By Jenel Hunt
The tradition of having two civic Australia Day events in the Southern Downs is to be scrapped in favour of just one council-organised event.
Along with this decision, made by the Southern Downs Regional Council on 18 September, comes the removal of northern and southern categories for the Australia Day awards and the expansion of the cultural award to senior and junior cultural citizens of the year.
One suggestion was to have the region’s sole civic Australia Day event at a different community venue each year.
Cr Morwenna Harslett described a single Southern Downs Australia Day as ‘a bold move but a good move’ that would save the council money and help bring the region together as one cohesive unit, but Cr Russell Wantling said rolling the northern and southern celebrations into one event was ‘penny pinching’ and he totally disagreed with the idea.
“Keep it the same as it’s always been,” he said.
“Some things I just think we are too different demographics and we should stay that way.”
Cr Ross Bartley said there was a risk that communities would ostracise themselves from the main event.
“If the smaller communities wish to have their own events and recognise their own community heroes, I can’t see them running to another event, so you may suffer in attendance at the main one. You may end up with only the people getting the awards and their families at those awards.
“If you make it one big regional award, you run the risk of losing the identities of your communities. They are an integral hub – they know who the people are playing sport in that community; if they get a sports award they know why they got it. We have different football teams – a Stanthorpe team and a Warwick team. We’re not going to have a regional football team. And during the amalgamation, that was yelled out loud and clear – don’t lose the identities of our communities.”
Cr Harslett said she did not disagree with the idea of communities hosting their own events but that the subject concerned council-run events. She could see that ‘it might be a rocky road for a bit’.
Cr Bartley cited an event in the past held at Glengallan that he said was very poorly attended by Warwick people. He was quite clear it would still be the case in the present day.
“Warwick’s not going to drive somewhere else to an Australia Day event,” he said.
Cr Sheryl Windle said she believed it was time that the region united.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to come together as one region,” she said.
All councillors except Cr Bartley and Cr Wantling voted for the change to a single council-run Australia Day event for the region.
Cr Bartley also voted against the amendment to the cultural awards and the decision to have the Mayor and two councillors, with different councillors appointed each year, on the award assessment panel.
