Moree Plains Shire Council, along with Balonne Shire Council fully supports moves to introduce a Queensland Cross Border Commissioner to support communities that derive services from either side of the border.
As a Shire that borders Queensland a new Queensland Cross Border Commissioner will bring greater certainty for the people of our Shire.
Mayor Mark Johnson welcomed this news particularly for the communities of Boggabilla and Mungindi.
“Moree Plains Shire Council is proud to be members of Border Regional Organisation of Councils (BROC) and we look forward to continuing the co-operation with our Queensland Cross border Shires,” said Mayor Johnson.
The communities of Mungindi and Boggabilla currently have a broad range of essential health and education services that are delivered by State Governments that differ from the resident’s locations and a new Queensland Cross Border Commissioner will help to alleviate the strain and confusion this situation can cause.
Balonne Shire Mayor Samantha O’Toole welcomed the news from the Queensland Government for the introduction of a new Queensland Cross Border Commissioner.
“We have been pushing for this to occur for many years now and warmly welcome the announcement and commitment of funds to make it happen”, said Mayor O’Toole.
“As a community, we have all endured negative impacts from issues like flooding, Covid lockdowns and bushfires, but the coordination of responses to these negative impacts has been all the more difficult in our border towns of Boggabilla and Mungindi without a Queensland Cross Border Commissioner in place.
“In 2022 and 2023, we signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with our counterparts on the Queensland side of the border, Balonne Shire Council and Goondiwindi Regional Council to support the Mungindi and the Boggabilla communities better and this new Commissioner will help to ease pressures at a State government level.
“We look forward to working with the new Queensland Cross Border Commissioner to further deliver for our community on matters where government collaboration is essential,” concluded Mayor Johnson.
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