Livingstone Shire Council called on to come clean on costs

Published on 07 June 2022

Rockhampton Regional Council has today called on Livingstone Shire Council to be upfront with ratepayers about the true cost of their Northern Suburbs campaign.

Councillor Donna Kirkland said Livingstone had already publicly stated they spent $100,000 to prepare their first submission.

“Council told an August 2021 edition of The Spectator that Livingstone spent $100,000 to prepare a submission objecting to the boundary review,” Cr Kirkland said.

“We’ve also seen reference to consultants in Livingstone’s latest submission to the Change Commission, so the public and indeed their ratepayers deserve to know whether more money has been spent and what was done in house and what they paid a consultant to do.

“While they are at it, they should also tell the public what they also spent the first time they launched their campaign back in 2020.

“Rockhampton Regional Council’s hardworking staff completed the majority of both of our submissions internally and spent under $20,000 on additional work.

“We have been completely transparent in spending $100,000 on a public campaign to secure our region’s future and we make no apology for that.

“This is the most important decision our regions will vote on for decades to come and we are investing in our future and in our region.

“Livingstone have tried to make out they are only spending $10,000 on the campaign – they need to be transparent and release their true figures,” Cr Kirkland said.