The Return Our Shires Action Group has lost its bid to have Stanthorpe de-amalgamated from Southern Downs Regional Council.
Local Government Minister David Crisafulli is vowing to work with the SDRC to heal the wounds from the forced amalgamations.
The submission from Stanthorpe to de-amalgamate has been unsuccessful and won’t be referred to Boundaries Commissioner Col Meng and Queensland Treasury Corporation for further investigation.
Mr Crisafulli said the financial projections relied too heavily on grants and subsidies for the re-formed council to sustain itself in years to come.
The submission also failed to take into account the area’s significant water supply issues.
“While I understand the community will be dis-appointed, this has been far from a waste of time,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“This has been a great exercise in democracy by giving people a chance to voice the concerns they were denied five years ago.
“It was always going to be more difficult years on to build a case to operate separately because of the work that has gone into unifying staff, services and infrastructure.
“But this proves the embers of de-amalgamation still burn and I want the Council to use this information to address some of the concerns.”
Each group had to meet a set of strict guidelines, including a strong, evidence-based, community-backed submission based on the pre-amalgamation local government boundaries.
They had to provide a detailed estimate of the potential financial costs and include a petition signed by at least 20 per cent of the voting population that showed an understanding of all the cost implications.
Petitioners also needed to demonstrate an understanding that the former shire wishing to de-amalgamate would have to meet all costs involved, including their own, and those of the Council they wished to break away from.
Mr Crisafulli said he will be calling on the Council to address the concerns raised in the submission.
The only de-amalgamation proposals to be successfully referred to Boundaries Commissioner are from the former shires of Douglas, Isis, Livingstone, Mareeba and Noosa.
