Councillor Andrew Gale Southern Downs Regional Council | Politician

Councillor Andrew Gale Southern Downs Regional Council

Phone: +61 420 589 358

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24.01.2022 Great to see this well used and much loved asset getting some attention. Thanks to our council officers and workers for starting on this !! Oh yeah - language warning. I use the a word.

23.01.2022 Would sincerely love to see this upgrade to cement us as the "Horsepower capital of Queensland."

23.01.2022 Had a good meeting with The Mayor, councillors, council officers, Member for Southern Downs and Member for Burleigh and Shadow Minister for Public Works, Housing, Energy, innovation and digital technology, Micheal Hart.

22.01.2022 Excited to see the Learn to Ride facility’s progressing. Kids and I can’t wait till it opens.

22.01.2022 Yesterday we had to make a decision in relation to the Botanical Gardens proposal for Stanthorpe. The original motion before us was, in layman’s terms, to accept the design of the gardens and for us to endorse council officers to start seeking funding/grants etc to make this happen. Whilst I was happy to accept the design/report, I was not happy to start a process where our council staff would start moving this massive project forward. Expending their time and committing ...public money to this massive project. As I stated in the meeting yesterday, I was my intention, going into the meeting, to accept it and put it on the back burner. To basically kill it. The beauty of our democracy is that we discussed it and listened to other points of view . During that discussion, I was convinced by the words of our mayor to take another course of action. i.e. seek feedback from you guys. I think it’s important that we show this proposal to the community and give everyone a chance to comment on its merits. I have my own opinion on it. It is a project that comes from the previous council. I think it is overly elaborate and there are many other projects that should go before it. 47 million dollars is, in my personal opinion, unbelievably over the top. To put this in perspective, I voted to knock back 100,000 of funding for this project earlier this year in our budget process. But as your representative, I want to make sure I am taking peoples views into account before I vote on either parking it or moving it forward. I understand that many people believe in it and they are entitled to that opinion. It will be difficult to convince me to put this ahead of any other projects. But I promise to listen.

21.01.2022 Don't let my serious look fool you. I'm pretty damn chuffed at some of the stuff we've moved through in todays council meeting including the following highlights Funding- Shade shelter at the Warwick Senior Citizens.... Minor upgrades to skate parks at Warwick and Stanthorpe Re-surfacing of the Warwick Veladrome Approval - Trial of management plan that includes a permit system for Cambanoora Gorge. Endorsement of our fees and charges for 2020/21 with no increase.

21.01.2022 We are getting closer and closer to making decisions about our Warwick Saleyards. Currently sitting in meetings about the options, (and looking studious). I can tell you that I agree with the current recommendations of anyone involved in the process. Doing nothing is NOT option. ... I want YOUR opinion about the yards. It is imperative that your opinions are recorded and taken into account. Ultimately, your opinion will be a major factor in my decision. Here is a link to our survey. Please complete . I value your opinion !! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SXMH8WD

20.01.2022 Giving a real challenge to my favourite barber shop. Make me beautiful.

18.01.2022 Spending a chilly day with a couple diggers. Discussing upgrades and projects at this sacred space.

16.01.2022 Today we started our new committee meeting structure with our "Sustainable Development, Corporate and Community Services Committee" meeting today. This has been done to replace the previous "briefing sessions" that many of us had been so vocal in criticising whilst electioneering. Combine this with the live streaming (and the re-opening of the public gallery as soon as covid regulations let us) and you can see that we are delivering on promises to deliver more open meetings a...nd processes. I am proud to be part of a team that has delivered this. Further, in the interests of being even more open, If you watch the live stream you can also see me asking that the costs councillor facilities are actually made public. (That debate starts at about the 47 minute mark.) Ill attempt to explain what i am debating to make it easier to understand. We need to explain that the act talks about two things. Expenses and Facilities. Expenses are what we claim (mileage - phone costs etc) , facilities are things supplied to us.(a council supplied vehicle or a council supplied mobile phone) I want all costs to ratepayers of employing me as a councillor made public. Not just expenses, but facilities too. At the moment we are only required to disclose actual expenses per councillor. not facilities. Do you think this is reasonable? For example, at the moment I am supplied with a laptop computer that has mobile internet access. Most people would agree that this is a necessary tool to do our jobs effectively. I do not even know how much it costs to provide this to me per month / year etc? As far as telecommunications go I also have a choice. I have chosen to supply/pay my for my own device costs but have my call cost/plan ($65 month) is paid for. I could claim up to $100 month. Otherwise I could opt to be supplied with a council mobile phone. With all device and call costs paid for. I don't know what these phones cost per month. I think the public has a right to know. Like wise with vehicles. We are supplied with a pool vehicles for official purposes. I think there are about 3 of these. I don't even know. These can also be used and are used by staff if we are not using them. Once again, there is no actual cost of buying, servicing, insuring and running these vehicles made public. How much does it cost to supply these vehicles? I very much want these costs out there. To be completely open. Otherwise we are comparing apples with oranges.

16.01.2022 Thanks to Council officers for upgrading this signage after a number of complaints. (Next to Ryanie For Tyres) Having almost been run down the giant ditch on the right myself by someone towing a caravan, the wrong way up this road, it is a sensible upgrade.

14.01.2022 Honoured to have taken part in the process to be able to help with Stanthorpes water issues by being able to take sdrc involvement with Emu Swamp dam another step forward. Proud to be move this motion that gave our officers the opportunity to move this along. I have read over 120 reports spanning over 35 years about this. It is happening and it’s a great opportunity for sdrc to help secure urban water for Stanthorpe.... It’s an irrigation dam first and foremost and will help build more and more production in this area. But it will add to water security for Stanthorpe. Many critics have come out and poo pooed it because it’s an irrigation dam. Well , yes it is. And thank god for irrigation, because without irrigation, many dams would never be built. Leslie Dam is an irrigation dam, so is Coolmunda Dam. But they also supply water to towns. And even for recreation. I’ve always said, without irrigation, we’d not have water for recreation. Thank god for irrigation. Proud to have been able to be your representative, and proud to be a part of moving this on.

12.01.2022 Apologies for any sound issues . Was really impressed today to see this bridge being built and to be given a tour by SDRC engineer, Mark Cochran. Thanks Mark, I’m sure you have better things to do than to babysit councillors and prevent them falling in the Condamine river.... I thank the federal Government for funding half of this and am thankful to residents for putting up with the closure that is necessitated to achieve this. If your interested have a look at in inquick.com.au

12.01.2022 Was absolutely privileged to attend, with colleagues Mayor Vic, councillors Marco Gliori and Cr Stephen Tancred (and our lovely wives), Member for Southern Downs James Lister and a hundred or so invited guests, the opening of the fantastic mural by local artist Franco Arcidiacono at the Amiens Heritage Legacy Centre. Stage 1 of the centre is now complete and a credit to the Amiens History Association and I would recommend anyone coming to the area to visit and see this ama...zing story. It was a special date for the area as today was 100 years to the day when the exact location where the then heir to the throne , HRH Prince Edward, (Later Edward the 7th) made a visit. Once again, I’m deeply honoured to be in this position and be a part of this commemoration. The importance of the day and the soldier settlement was not lost on me. It was a deeply emotional event, with so many links to the past. Particularly poignant was when a letter from the present Mayor of Amiens, France, (on the Somme) was read to the crowd. I will proudly admit, as the grandson of an Anzac who fought in that far-a-way place, there was a tear in my eye. Im looking forward to seeing further stages progress.

10.01.2022 Was proud today to be able to continue to deliver things I have pledged to do and spoken out about for several years. A big promise was to make us much more open and accountable to those who have given me the honour of serving them. As a consequence, today I tabled the actual costs that councillor's incur for "facilities", in addition to "expenses". ... These are things like council mobile phones, laptops and council pool vehicles supplied to councillor's. Thanks to our finance staff for doing the work to supply these details at short notice. I would also re-iterate the fact that the update we made to our expenses was to actually limit spending. Not a new allowance as may have been mistakenly inferred by some comments recently. If you watch the live stream from about 1.02 onwards you can see my "Soapbox Moment" where I address this allowance change.

10.01.2022 Thanks to Belinda Sanders and David Illife for helping me to keep pushing this issue. Story is from 37.20 onwards. Remember please to report any incidents. Everyone in the community needs to band together to stamp this out.... Our roads are not racetracks. 000 if its occurring and use the 13HOON number or online form to report after the event. https://www.qld.gov.au//report-a-traffic-inc/report-a-hoon

07.01.2022 Look who was in Stanthorpe today! JT was guest of honour at Stanthorpe State School, St Joseph’s and Stanthorpe State High. He was invited to the region to talk... to students about what they can do to improve their resilience during adversity and specifically about developing confidence, courage and self-belief. Thanks JT. You’re still a legend! See more

07.01.2022 Great to be at the opening of 3 great projects that have been delivered by council in association with various community groups. Of course these projects wouldn’t be delivered without Works for Qld funding that was allocated by our state government. The 3 projects were the learn to ride area at Australiana Park.... The new men’s shed and woodworkers sheds at Theo Canter Park Warwick . Finally the new SES HQ at Warwick. Thanks to everyone involved particularly our hard working staff and volunteers !!

04.01.2022 Further to my last post.

01.01.2022 We delivered on something I promised. (And others) It is something I’ve spoken strongly about in years gone past. We did not accept a pay rise!!

01.01.2022 I have been involved in this program and I'd recommend anyone who has some time and a willingness to contribute to get involved.