EXPRESS The
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
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Australia Day party time! Jaimie-Lee Paterson got into the spirit last Friday at Malanda Hotel for Australia Day. Turn to P13 for more photos.
Councillor resigns By Rebecca Wallis
TEN minutes before last Thursday’s council meeting in Atherton it was announced that Tablelands Regional Councillor Bronwyn Voyce had resigned, effective immediately.
No reason was stated for the Division 6’s shock departure almost two years into a four year tenure, but her unforseen departure comes amid tough scrutiny for all TRC councillors after months of accusations levied at the board. Cr Voyce was in the fir-
ing line late last year after ratepayers in her division were hit the hardest with exorbitant rate hikes causing outcry and accusations of incompetency. Councillors soon back-tracked and apologised to their constituents with Cr Voyce offering an emotional speech
apologising for any wrong doing. But speaking to The Express on Thursday Ms Voyce said she handed in her resignation for “personal reasons” and said it was “nothing in particular” that was causing her to back away from her elected
position. “It came down to a personal decision,” she said before going on to talk about the challenges of the job. “It’s not a role that (means) you can please everybody. You try and do the best you can and for Division 6 I fought a hard
fight for them. In the council chambers I fought really hard for my constituents. I care so much for my community.” Cr Voyce said her resignation was not “as a direct result of that” referring to the current discord among a section of the commu-
nity. At last week’s meeting the board room was again packed with protestors carrying placards attacking the council for lack of transparency and corruption among other things. But in a role that makes going against the grain cont. P5
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