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Nathan Horne
07 4661 9800
Week commencing Thursday, 15 June | 2017 | Edition 880
13750 copies delivered weekly
www.freetimes.com.au
Stanthorpe’s missing weather
Popular butchers a cut above
Workshop for women on move
Gearing up for Killarney Cup
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Auction action at Allora
rural SOUTHERN DOWNS AND GRANITE BELT MONTHLY RURAL ROUND-UP JUNE 2017
LOVE YOUR LOCAL PRODUCE…
Big crowds of eager bidders turned out despite the weather last Sunday for the 2017 Allora Auction, which raises thousands of dollars every year for local community groups and charities. Scott Lingard, pictured here with Cheryl Walker, picked up a slice of history in the form of a signature ‘Condamine Bell’, a true Queensland outback icon. More photos inside on pages 4 and 21 ...
Top chef and Killarney farmer Jocelyn Hancock talks eating seasonally - and above all, locally. STORY INSIDE, PAGE 9
12353318-DJ24-17
HURRY! SALE ENDS 30 JUNE
Budget season has well and truly arrived, with Southern Downs Regional Council ratepayers facing a 3.4 per cent rate rise in the new financial year, with the 2017-2018 council budget adopted by councillors yesterday. Charges for waste, water and wastewater will also increase by 3.4 per cent in the new financial year. Rates rose by 4 per cent in the 2016-2017 budget and the council has factored in a 4 per cent annual rise for the next decade, including
the 2017-2018 financial year. The annual increase is in line with the council’s ‘long-term financial forecast’ which is being closely monitored by the State Government, through the Queensland Treasury Corporation and the Queensland Audit Office. Councillors adopted the new budget at a special meeting held at the Warwick council chambers yesterday morning, Wednesday 14 June. The Queensland State Budget was also handed down this week, with the LNP Opposition blasting
the ALP Palaszczuk Government for ignoring regional Queensland, including Warwick and Stanthorpe. On the local front, the council budget contains a new pest management fee payable by rural landowners who the council deems are failing to control runaway weeds on their properties. Unless they can satisfy the council - by means of a ‘Control Works Form’ - that they have weeds under control landowners with parcels zoned Agriculture and Farming categories 1, 2 and 3, and Horticulture 1, 2 and 3 will pay a ‘special rate’ of
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50 cents in the dollar of the rateable value of their holdings, with a minimum fee of $500 applicable. Owners of land zoned Residential 4, Commercial and Industrial (Town and Rural), Extractive and Special Uses will pay 30 cents in the dollar, also with a minimum $500 fee. All owners of the above-zoned lands must submit an annual Control Works Form to the council, but they can request an inspection of their land by council officers. Continued to page 3
INSIDE TODAY The June edition of the Free Times’ new ‘Rural Links’ magazine. Check it out for the latest rural news and our region’s great rural businesses... AQUA RURAL SUPPLIES 4681 0355 | Walsh Drive, Stanthorpe, QLD 4380
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