ttbn: Local government is not perfect. I could complain at length about mine, as well as award some brownie points. But the alternative - rule from Sydney, nearly 1000km away, would be much, much worse.

Try sitting through a 'consultation' meeting with people from the big smoke: 'oh, you poor things, you sooo isolated out here, but we know what to do to help you!' At one such meeting the locals got so annoyed that we ganged up: 'this is the heartland, you poor things, sooo isolated on the coastal fringe, we'll have to come over and sort your problems out.'

I attended another meeting in an adjacent LGA about an on-going issue. After the state bureaucrats went through their spiel - what we're going to do to help you - a guy in the audience got up with a sheaf of papers. 'Back in 2004, so-and-so from the department consulted about this and proposed to do x, then in 2009, another state official (naming him) consulted and proposed to do y, then in 2012 etc. How is your proposal different to previous ones, and what chance is there that this will eventuate when none of the others have? The consulting group were highly embarrassed, knew nothing about the previous events, and had clearly not done their homework. We drank the tea and ate the biscuits, sighed, wondered how long before they'd be back with another plan, and went home.

ttbn, be careful what you wish for!

I hate it how people use the word 'unbelieveable' to try to draw attention to something that is completely believable.

Yes Cossomby, I was on the water advisory committee, [WAMP], but I have no idea what that stands for. This was for the Logan & Albert river basins.

The rubbish started when that grinning fool Beattie ran Brisbane out of water. For anyone with a brain it was obvious the whole thing was designed to rip any water that farmers were still getting, or the Beaudesert/Greenbank residents, & send it to Brisbane.

They had already stolen the water from farmers downstream of Boonah, & sent it off to the Greenbank power station, to save Wivenhoe water. Of course farmers were still paying $20,000 a year for access to that water, but had not had any for over 2 years.

This went on for a couple of years, with the bureaucrats getting more desperate in trying to package a rip off of our water, in some sugar pill to make it palatable.

He spent billions on the water grid, which can't transfer water from Wivenhoe to the Gold Coast, only from the Gold Coast to Brisbane or Wivenhoe.

Then it rained, Brisbane was flooded, & we haven't heard another thing in 6 years. You are lucky to be far enough away to make it hard for them to come & raid you.

Go to Know Your Rights Group and learn about your rights and the unconstitutional council and learn how to fight back.