Gympie Council continues fight for fairer funding

Published on 12 August 2026

Gympie Regional Council will call on fellow Councils to get behind a campaign calling for fairer disaster funding, when it heads to the Local Government Association of Queensland Annual Conference in October.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig said the LGAQ conference provided an avenue for Queensland Councils to advocate for change as a collective. He said it was critical Council continued to advocate against proposed Federal Government reforms to the national disaster funding arrangements and would look for unanimous support from the LGAQ, the peak local government body, and the State’s 77 local councils at the conference.

“These proposed funding changes will reduce Commonwealth support for disaster impacted communities, the majority of which are in Queensland, from a 75-25 split to 50-50 funding between the Commonwealth and the State,” Mayor Hartwig said.

“For regions like ours, where disasters are frequent and infrastructure networks are extensive, this change risks shifting a greater financial burden onto states and, ultimately, local councils and their communities.

"In the past four years alone we, as a region, have recorded nine declared disaster events.

“Without State and Australian Government disaster recovery funding, the cost of repairing Council infrastructure damaged by the 2022 floods would have fallen almost entirely on Council and its ratepayers.

“The estimated bill was about $120 million, roughly $4,100 for every rateable property in the region. This is funding Council could not have absorbed without significant borrowing, reducing other services and capital works, increasing rates or considerably delaying the recovery program.

"If the proposed changes are adopted, our region would be on its knees. We simply cannot afford to have recovery funding reduced or delayed.

“Council has already written to the Prime Minister, relevant Federal Ministers, and local Federal Members to outline its opposition to the proposed disaster funding reforms.

“If the motion is endorsed at the LGAQ conference, we will, as a body of local government authorities, be speaking with one voice against these reforms.”

Each year, the LGAQ invites member councils to submit motions for consideration and debate at the Annual Conference. These motions provide councils with a formal mechanism to raise issues of statewide significance and influence the advocacy agenda of the LGAQ.

Council has also endorsed three other motions to be considered at the LGAQ conference including:

Updated planning definitions to support emerging energy and transport infrastructure

Aligning workforce strategies with regional economic development and Migration Policy

Extending/continuing State Government funding for a Regional Resource Recovery Coordinator.

If passed at the LGAQ Conference, the motions will become resolutions recognised by other levels of government, peak bodies, and stakeholders as the accepted policy position of the sector. They then require the LGAQ to progress on behalf of Councils.

Read the full motions via the July Ordinary Meeting minutes here: Council Meetings | Gympie Regional Council

ENDS