Advocacy for return to 10-division council

Council recently sought community views on a proposal to return to a 10-division council.

Ipswich’s current makeup of four divisions with two councillors representing each division was established in 2019 by the Local Government Change Commission following the dismissal of the former council.

We have had more than six years’ experience with this model now, and council’s view is that this model does not serve Ipswich well. This structure has caused confusion for residents about which councillor to contact, blurred responsibility for local issues and caused duplication of work.

It has also meant increased challenges for the city’s current eight councillors representing about 70,000 residents, with large divisions containing diverse urban and rural communities. In Division 2, covering much of Springfield, this is particularly apparent as one of our biggest growth regions.

Council’s position is that our community would be best served by electoral arrangements consisting of a mayor and 10 single-councillor divisions.

This arrangement would provide each community with a clearly identifiable local representative, establish direct democratic accountability, reduce duplication, and give councillors clearer responsibility for understanding and responding to local growth, infrastructure and service pressures.

Following a council resolution in September, I wrote to the Minister for Local Government and Water and Minister for Fire, Disaster Recovery and Volunteers, the Hon Ann Leahy MP, requesting urgent consideration of how the growing city’s divisions will look at the March 2028 local government elections.

Community consultation conducted through October will help shape our advice to the Change Commission and the Minister about the change to representation our city needs.

Strong annual progress for council

I’m pleased that council’s latest annual report brings positive evidence of our city’s strong growth and good position for the years ahead.

More people than ever are choosing to live, work and play in Ipswich. I am extremely proud of the progress we have made in recent years across our city and am very confident about the path ahead.

Across 2025-2026, we welcomed 8,728 new residents. With that population growth of course comes more need for infrastructure and services.

Council continues to diligently respond to this growth, with $91 million in capital works delivered throughout 2025-2026. This included 129 capital projects, 70 project designs, 20.9km of seal road reconstruction, 46.4km of gravel road reconstruction and an additional 2.37km of new and upgraded pathways.

In Springfield, this included the completion of key stages of the Springfield Parkway upgrade, while we continue to work on major improvements to Ripley Road and plan for a future upgrade of School Road in Redbank Plains.

These major road projects are critical for all of us to be able to move around our city quickly and safely. We will continue to advocate for the Federal and State funding we need to deliver major infrastructure such as the Ipswich to Springfield Central public transport corridor.

I firmly believe council is in an ideal position to continue delivering for our community, as we work toward our shared community vision for Ipswich by 2041 to be a city of opportunity for all.

Welcome reversal on disaster funding cuts

Last month I welcomed the news from the Australian Government that they would not be progressing with plans to cut disaster relief funding to local councils.

The proposed changes would have left Ipswich in a serious financial desert after any future disaster.

Preliminary analysis showed for the 2022 floods alone, Ipswich would have been left more than $28 million worse off under the proposed changes.

Springfield residents have a real understanding of the costs of disaster recovery, with the October 2020 Halloween hailstorm costing residents millions in damages to homes and businesses. The Insurance Council of Australia declared it a catastrophe and one year on the disaster was estimated to cost more than $1 billion in damages with 44,000 insurance claims lodged.

That is why I wrote directly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain, Premier David Crisafulli and Minister Ann Leahy to make our position clear.

We could not support a proposal that would shift more of the burden of disaster recovery onto the Ipswich community. The decision to abandon the proposed cuts is welcome news for every resident, ratepayer and community that relies on certainty and timely disaster recovery funding to rebuild after disaster.