On Wednesday, Redland City’s councillers will be asked to note an officer’s report on the thirteenth formal meeting of the Redlands Economic Development Advisory Board.
At the Advisory Board’s thirteenth meeting it seems that members did a lot of noting instead of advising. The report to councillors (item 13.6 on the meeting agenda) says the following matters were “noted”:
- the status of actions from the Board’s previous meeting
- the importance of local government being involved in business
opportunities including international delegations - the importance of the role that the Mayor played in leading the Queensland delegation to the Taipei Smart City Summit and Expo
- the draft RPS Redlands Health and Wellness Precinct Stage 3 Report
- the draft Rural Enterprises Industry Sector Plan 2019-2024 prepared
by KPMG - that Council had requested KPMG provide economic impact
modelling as part of the development of the draft industry sector plan - that stakeholder feedback would be incorporated into the
draft Rural Enterprises Industry Sector Plan 2019-2024 and would go to Council for endorsement on 17 July 2019 - an update on Redland Investment Corporation projects. These included Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area, masterplanning of Weinam Creek Priority Development Area, masterplanning of Capalaba and a development application at Birkdale.
In addition to doing lots of noting, the Advisory Board also discussed potential economic development opportunities for the city including the SEQ Olympic Bid for 2032, Council acquisition of vacant land adjacent to Cleveland Point Reserve, outcomes from the Taipei Smart City Summit and Expo and options for Willard’s Farm, Birkdale. The Advisory Board also expressed interest in discussing these matters again, at a future meeting.
Board costs ratepayers $299,000 over four years
Redlands ratepayers may wish to ‘note’ that over the past four years Redland City Council has spent $299,023 on its Economic Development Advisory Board. The annual breakdown of costs (as provided to Redlands2030 by Redland City Council) is as follows:
| Financial Year | Cost of Advisory Board |
| 2015/16 | $55,704 |
| 2016/17 | $85,417 |
| 2017/18 | $83,167 |
| 2018/19 | $74,735 (preliminary figure) |
There are currently six members of the Economic Development Advisory Board, including the Mayor. When Councillors originally voted to establish this Board in February 2015 they agreed to a budget of $30,000 per year. Apparently this was insufficient to attract the desired talent. On 29 July 2015 the Council voted to give the Council CEO authority to negotiate remuneration of prospective board members “commensurate with experience and knowledge”.
The Board is supposed to have 10 members. Terms of reference adopted by the Council in July 2015, state: “The Board will comprise a total of ten members including an independent Chair, one member from each of the eight identified industry and employment sectors and one representative from Redland City Council who will be the Mayor, or the economic development portfolio chair.” The Mayor does not get any extra remuneration for her attendance at Advisory Board meetings.
Activities of the Advisory Board
The Advisory Board’s 2016/17 and 2017/18 annual reports can be downloaded from the Council’s website.
According to its 2017/18 Annual Report, the Advisory Board played a key advisory role in development and delivery of the place brand: Redlands Coast – Naturally Wonderful.
When unveiled publicly, the new brand didn’t seem to impress Redlands residents. An on-line poll in the local newspaper found that the vast majority of respondents (73%) were unimpressed with the ‘Redlands Coast” brand.
The disconnect between the new brand’s “naturally wonderful” tag line and the Council’s efforts to destroy internationally recognised Ramsar wetlands next to Toondah Harbour is obvious.
Apart from instigating the apparently unpopular new “Redlands Coast” place brand, specific accomplishments of the Advisory Board are hard to spot.
Are ratepayers getting value for money from the Advisory Board?
With Redlands experiencing higher rates increases than most other councils in south east Queensland, councillors should be questioning the need to spend any more ratepayers’ money on the Economic Development Advisory Board.
Is it a valuable source of independent expert advice, or an unnecessary echo chamber telling the Mayor and councillors what they want to hear?
Redlands2030 – 15 July 2019
Please note: Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted. If offended by any published comment please email thereporter@redlands2030.net
2 Comments
I for one remain confused as to the role of a paid advisory Economic Development Board versus the role of a paid board of Councillors.
And if the Economic Development Advisory Board looks like an echo chamber and it sounds like an echo chamber then it is an echo chamber (as suggested in the article. And it is an expensive adjunct to the Councillors themselves.
Where is the value proposition?
I think that residents of the Redlands would be in general agreement that the Economic Development Advisory Board is simply a waste of rate payers’ money and the term “Redlands Coast – Naturally Wonderful” is limited in thinking, especially in light of the fact that the Mayor and a number of her councillors are pushing for the Walker Commercial Proposal for Toondah Harbour. It involves the eradication of sensitive and protected Ramsar Wetlands. If such an ill conceived proposal was to go ahead it would bring disgrace on both the Redland City Council and the various government bodies that sat back and did nothing. One of those elected representatives is Jackie Trad, who first criticised the LNP as the “White Shoe Brigade” and then didn’t batt an eyelid when the commercial developer increased the plan from 800 units to 3,600 units. Check out the misleading artist’s impressions – where are those units located in the artworks?