Well I can’t say I was surprised by Wednesday’s Council meeting (at 3:17:38 to 3:45:25) as regards the Regional Water Assessment (RWA).

It was not surprising that Councillors have been kept in the dark on the RWA progress.

It was not surprising that Councillors were not given an opportunity to discuss the various options to formulate Council’s response to the RWA recommendations.

Cr McNally said (at 3:21:10)

We haven’t had a say in this.  We have not sat down as a Council and actually discussed this prior to this.  That’s what I have a problem with.

If we’re going to discuss it today, we’re going to be here for a long time.  I’m not prepared to accept the report as it stands without having further discussion and information on this and all the information behind it.

Cr McNally also pointed out that it should be Council’s submission, not just a couple of people’s submission.  I think we all know who she’s referring to there. 

What was surprising was that members of the community were better informed than our Councillors.  The Council delegates to the RWA, no surprises here – Mayor Pennisi and Cr Tancred - were so focussed on keeping the other Councillors out of the process that they did not even give them the draft RWA.  Cr McNally (at 3:24:00) said:

I would have thought that as a member of this Council that the delegates actually would have brought it back through the CEO and sent it around to all Councillors, in a timely process, but that did not happen.

So by this point I have to say that no-one will be surprised that the first priority of the Mayor isn’t an emergency supply of water to Stanthorpe.  It’s Emu Swamp Dam.  Don’t take my word on that, you can see it as plain as day in the Council submission.  Mayor Pennisi CAN’T support a pipeline until he knows the cost to ratepayers, but CAN support Emu Swamp Dam when he doesn’t know the cost to ratepayers.

Watching the Council meeting you would be surprised to know that urban water security is one of the biggest issues in our region.  Because as Cr McDonald pointed out, not only did the Mayor not consult with the Councillors, he also (despite the glossy “Communications and Community Engagement Policy” adopted in October) did not consult with us, the community.

The upshot is that the interests of Stanthorpe residents and businesses in obtaining an emergency water supply were once again held hostage to the overriding desire of some on Council to continue to promote Emu Swamp Dam.  An option which we now all know, thanks to the RWA, is not a reliable source of emergency water for Stanthorpe.