Councillor 'a bully': ratepayer

AGNES Water resident and ratepayer's association committee member Maggie Behalf was not surprised by Cr Clyde Cameron's comments in council chambers this week.

Ms Behalf said she had experienced Cr Cameron's zeal on another occasion and believes it was a reaction to “hitting a nerve''.

“I was part of a delegation meeting with the council a while ago and Mr Cameron called us at Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy ‘chardonnay-sipping, tree-hugging, elitist intellectuals',” she said.

“The mayor had to calm him down. He was acting like a bully.”

Ms Behalf said the residents of The Discovery Coast had become disillusioned with the Gladstone Regional Council and believed it was time services matched the “exorbitant rates'' paid in that part of the region.

“There are people down here – from business and professional backgrounds – who have experience and understanding of how a large organisation should be run,'' she said.

“And when you question them and get that sort of reaction you know you have hit a bit of a nerve.

“There is no consultation. People here have been trying to get the council to listen ever since the amalgamations.''

Ms Behalf said the people of Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy were not whingers, but simply wanted a fair deal and for some “very high rates'' to go towards something they actually needed and wanted.

“It's just the injustice of it that gets me so mad and then to be called names for simply speaking out about what is right – it's just terrible,” she said.