Memo to Canberra - can you refund our pizza and balloon money ...

You know that things in the Toowoomba City Council have reached new heights of bizarre conduct when some of the Councillors think they are justified in asking Canberra to refund the 'pizza and balloon' money the six Yes Councillors blew as part of the Yes referendum campaign.

Remember, over $430,000 was spent on the Yes campaign with nothing allocated to the No campaign.

A better solution would be to request that the six Yes Councillors refund their portion of the funding - that would be a bit over $70,000 each.

Excerpt from the Chronicle (annotated):

Retro request

29 August 2007

If Prime Minister John Howard is offering refunds on money spent on local government reform referendums, Toowoomba City Council thinks it's opportune to try to cash-in retrospectively.

Council does want to hold a referendum, instead it wants a refund on the $300,000-plus spent on the city's controversial water poll last year. [Actually, over $430,000 - how soon the Councillors forget.]

Last night, Cr Sue Englart, supported by Cr Michele Alroe, received unanimous support to request "any funds which would have been available to Toowoomba for a referendum be diverted to defray the cost of the poll" that council had to have as part of the Toowoomba Water Futures project.

It might seem surprising that it has escaped the notice of the quick-witted Crs Englart and Alroe but the Prime Minister isn't offering funding for a referendum on recycled water.

He's offering to fund any referendum which seeks voters' views on Council amalgamations. And only doing so to gain an edge over KRudd at the expense of Premier Beattie.

No harm asking though ....