Toowoomba Regional Council to work with Aboriginal land care group on bushfire management after difficult start

After a rocky start, the Toowoomba Regional Council has advanced its working relationship with an Aboriginal land management group over planning bushfire burns.

The Toowoomba Regional Council is working with the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation.

The Toowoomba Regional Council will work closely with an indigenous group to incorporate traditional cultural burnings as part of its land management strategies, after the relationship got off to a rocky start.

The councillors voted at Wednesday’s committee meetings to advance the development of a partnership with the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation.

It followed a similar report carried in December, which also endorsed creating a formal relationship between the council and BPAC.

This is despite council officers failing to invite the invite the group to a single controlled burn event in 2020, a fact Cr Rebecca Vonhoff blasted as “disappointing” at the time.

In the latest report this week, conservation and pest management principal Mark Ready said the TRC held subsequent meetings with BPAC after its general manager Paul Dawson took issue with elements of the December report in a letter.

According to the new report, Mr Dawson’s letter claimed the council “seemed threatened by the need to include BPAC”, that a proposed land use agreement for Table Top Mountain (Meelbah/Meewah) sought to limit the group’s involvement in fire management, and that the council mischaracterised BPAC’s management expertise.

For its part, the council met with Mr Dawson and BPAC in January and agreed to building relationships between officers from both organisations.

“While BPAC has identified that, they do not want the lack of a formal agreement to hinder progression of a partnership arrangement, they are understanding of the council’s requirement to progress such matters, in order to give strength to the continuation of a relationship over time and through such changes of staff as each organisation may encounter,” Mr Ready’s report said.

“Mr Dawson offered to host a meet and greet between BPAC’s staff and council’s at Gummingurru which would include an introduction for council staff to the Aboriginal cultural heritage of our region, and opportunities for staff to share experiences.”

Mr Dawson got the chance to address the councillors on Wednesday, saying both parties would spend time together on country to discuss the 2021 bushfire burn-offs.

“We need to spend time on country before the fire season, so we can show how we see country,” he said.

“From there, we’ll both be looking at our burns schedules to have loose stuff in calendars.

“From the next four to six weeks, we’ll be spending time together on country.”

Both Cr Vonhoff and Deputy Mayor Geoff McDonald said they were happy to see the relationship continue.