CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The people of Queensland have today decided it might be time to start again with Ipswich.
This follows the breathtaking South East Queensland river city of Ipswich’s dismissal of it’s second mayor in 18 months, before the state government decided that the entire City Council should be sacked and have administrators appointed.
The announcement came less than an hour after Mayor Andrew Antoniolli said he was standing down, a day after he was charged with fraud by Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).
Antoniolli was facing seven counts of fraud for allegedly using council money to purchase auction items from charitable organisations over the past six years.
The councillors have since sought legal action to avoid having to look for other jobs.
Ipswich City Council says that lawyering up to avoid the sackings, is not so much a declaration of war on the Queensland Government, but a move to protect ratepayers and other councils, Acting Mayor Wayne Wendt says.
The council lodged an application with the Supreme Court on July 26 in a bid to dispute a recently issued show cause notice.
However, a recent survey has found that a majority of Queenslanders believe that dismissing the entire council might not be enough – and maybe it might be worth just turning the town off and on again.
“I think they’ve been given plenty of chances” said one Ingham local, Kyle (45).
“Maybe it’s time to pull the cord and start again”
Another angry Queenslander, who’s sick of the bad press the state gets because of the non-stop corruption in the Western Corridor, also had some ideas.
Andrea from Carindale in East Brisbane says bulldozing the place might not be too much, but they could at least evict every single resident and start again.
“It’s a nice place, how did they fuck it up so bad?” she said.
