Parliament passes laws to sack Ipswich City Council

IPSWICH councillors will be sacked within hours after State Parliament passed the Palaszczuk Government’s laws to dismiss the council.

IPSWICH councillors will be sacked within hours after State Parliament passed the Palaszczuk Government’s laws to dismiss the council.

The Bill passed the Parliament this afternoon with bi-partisan support and is expected to be signed off by the Governor tomorrow.

The laws mean the councillors will be dismissed as of midnight tomorrow night.

An administrator is expected to be announced tomorrow and will remain in the role until the next Council election in March, 2020.

Minister for Local Government Stirling Hinchliffe, pictured in Parliament today, said there would be no interruptions to day-to-day services. Picture: AAP/Dave Hunt

Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said he did not take any pleasure in dismissing the council.

“The administrator will be supported by an interim management committee with expertise in business, finance, governance and community engagement,” he said.

“All council operations will continue as usual — there will be no interruptions to day-to-day services.”

EARLIER: Miller fires shot at outgoing council

OUTSPOKEN Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller has taken a swing at the outgoing Ipswich City Council, as the Parliament prepares to pass the bill that will lead to their dismissal.

“The ALP was conned time and time again but I wasn’t conned,” Mrs Miller told the House.

“I’ve paid a high price for standing up, but finally this Government has been forced to listen.

“It takes guts and honour to call this behaviour out.”

Jo-Ann Miller said it took guts to call the behaviour out. Picture: AAP/ Ric Frearson

She took aim at everyone from the councillors to her Government colleagues in her speech and called on the Labor Party to change its rules when it came to local government.

Mrs Miller said the saga had damaged the Labor brand and warned it could be hard for the Party to hold its seats in the area on recent polling done by The Queensland Times.

Mrs Miller also questioned the role of the trade unions, saying Ipswich workers were “bewildered” by what they were doing.

“They want to know why the unions weren’t protecting the staff,” she told the House.

“I’d like the unions to go and report back to all their members in Ipswich City Council about what they have done, whether they have reported the allegations that were made to them.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Parliament today. Picture: AAP/Dave Hunt

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the decision to sack the council was not taken lightly.

“Why this strong and decisive action is necessary is because councillors are both individually and collectively responsible for the running of their council,” she told the Parliament.

“Not every councillor has (allegedly) committed an act of fraud or corruption, but these councillors are collectively responsible for the due administration of the local government.

“The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.

“Despite their protestations of innocence, the councillors have walked by a standard that the people of Queensland do not accept and that my Government does not accept.”

Mr Palaszczuk said the appointment of an administrator would ensure that proper policies and processes are put in place.

“The culture within Ipswich City Council had created an environment where inappropriate or potentially corrupt conduct was either no longer recognised as such or not reported,” she said.

EARLIER: Bill introduced to sack entire council

LOCAL Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has introduced his Bill to sack Ipswich City Council and urged State Parliament to fulfil its “constitutional duties” and pass the laws today.

“It is our collective responsibility to restore good government, good local government to the community of Ipswich,” he told the House today.

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Defiance before the fall for Ipswich council

Mr Hinchliffe insisted the Government had no choice but to bring in new laws to dump the council after it challenged his last show cause notice in the Supreme Court.

“While I know it is their right, it is not in the best interests of the people of Ipswich.

A view from outside the Ipswich City Council's final meeting ahead of plans to sack the entire council and appoint administrators. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

“The councillors’ moves to legally challenge my show cause notice showed a clear determination to defend this matter until the very end.

“We were on a course that provided anything but certainty.

“And that is why this Parliament must now fulfil its constitutional duty and vote for this bill to dissolve the Ipswich City Council.”

He said the move, while extraordinary, was warranted.

“In this particular instance, the Government firmly believes that the rights of Queensland citizens to have trust in their Local Government institutions outweigh the rights of the individual.”

Mr Hinchliffe moved a motion to allow the Bill to be passed by 5.55pm.

Manager of Opposition Business Jarrod Bleijie told the House the LNP would support the motion.

But he took aim at the Government for “guillotining debate” and for its general handling of the alleged issues at Ipswich City Council.

“They failed to act on these Ipswich council issues for years,” Mr Bleijie told the House, pointing to the number if Ipswich councillors who are members of the Labor Party and describing them as the Government’s “Labor mates”

“We will support the intention of getting this motion through because we don’t believe the dodgy council of Ipswich should be there either.

“What I am concerned about … is the LNP have got 21 speakers on our list. If we cut the debate to 5.30pm I doubt whether all our members who want to speak will have sufficient opportunity to speak.

“This is just a theme developing with this Labor Government.”

Minister for Local Government Stirling Hinchliffe. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

LNP Local Government spokeswoman Ann Leahy said they had been calling for the council to be sacked for about three months.

“The LNP has judged this case and we have found it to be more than disappointing,” she said.

“What we have seen in the Ipswich City Council are issues that should not have occurred within the environment where transparency, accountability and good governance are paramount.

“The way in which this Labor State Government has handled this issue with Ipswich is unfortunately casting a shadow on the integrity of all of the hard working councillors and councils across this state.”