Livingstone Shire Council Mayor Andy Ireland has responded angrily to claims by Rockhampton Councillor Donna Kirkland that his council is understating the cost of its Leave Livingstone Alone! campaign.

“Quite frankly, I’d prefer that we didn’t have to spend a cent, but Rocky is insistent so we will defend our territory against their land grab. Unfortunately, that costs money,” said Mayor Ireland.

In responding to the claims Mayor Ireland pointed to the report at Council’s Special Meeting on 31 May 2022 making it clear that the bulk of the campaign work was being done in-house by staff and that funding a “modest marketing campaign” was estimated to cost $10,000. An additional $2,750 was recently paid to a consultant to review the council’s submission to the Electoral Commission.

“If Rocky insists that the process continue, we’d like to be able to match their campaign budget but we just can’t afford that.”

“If Cr Kirkland is so concerned about the waste of public funds on this needless exercise, why doesn’t she just convince her council to call the whole thing off?”