South Burnett Mayor catches up with Premier
South Burnett Regional Council Mayor Brett Otto wasted no time on the first day of the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Conference held at the Gold Coast today, quickly catching up with Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk and presenting her with a locally handcrafted gift from local indigenous artist Val McGrath.
Mayor Otto, attending his first LGAQ conference as Mayor, said it was a perfect opportunity to remind the Premier of our region’s needs.
"The Premier was there for a very short time to make some announcements and on the back of my meeting with her a couple of months ago I seized the chance to re-connect whilst she is in election mode," Mayor Otto said.
“I was very pleased with the Premier’s commitments around significant ongoing funding to rural councils through the Labor government’s highly successful Works for Queensland program, regional roads funding and a new allocation to rural councils for mental health.”
The Mayor is joined by Chief Executive Officer Mark Pitt, Deputy Mayor Cr Gavin Jones, and hundreds of community leaders from across the state.
"I see this not only as a chance to speak to some of my colleagues on collective issues, but to corner visiting politicians and dignitaries and raise our issues with them, including the local government minister and the Premier.”
"I make no apology for taking every chance I can get to advocate for the South Burnett region. I also met with the LNP’s shadow minister for local government, Ann Leahy last week and will be meeting with the Director General of Transport and Main Roads on some of our priority road issues, including the Mundubbera-Durong Road and Bunya Mountains Road," the Mayor said.
