Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders tables petition calling for councillors not to run for higher office

A state MP’s war against his local council has peaked with a controversial parliamentary petition but at least one target has returned fire, labelling the move a deliberate attempt to divert attention this budget week.

A councillor fed up with the Maryborough MP’s relentless attack on Local Government ranks says state politicians need to “clean up their own backyard” and stop distracting from the big issues this budget week.

It comes after Bruce Saunders, who has been waging war against the Fraser Coast council and it’s decision to push ahead with a $90 million Hervey Bay CBD development, also launched a petition calling for a rule change which would stop councillors from running for state or federal politics while they were paid by the ratepayer.

The petition, which almost a week after being lodged with parliament had garnered a few dozen signatures (the time of publication it was 63), Mr Saunders claimed councillors were “putting their current positions on hold and should they be unsuccessful they essentially walk back into their current position”.

On Monday he maintained some councillors were “running around thinking they’re pseudo state members or federal members or senators instead of concentrating on their job”.

He called for a “back to basics” approach (drainage at Howard and a toilet block at Boonooroo were top of the list), again labelling the planned Pialba building which will house the Hervey Bay library, disaster management centre and council staff as a ‘Taj Mahal’ he believed the Fraser Coast didn’t need.

Bruce Saunders is also the Assistant Train Manufacturing Minister. Picture: Aden Stokes

He also reiterated claims the cost of that development had “blown out” but couldn’t say what he believed the added costs were.

“It’s a huge investment and I’m not saying that they shouldn‘t do investments, but what I am saying is this is the wrong type of investment,” Mr Saunders said

“I’ve got no problem building a new building for the council workers – build it at (the existing site), Tavistock Street.”

Councillor David Lee however, who has not ruled out running for the Hervey Bay seat against Labor incumbent Adrian Tantari, told the Fraser Coast Chronicle that ahead of the state budget being handed down, the Member for Maryborough had bigger problems to focus on than rallying against council which was making “visionary” decisions for the region’s future.

He believed the anti-council crusade was ironic and reeked of hypocrisy given the MP was claiming local leaders were not focusing on the job they were paid to do and said he suspected it was a deliberate attempt to “deflect from State Government issues such as escalating debt, $1 billion cost blow outs, $200m Wellcamp flop, integrity crisis and DNA laboratory claims”.

“As state member you should be focusing all your energy on the housing crisis, the state of our hospitals and keeping the lights on in Queensland,” Mr Lee said

“We need a State Government that is investing and building a better future for the Fraser Coast and Queensland … a budget that addresses rising youth crime, the housing crisis and supports our hardworking paramedics.”

Mr Lee has long been calling for a strategic business case for the Hervey Bay hospital, believing the current site is landlocked and cannot accommodate the kind of upgraded services needed to keep up with the region’s booming, ageing population.

He said he wanted the State Government, which has promised major health investment in this budget, not to think about quick fixes to get re-elected but to embrace “courageous and visionary efforts” as he believed the council had done by “by setting a strategy for the next 30 years”, starting with projects like the new CBD.

He also rejected the suggestion councillors shouldn’t speak out on state issues and said both the Hervey Bay and Maryborough MP’s needed to lobby their colleagues and put their energy into representing their electorates.

“I went to the council election saying I would be a visible local, available to my community and I am living up to that expectation – people are coming to me and they are raising their concerns and it is my duty to voice their concerns. election visible local and available in my community – living up to that expectation – my duty to voice the concerns,” he said

“This is a blatant attempt to divert public attention from the deficiencies of the State Government … an assistant Minister doesn’t need to be running around putting all his time into a petition”.

Mr Saunders was not concerned his ongoing public criticism of the council would impact investor confidence in the region.

“There’s no knock-on effect with business investment, we’ve never had so much business investment coming to the Fraser Coast,” he said, adding there was a “lot happening” in the region, highlighting the sustainability hub, road works on Maryborough Hervey Bay Road and State Government backed industrial park at Maryborough.

Along with calling on the council to rethink “borrowing all this money” for the Hervey Bay CBD building, Mr Saunders also called for a focus on the new council administration building in Maryborough “because at this stage, it doesn’t look like Maryborough city’s going to get an admin building”.

Fraser Coast Deputy Mayor Paul Truscott previously explained to the Chronicle the new Maryborough building was only not in the recently handed down budget because the council had made the decision twice to proceed on the site of the former administration building in Kent Street, but there was community feedback to change it to a different location and as a result more time was needed to “investigate the options”.

He maintained on Monday plans for the new Maryborough building were “absolutely proceeding” and said he looked forward to a report on a new site, proposed as a result of the community feedback, coming back to next month’s council meeting.