Bruce Devereaux runs in Gympie council elections 2024

In the most hotly contested division, incumbent councillor Bruce Devereaux is running for a second shot saying he’s tried to be the councillor he would have wanted.

In his bid to keep his seat on the Gympie council, the incumbent Division 4 councillor lays out the learnings from his past four years and his plans for the next term if elected.

Blogger, father of seven and current Division 4 councillor Bruce Devereaux said he was not ready to give up his seat on Gympie’s council.

He said one of the biggest accomplishments of the past four years was getting away from what was “seen both internally and externally as a fairly toxic upper (council) management”.

He said council morale would also improve because of the shift.

“If council morale is good that should flow on for better results for the community,” Mr Devereaux said.

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Bruce Devereaux is running for his second term as Gympie councillor for Division 4 in 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

He said another accomplishment was negotiations with the Rattler committee to save ratepayers a $450,000 commitment every year.

“We were now past that, and that money can be used for other things within our community,” he said.

If he was to keep his seat, Mr Devereaux said he was looking forward to seeing young people once again fill the Civic Centre. 

“The horror of that is we are on the cusp of young people going into high school, and then coming out of high school, never having set foot in it.

“I think it’s quite disgraceful and disappointing at the very least.”

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A first look into the long-awaited ongoing refurbishment job of the Gympie Civic Centre. Picture: Christine Schindler

Acknowledging the realities of the pandemic and the floods, he said that “every step of the way” we would tell council “we want it done”.

The other thing he said he was looking forward to continuing to work on was the revisited Temporary Local Planning Instruments (TLPI) which facilitates protection of environment values across the region, a road star system, future sporting grounds, and the masterplan for the CBD.

“Gympie is growing, it’s becoming more vibrant, and I think in many ways, becoming even more beautiful and certainly more liveable,” he said.

“I’ve tried to be the councillor that I would want in council.

“I answer people, I try I justify my decisions when I vote a certain way and I’m not done yet!”