Brooweena residents lose dump vouchers

Anger is growing among Brooweena residents who have discovered Fraser Coast Regional Council will soon stop giving them vouchers to dump their rubbish at the local tip.

Brooweena resident Kerry Smith is concerned about the council's lack of communication about the decision.

Anger is growing among Brooweena residents who have discovered Fraser Coast Regional Council will soon stop giving them vouchers to dump their rubbish at the local tip.

The small town 50km west of Maryborough with a population of about 100, is not included in the council’s waste collection service, leaving residents to transport their own rubbish to the nearest tip at Aramara.

They were given 26 tip vouchers by the council but had to reapply at the end of every financial year. The vouchers meant that every two weeks they could take their garbage to the tip, though resident Kerry Smith said that was “not enough”, and led to hygiene issues in the hot summer months.

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The vouchers will only be redeemable up to December 31, 2023, after which residents will be required to pay $6.60 per rubbish bag to get rid of their garbage, Mrs Smith said.

Brooweena resident Kerry Smith is concerned about the council's lack of communication about the decision.

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She said she found out about this new arrangement via a flier at the tip, and not a direct communication from the council.

These vouchers are given to Brooweena residents to subsidise the cost of dumping their rubbish at the Aramara tip. They will be invalid as of December 31, 2023.

“Not for the first time the bush has been shafted,” Mrs Smith said.

“We are in the same council area as Maryborough and Hervey Bay but are fully forgotten.”

Details of the plan to end the voucher program were made public in the council’s 2023/24 Range and Level and Service Review, which was released in June, but Mrs Smith said the residents were not aware of the report.

In a statement released on Thursday, the council said “the decision to phase out the waste disposal vouchers ensures all residents are treated equitably with waste services provided on a user pays basis”.

The voucher system for rural residents had been funded through kerbside collection rates urban homeowners paid, it said.

The system “effectively subsidised rural residents to dispose of their waste for free”.

The council maintained it had written to residents in mid-July “who either received vouchers in the past or who had already applied for vouchers in 2023/24 to advise of the changes”.