Councillor wants review of Toowoomba-China sister city relationship

A TOOWOOMBA councillor has called for a report on the exact economic and cultural value created by the region’s sister city relationship with a Chinese district.

Cr Carol Taylor. Photo Bev Lacey

Cr Carol Taylor yesterday questioned the value of the relationship the TRC had established with the Yuecheng District of Shaoxing back in late 2018.

Speaking during a discussion around deferring the signing of the council’s next international relationship, Cr Taylor highlighted the issue around a perceived lack of reciprocation from the TRC’s Chinese counterparts.

“What has come of the China relationship? There was quite a bit of expense and a lot of capacity put into building that relationship, and to be honest I don’t see one single thing that has come to this community,” she said.

“I think in the future we should be careful to make sure we follow our strategy.

“I’m perplexed by that, because there’s no benefit that has come of it.

“At least the other cities acknowledge (their relationships with us), and when we have carnival, they have contributed.

“I just would like for council to have a report on what has come out of that.”

Mayor Paul Antonio, who spent several years developing the sister city relationship with Yuecheng, said the council needed to review its entire international relationship situation.

“I would suggest that all our international relationships need to be reviewed,” he said.

Cr Nancy Sommerfield weighed in, saying the outcomes from the TRC's international relationships should be better relayed to the public.

“There have been a lot of negative comments in the community, and where we’ve let our community down is we haven’t provided details,” she said.

“In the future, when we do move forward with relationships, we do need to provide reports to the community to show the value of them.

“There is a lot that comes out of our sister city relationships, and I’m sick of hearing that they don’t have any value.”