

“So if they are going to put the rates up let’s put them up for the benefit of the people, not for the select few in our community.”

Mr Saunders said if he was wrong about the cost of the project, he would apologise but said “I know I won’t have to apologise”.

“We’ve had people walk away from this project already and the council hasn’t even spoken about that.”

Mr Saunders also raised the issue of a $25 million waste facility for Maryborough.

He said there had been no consultation with the community.

“What I’ve picked up is that we are going to be taking waste from Gympie and Bundaberg,” he said.

“I’m only surmising because we have not been briefed on it by the council, I don’t understand it.

“Are there going to be rubbish trucks going through Maryborough city to a dump?

“Are we going to become the dumping ground of the Wide Bay, who knows?

“I think the council should be a little bit more transparent. Tell the people where this new waste facility is going to be.

“It’s going to cost $25 million dollars.

CBD VISION: An artist's impression of the Hervey Bay CBD Urban Renewal Master Plan, showcasing the new location of the council admin building (2), eat street (1), parking structure (8) and residential and office developments (10-12).

“How are they going to transport this waste to facility, is it going to be by truck is it going to be by rail? Who knows.

“But my concern is, and I’m really concerned about this, is that some of the people contacting my office, they’re concerned that we are going to have trucks fully loaded with rubbish driving through our city, contaminated waste, whatever, we don’t know.

“There could be anything going to this waste facility.”

Mr Saunders said the community needed to know what was happening and where the waste facility would go.

“I personally think that we should have an inquiry into the Fraser Coast Regional Council,” he said.

Previously, the council said the new admin building was a project it could afford, while denying Mr Saunders’ claims of a cost blowout.

“Our debt is the lowest it has ever been,” council chief executive Ken Diehm said at the November council meeting in 2021.

“Debt is under $60m and at one stage it was about $120m. If the community could afford $120m debt 10 years ago, it can afford the sort of debt that we are looking at now.”

The Chronicle has also previously reported on the council’s intention to dispose of Gympie’s waste in Maryborough.

A response from a council spokesman said the budget was detailed for the new building in November 2021, and “nothing had changed since”.
“A key element of this project that is often overlooked is a new library, which will be double the size of the current library to cater for our growing population and help lift our region’s overall education standards,” the spokesman said.

“The new Library and Council Administration Centre will be a community hub where individuals, professionals and families can come to learn, socialise and benefit from centralised council services.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape our city centre in Hervey Bay, to create jobs, and to drive economic growth and investment.”

In response to the claim that rubbish would be brought to the region from Bundaberg and Gympie, the spokesman denied that was the case.

“This is untrue. In its September 2021 council meeting, council endorsed a proposal to include a glass recycling plant in an application for an $8 million grant from the Recycling Modernisation Fund as part of a new Materials Recovery Facility on the Fraser Coast,” he said.

“The proposed glass processing plant would clean and crush glass from the Fraser Coast, and potentially take glass from other regional centres.

“The Queensland Recycling Modernisation Fund is a partnership between the Australian and Queensland Governments aimed at boosting the state’s recycling industry.”

Finally, the spokesman responded to Mr Saunders’ call for an inquiry into the council.

“The Auditor-General’s recent report to Parliament about Local Government identified no major concerns with the Fraser Coast Regional Council, which was a reflection of the strong financial management by the council and staff,” he said.