Thank God for Noosa and Mayor Bob Abbot – By John Purcell, PRA Chairman

3rd August 2007″Hearty congratulations to Noosa residents and Noosa Mayor Bob Abbot  Their demonstration of love for their district and shire is a credit to all and an example to others of that which is possible with a lot of determination and guts.”Other shires, in particular rural shires, should open their eyes and ears and realise Beattie is not God.  To waste this opportunity of being heard will hound the Bush for many years.  Don’t let it happen, get involved.Beattie is smart and cunning.  He is also full of himself with a king-size ego and a belief in his own infallibility.In this instance he is very wrong in forcing shire amalgamation in the bush.  Barcaldine has set the pace for rural shires.  Beattie is also using the ‘divide and conquer’ principle very affectively.
The latest outrage is the Government has demanded that the new regional shires be required to notify the Government by 5 p.m. today to decide: (1) should the regional shires be based on a ward system or not; (2) choose a name for the new regional shires. What a bloody mess.  This task is being determined by current mayors and CEO’s.   How narrow, how hollow, how stupid!Beattie should be told to ‘go to hell.’