Resident of former rural Victorian Grenville Shire urges Queenslanders to fight amalgamation

The people of Queensland should resist amalgamation at all costs. I've seen first hand the local loss of community power following the Kennett years when he decided to amalgamate many Victorian shires. My own little shire of Grenville was taken over during this process to be absorbed into the Golden Plains Shire despite our protests and a street march. Kennett was, it seemed, tarred with the same disregard for our shire's citizens as is John Howard with Australians in general. In fact, pigheadedness and self promoting agenda appear to be the hallmark of Liberal policy. What we have today is a huge shire that covers a massive area, reaching from Haddon in the North down as far as the outskirts of Geelong. Since Geelong has been subject to a major housing boom the same as many other areas of the State, it comes as no surprise that the Golden Plains Shire is one of the fastest growing shires in Victoria and although it claims to have the lowest rates of any of the major shires, those same rates go up every year. When we were under the Grenville Shire, very ordinary citizens ran it in unison with their fellow residents. Things got done and rates were kept very low despite the fact that Grenville had it's own road maintenance crew and machinery. Since we've fallen under the banner of the Golden Plains Shire, we've had a reduction in some services and unwanted town projects thrust upon us by a shire well out of touch with residents desires. Big money has entered the Golden Plains Shire and the untouchable attitude that goes with the money. People in smaller communities no longer have the power to decide what's best for them. Instead, the shire forces major changes which in the end can only benefit land developers and the shire coffers as rates rise to meet the demands of these changes. To the people of Queensland, I urge you to fight amalgamation with all your might. Keep what is yours and do not let the dark forces of money and power ruin all you hold dear. There's lots of opportunity for smaller shires to ensure a bright future for it's fellow citizens, but amalgamation provides opportunity only for big business and greedy land developers. Note: This was originally posted as a comment to another article.