Community & Business
27 July, 2026
Let’s talk about what’s happening in your town
Representatives from Pittsworth District Alliance (PDA) and Millmerran Commerce and Progress Inc. (MCPI) attended the Darling Downs Regional Alliance meeting at Toowoomba City Hall on Friday, sharing district updates, highlighting priority projects and discussing current challenges with other advocacy groups and Toowoomba Region councillors.
PDA President, Rhonda Ashton, and Vice President, Karen Rock, attended alongside MCPI President, Nikki Macqueen, and committee member Bronwen Fitzroy-Ezzy.
Jess Briskey, David Cooper and Lloyd Gill attended from the Oakey Chamber of Commerce.
Other representatives were from Highfields, Crows Nest and Toowoomba.
The morning began with coffee at 10, giving attendees the opportunity to catch up with Toowoomba Region councillors Rebecca Vonhoff, Tim McMahon, Trevor Manteufel, Kerry Shine, Edwina Farquhar and Mayor Geoff McDonald to discuss relevant issues.
Mrs Ashton gave an update on the Pittsworth district, and touched on the following points:
Plans are progressing for the 150 years celebration of Pittsworth on September 12, including a line up of family-friendly entertainment in Centenary Park, displays and an art exhibition in the Town Hall, a time capsule ceremony and vintage car and machinery street parade.
Mrs Ashton queried Council about the costs incurred by the PDA to hire the Town Hall and Centenary Park for this community event, questioning whether any financial assistance or fee relief could be provided given the events are a public service held in a public space.
The ongoing development of the town was discussed, with the Vines Street and Tuana Park estates both rapidly expanding, a car wash is under construction in Yandilla Street, and a number of local businesses have changed hands including Ashton’s Butchery and Faux Electrical.
Mrs Ashton said PDA and the Lions Club were liaising with Council for an off leash dog park in Pittsworth.
Mrs Ashton also questioned the green waste fee charged at waste facilities for residents who hire lawn and garden contractors, noting there is no charge when residents dispose of the waste themselves.
Mrs Macqueen gave an update on the Millmerran district, and touched on the following topics.
Their monthly meetings are well supported with the most recent having 44 people in attendance, noting there is always a good crowd when the MCPI have proponents of the solar and windmill farms as guest speakers.
Mrs Macqueen said she was pleased to see Council had recently replaced the ‘Welcome to Millmerran’ sign on the east entrance of the town.
For some time, MCPI has been advocating for the replacement of all four faded and aged welcome signs.
This was the first to be replaced, and Mrs Macqueen said MCPI was grateful to Council for delivering this improvement.
They will continue to advocate to have the remaining entrance signs replaced.
The MCPI is working to reinstate extended trading hours for the library and the waste management facility.
The library currently operates three days a week but the community would like to see it return to five days a week.
The three day trading was enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mrs Macqueen said many international persons use the internet and other facilities at the library and the weekly trading should be reinstated.
The hours at the waste facility continue to be a point of contention.
Although it is open seven days a week, the weekday hours change between mornings and afternoons.
The MCPI would like to see the waste facility open for full business hours or later, so people who work can still utilise it, and there isn’t a build up of patrons on the weekend.
Mrs Macqueen said Genex had agreed to honour its commitment of providing $500,000 for the Domville Place Redevelopment, despite the construction camp for non-residents of the Bulli Creek Solar Farm project not proceeding.
The project now intends to bus workers to the site from Toowoomba and Goondiwindi.
Mrs Macqueen said this was a missed opportunity for Millmerran, and would result in more traffic on already busy roads.
The Australian Camp Oven Festival was touched on by Mrs Fitzroy-Ezzy.
She said the MCPI has submitted applications to close Campbell Street on 2 October between 8am and 12pm for a meet and greet with Camp Oven visitors.
They hope to operate a bus from the Showgrounds to Campbell Street for the morning.
To put into perspective the number of visitors expected, 1,194 campsites have been booked and 1,749 tickets sold thus far.
Mrs Macqueen said overall Council had been terrific to work with, and the MCPI has never had such a good working relationship with Local Government representatives.
The other groups present at Friday’s meeting highlighted ongoing issues in their towns.
The Oakey Chamber mentioned the continual fight to secure a bank for the town with assistance from MP Garth Hamilton.
Highfields is in need of a new medical centre, and has turned doctors away because they don't have enough room (what a problem to have).
In Crows Nest, the new dog park is being very well received, and the only long term problem could be a lack of parking space.
Mayor McDonald spoke to the advocacy groups about Council’s procurement of the Financial Assistance Grant from the Australian Government which was essential in the timing of the release of the 2026-27 Budget.
“From a national tax payer’s perspective, out of every dollar, 81 cents is retained by the Federal Government, 16 cents of every dollar is distributed through the States and Territories, the balance of three cents in every dollar goes to local government,” Mayor McDonald said.
“This is where that distribution comes through the Financial Assistance Grant into local governments.
“Three cents in every dollar spread across 536 local governments across Australia - that’s not a lot of money when you also consider local governments on average maintain between 30 and 60 percent, and we’re on the upper level of that percentage, of the road network, water and all of those things we expect local communities to have,” the Mayor said.
Council’s Financial Assistance Grant entitlement dropped nearly $9 million per annum over the last five years.
In 2021-22 Council received an entitlement of $14,528,374 and in 2025-26 that plummeted to $5,733,049.
“To put that into perspective into real-terms, dollars on the ground, a one percent increase can return roughly $1.8 million into our budget,” Mayor McDonald said.
He went on to clarify that being short of $9 million over five years is at the very least a 4.5 per cent rise in rates.
A $9 million gap in funds is a big gap to fill.
