Community input sought on idea of reverting to divisions
Published on 02 May 2025
Divisions or no divisions? That is the question.
Council is seeking community input on whether it should embark on a major consultation and change process to seek the establishment of electoral divisions.
Mackay Regional Council has been an undivided council since amalgamation with Sarina and Mirani councils in 2008.
That means council has 10 Councillors and a Mayor representing the entire local government area, rather than Councillors representing wards or divisions.
At the March ordinary meeting of council, Cr Alison Jones successfully presented a notified motion to begin a process of checking community sentiment on the idea of having a divided council.
The resolution was, in part, for council to undertake a preliminary, low-cost consultation process to assess community sentiment on whether council should initiate a formal review.
Mayor Greg Williamson said this consultation was being funded within the existing budget, primarily using a survey on council’s community engagement portal Connecting Mackay.
He said the result of that survey and the amount of community interest would assist council to decide whether it should progress to a formal review involving the State Government.
“That would be a much more complex engagement process with the community and the government if there is enough interest in heading down that track.”
Mayor Williamson said there were currently more than 20 divided councils in Queensland, including nearby neighbours Whitsunday, Isaac, Rockhampton and Townsville.
He said there were more than 50 undivided councils in the state.
“The question of undivided verse divided councils is quite a complex one. We’d encourage anyone taking part in the survey to do some research on the advantages and disadvantages.
“We’ll have some independent answers to FAQs on our Connecting Mackay webpage where the survey will be located.”
The survey will be open for four weeks from this Sunday (May 4) to June 1. A report is due back to the ordinary meeting of council in late June.
Complete the survey on the Connecting Mackay website.