20/09/2026
THREE PROPERTY DECISIONS. VERY DIFFERENT PROCESSES. RESIDENTS DESERVE TO KNOW WHY.
Questions about how Northern Midlands Council acquires property - and how those decisions are made - are becoming increasingly important.
The recent purchase of 81 High Street, Campbell Town has already attracted substantial community concern. Council itself acknowledges that some Campbell Town residents considered the consultation inadequate, and says the purchase was considered and approved during the closed section of a Council meeting.
Councillor Andrew McCullagh has publicly stated that he and Cr Matthew Brooks, who opposed the purchase, were absent when the matter was considered, and that Cr Paul Terrett cast the only vote against the acquisition.
Whatever residents think of the merits of that purchase, those circumstances make transparency around major Council property decisions especially important.
And that brings us to another property: 31 George Street, Longford.
A PCPA member has lodged a formal Right to Information application seeking records relating to Council’s acquisition of that property, including the purchase price, acquisition costs, subsequent expenditure, budgets, contracts and variations, and records showing how and when the purchase was authorised.
The purpose is straightforward: to establish the facts and make relevant information available to the Northern Midlands community.
Instead, before the substantive application has even been assessed, there has already been a prolonged dispute over Council’s refusal to waive the $49 RTI application fee.
The applicant explained that information obtained would be publicly communicated to Northern Midlands residents so people could understand Council’s expenditure of public money and consider that information for themselves.
The waiver was refused.
Further information was provided.
It was refused again.
A senior administrative review was then sought. In that review, Council’s Acting General Manager expressly acknowledged that the applicant had explained both how the information would be used and the audience it would be shared with - but nevertheless upheld the refusal.
That matter has now been referred to Ombudsman Tasmania.
WHY ARE WE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS?
Because the way Council has dealt with some property matters appears very different from the experience of the Perth Community Hub.
For years, the Perth Historical Society and Perth Community Progress Association worked to secure the former Perth Police Station and residence for community use. Council’s own January 2026 report records that the organisations had been working on the proposal “in recent years”, including approaching local MP Rebecca White in July 2024, before the issue continued through Council processes.
After Council finally acquired the Perth property in February 2026, the Hub proposal then progressed through further reports, community consultation, governance arrangements, staged refurbishment planning and funding consideration. Council’s May report discussed community consultation, risks, a Special Committee governance structure and staged annual refurbishment funding.
That process has involved years of work by volunteers and community organisations.
Against that background, residents are entitled to ask why other Council property acquisitions appear to have proceeded very differently.
For 31 George Street, Longford, some basic questions remain unanswered publicly:
- What did Council pay for the property, and what has been spent on it since?
- Was the acquisition ever formally voted on by Council? If so, when, and what was the vote? If not, under what authority was the purchase made?
- What circumstances caused Council to decide that it needed to acquire the property?
- Did any boundary, access, secure-yard or other operational issue involving adjoining Council property influence the decision to purchase it?
- What reports, valuations or other material informed the decision?
- Why should obtaining this information require this much effort?
We are not asserting what the answers to those questions will be.
That is precisely why the information has been requested.
If the records show that the purchase was properly authorised, represented good value and was in the community’s interests, residents should be able to see that.
If they raise further questions, residents should be able to see that too.
ASK COUNCIL TONIGHT
Northern Midlands Council meets tonight, Monday 21 September, at the Council Chambers, 13 Smith Street, Longford.
The meeting begins at 5:00pm, with Public Question Time at approximately 5:30pm. Council’s published meeting information says members of the gallery may pose questions to Council during Public Question Time.
If you have questions about 31 George Street, 81 High Street, or how Council authorises and accounts for the purchase of property using public money, tonight provides an opportunity to ask those questions directly.
Council’s procedures allow questions without notice, although the Chair may take a question on notice if the information is not immediately available.
Come along. Ask the questions.
Residents can then form their own views from the facts.
Tonight - Monday 21 September
Northern Midlands Council Chambers
13 Smith Street, Longford
Meeting: 5:00pm | Public Question Time: approx. 5:30pm
