Tablelands Regional Council
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Tablelands Region Queensland |
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Location within Queensland, 2013, prior to de-amalgamation of Shire of Mareeba
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| Population | 24,997 (2016) | ||||||||||||||
| • Density | 0.384575/km2 (0.996045/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 2008 | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 64,999 km2 (25,096.3 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Mayor | Joe Paronella | ||||||||||||||
| Council seat | Atherton | ||||||||||||||
| Region | Far North Queensland | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | |||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Kennedy | ||||||||||||||
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| Website | Tablelands Region | ||||||||||||||
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The Tablelands Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia inland from the city of Cairns. Established in 2008, it was preceded by four previous local government areas which dated back more than a century. On 1 January 2014, one of those local government areas, the Shire of Mareeba, was re-established independent of the Tablelands Region.
It has an estimated operating budget of A$62.2 million.
Prior to the 2008 amalgamation, the Tablelands Region consisted the entire area of four previous local government areas:
On 11 November 1879, when the Divisional Boards Act 1879 came into effect proclaiming 74 divisions around Queensland, the nature and distribution of the population in the Tablelands region was vastly different today. Most of the area was divided between the Hinchinbrook and Woothakata divisions. On 3 September 1881, Tinaroo Division was proclaimed from part of Hinchinbrook, making the mining towns of Tinaroo and Thornborough the administrative centres of the region.
A number of changes occurred from that point:
In July 2007, the Local Government Reform Commission released its report and recommended that the four areas amalgamate. Amongst its reasons given for this recommendation were that a community of interest revolved around the towns of Mareeba and Atherton, with residents travelling to Cairns for services not offered in the region. The opportunity for tourism and leisure promotion under a single banner, the close proximity of most major towns, the lack of natural barriers and similar economic interests including beef, dairy, fruit and sugar production. All councils opposed the amalgamation, although Atherton, Herberton and Eacham were willing to consider shared service delivery. On 15 March 2008, the Shires formally ceased to exist, and elections were held on the same day to elect councillors and a to the Regional Council.
In 2012, a proposal was made to de-amalgamate the Shire of Mareeba from the Tablelands Region. On 9 March 2013, the citizens of the former Mareeba shire voted in a referendum to de-amalgamate. The Shire of Mareeba was re-established on 1 January 2014.
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