Wellcamp quarantine hub, blackface, racism and federal election among Toowoomba’s hot button topics in 2022
They were the moments that shocked us and caused controversy in our region. From sport to crime and politics, here are the most divisive topics in Toowoomba in 2022.
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Blackface scandals, racism rows, the Wellcamp quarantine hub debacle and renaming a famous landmark? Yep, it’s safe to say Toowoomba wasn’t short of controversy in 2022.
From sport to politics and everything in between, here are the moments that caused divisions, arguments and controversy across our region.
Blackface Monday
Rugby league in Toowoomba was rocked not once but twice by racism scandals that divided the public asymmetrically.
The Toowoomba Rugby League probed a photo posted online in September of Highfields Eagles senior players celebrating the end of the season by dressing up in blackface.
The photo, which appeared to depict two white players as famous black athletes like Michael Jordan and Usain Bolt, was originally published on the club’s Facebook page before it was removed.
“The club is aware of the image and the allegations and is in communication with Toowoomba Rugby League to discuss the appropriate course of action,” a Highfields Eagles spokesman said at the time.
While the photo was publicly condemned by most corners of the community, more than a few anonymous people defended the players to The Chronicle.
The TRL received the backing of the Queensland Rugby League to investigate the incident.
Federal election results
It was easily Toowoomba’s most consequential federal election campaign in modern political history, which rocked the city’s conservative powerbrokers.
Independent Suzie Holt created history on May 21 when she turned the previously-safe LNP seat of Groom into a marginal electorate for the first time.
Placing fourth on primary votes with just 8.3 per cent, Ms Holt was able to ride a wave of preferences to finish second behind incumbent Garth Hamilton 57-43.
Not only was this the best result by an independent in Groom, but the election was the first time the LNP required preferences to win since unifying in 2008.
The result led to considerable infighting between moderate and hard line conservatives, culminating in a heated meeting in late June.
This was magnified by internal leaks to The Chronicle by party insiders, which certain sections found horrifying.
Mr Hamilton said the party needed to “restore credibility” with the voting public.
Covid-19 lingers on, Bar Wunder does not
While many could argue the worst of Covid-19 was left behind in 2021, this year saw Toowoomba grapple with not only the political and economic ramifications of the pandemic, but also importantly the human toll of it.
With the start of 2022 dominated by the race to get jabbed before new waves of Covid spread across the Darling Downs, health authorities started reporting dozens of deaths.
By August, the death toll across the region had hit nearly 130, but these figures remained harder to keep track of as the government’s figures became harder to follow.
The always-controversial mask and vaccine mandates remained particularly divisive until they were eventually scrapped later in the year by governments ready to move on from Covid.
These came despite elderly and immunocompromised members of the community still afraid to leave their homes for much of the year.
Several small businesses complained about the rules and begged governments for more support after enduring tough economic periods.
The owners of Bar Wunder were a lightning rod for the anti-mandate campaign locally, before they were shut down and run out of business within months of voicing their dissent.
Toowoomba’s boarding schools also fought the government over its definition of “essential workers”, with one principal describing the previous restrictions as “myopic” back in January.
As of November, Toowoomba was still lagging behind the nation for third doses of the vaccine.
Wellcamp quarantine hub
Easily one of the most divisive projects to hit Toowoomba in years, the Wellcamp quarantine facility extended well past the issue of Covid-19 and became a toxic game of political football.
After it had been rebuffed by the previous federal government for financial support last year, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk went ahead and commissioned Toowoomba’s Wagner Corporation to build the 1000-bed facility at Wellcamp.
This was despite questions remaining over whether the hub was still required, as the federal government prepared to relax travel restrictions as part of the exit from pandemic politics.
But soon after it was fully completed earlier this year, the state government announced in July it was mothballing the whole project, costing taxpayers $3.3m per week.
The total build and lease will cost the government nearly $200m across the current and coming financial years, along with a variety of other expenses that brought the total bill to potentially $237m.
Less than 1000 people used it during its operation.
Alternative uses have been floated since the mothballing, but nothing has developed so far.
Rugby league’s racism shame
In easily one of the Toowoomba region’s most shocking moments this year, video was captured at a TRL game on August 7 of a Pittsworth rugby league official saying over a loudspeaker, “shut up you black c---”.
The comments caused uproar within the league and the wider community, with First Nations residents and officials calling for life bans.
Following an investigation, the Toowoomba Rugby League handed down a 10-year ban, with the man undertaking sensitivity training.
However, this was reduced on appeal to two years, which further angered Indigenous leaders like Brothers Rugby League club president Lizzie Adams.
While the entire ordeal was publicly denounced, the man in question received plenty of anonymous support from residents who felt the matter had been overblown.
None of these messages and texts to The Chronicle had names put to them.
Tabletop or Meewah?
Should Tabletop Mountain be renamed to honour its importance to the region’s First Nations people?
It was one of the most divisive questions asked in Toowoomba this year, with residents split down the middle over the value in renaming a landmark with so much cultural significance.
Darling Downs indigenous leader Uncle Wayne Fossey kicked off the campaign publicly in September by calling for it to be renamed, suggesting Meewah to mark the battle of the same name.
The campaign has earned support from several local political leaders, including Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley mayors Paul Antonio and Tanya Milligan.
But significant consultation with traditional custodians will need to be completed before any name change happens.
While plenty of residents supported the campaign, it was also met with backlash from locals who felt Tabletop was acceptable.
Deputy mayor’s ‘inappropriate’ comments
Popular deputy mayor Geoff McDonald found himself in a political storm of his own making in September due to comments he had made at the Blush Cancer Care charity ball.
Speaking as MC at the event, Mr McDonald twice joked about how a member of the audience, who was the partner of one of guest speakers, could give breast checks to attendees inside a cubby house that was being auctioned off on the night.
His jokes, which he later apologised for “if anyone was offended”, drew both condemnation and defences from colleagues, friends, business owners and members of the public.
Blush Cancer Care eventually released a statement, calling the remarks “inappropriate” and having overshadowed the success of the event.
A complaint was made to the Office of the independent Assessor, which sent it back to the council to deliberate.
Mr McDonald’s colleagues voted in November the comments were indeed inappropriate, but that no further action would be taken.
Teen’s death in stolen car divides city
Keyhill Robert Gibbs was 13 when he was killed in a high-speed crash in June while travelling in an allegedly stolen car.
The photo used of him in the media shows him sitting at a local indoor activity centre for kids, drinking a milkshake like any child.
Keyhill’s death near Oakey was a lightning rod for the youth crime debate in Toowoomba, which had grown to such a level in 2022 that it was potentially impacting state laws.
Many residents showed little sympathy for the boy, who had barely left primary school when he died.
For a large chunk of our city’s population, his fiery and horrific end was justice for bad behaviour.
But youth workers like Jen Shaw pointed out how young criminals were not born, but made by societal forces almost always outside of their control.
“It is in our DNA to look to our caregivers to show us what is right and wrong but for some kids, their caregivers are not showing them the right way, usually because the caregivers were not shown the right way. We are talking about generational trauma,” she said.
While there were certainly more high-profile topics that divided us in 2022, Keyhill Gibbs’ death was probably the saddest of them all.
Are there any other topics we missed? Let us know by emailing thomas.gillespie@news.com.au and we’ll include them.
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