Mick Curran, Glen Hartwig shoot down claims of Gympie council disruption

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig and former mayor Mick Curran have hosed down any suggestions their political history could spill into the new term of the Gympie council.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig (left) and Mick Curran, who went head-to-head for the top job in 2020, have shot down suggestions history will repeat itself in the new term of the Gympie council.

Newly elected Gympie councillor Mick Curran and returning Mayor Glen Hartwig have torpedoed suggestions their head-to-head battle of 2020 would continue into the new term.

Speaking independently of each other on Tuesday, the pair said they were committed to moving the region forward and leaving any past clashes behind them.

Mr Curran, who was mayor from 2015-2020, and Mr Hartwig, who was Division 2’s councillor from 2016-2020, battled for the council’s top elected job at the March 2020 election in a heated contest over lightning rod issues including the cost and resurrection of the Mary Valley Rattler and council transparency.

This clash arrived on the back of a four-year term in which Mr Hartwig had been openly critical of the council’s handling of issues including the sacking and departure of former head of engineering Bob Fredman.

The controversial resurrection of the Mary Valley Rattler, which came amid several multimillion-dollar blowouts, was a contentious issue when councillors Mick Curran and Glen Hartwig fought for the mayor’s job in 2020.

Mr Hartwig’s criticisms, particularly through the media, drew a complaint from an unidentified third party in relation to his comments about the council’s handling of the matters.

The Councillor Conduct Tribunal cleared Mr Hartwig of misconduct, finding in its final report his comments had undermined Mr Curran, former CEO Bernard Smith, and the council itself, but were in the public interest and not “unnecessary or irrelevant”.

The Tribunal said it was not a coincidence the complaint was made shortly after Mr Hartwig announced he would run for mayor.

It is not suggested Mr Curran had any connection to the party that made the complaint.

Councillor Mick Curran, who was elected to Division 4, questioned whether the Gympie region was moving forward given prolonged closures of assets like the Civic Centre and said he was elected by the community to keep the region moving ahead. Picture: Christine Schindler

This shared history sparked questions on social media as to how well the pair will work together on the new council.

Asked about these concerns, Mr Curran said that if he had wanted, he had had the past four years “to throw bombs”.

He did not then and he had no intention to start now, he said.

“I wasn’t elected to do that,” Mr Curran said.

“The reason I stepped back in was for the good of the community and to keep Gympie progressing.”

He questioned if the region was moving forward, pointing to the ongoing closures of key community services and assets like the Civic Centre and the Memorial Park Rotunda.

Mr Hartwig gave a similar response to questions on whether this shared history would pose problems.

“My responsibility is to work with whoever the community puts in,” he said.

Mr Hartwig said the closures had been “well explained”, with heritage restrictions causing issues for the rotunda rebuild and engineering and insurance problems stalling progress on the Civic Centre.

These problems caused the sites to be closed “a lot longer than every councillor and member of the community desired”.

He said the region was “headed in a good direction” and he expected to keep it pointed that way.

“We had a good council last year … good conversation and democracy was the winner,” Mr Hartwig said.

“I hope we will continue to do so.”

Originally published as Mick Curran, Glen Hartwig shoot down claims of Gympie council disruption