Gladstone Region

History

Gladstone Region came into being on 15 March 2008 as a result of the report of the Local Government Reform Commission released in July 2007. The legal standing of the council is sourced from the Local Government Reform Act 2007 (Qld).

The new Council, located in Central Queensland, contains the entire area of three former local government areas:

The report recommended that the new local government area should not be divided into wards and elect eight councillors and a mayor. The Gladstone Regional Council covers an area of 10,488 square kilometres (4,049 sq mi), contain an estimated resident population at 30 June 2015 of 67,464, and have an estimated operating budget of A$84 million.

Mayors

The first mayor of the Gladstone Regional Council was George Creed, who was the Mayor of the Calliope Shire Council. Creed retired due to ill-health in September 2010, and died that November. He was succeeded by Gail Sellers. The current Mayor as of March 2016 is Matt Burnett.

Towns and localities

The Gladstone Region includes the following settlements:

Facilities

The council controls the assets of the Gladstone Airport which was previously operated by the Gladstone Calliope Aerodrome Board. This Board was a statutory body made up of representatives of the City of Gladstone and Shire of Calliope.

The council has three administration centres, located at:

The council operates a network of public libraries, located at Agnes Water, Boyne Island, Calliope, Gladstone Central, Miriam Vale and Mount Larcom.

The council operate the Gladstone Entertainment & Convention Centre at 58 Goondoon Street, Gladstone Central. It features an auditorium seating 674 people, a flat floor space which can accommodate 1,500 people standing, an outdoor 600 square metres (6,500 sq ft) marquee on a hard stand, and a number of meeting rooms.

Gladstone Ports Corporation

Gladstone's bustling world-class port is Queensland's largest multi-commodity port. It handles more than 79 Mt of cargo annually, with the region tipped to be Australia's major industrial centre for the 21st century.

As a government owned corporation, Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) controls and manages the facility. GPC is unique among Australian port authorities because it acts as a 'landlord' as well as owning and operating cargo handling facilities. It is a well recognised member of the Gladstone community, providing 35 hectares of recreational waterfront facilities at the marina and Spinnaker Park; which includes barbecues, shade shelters, 250 mooring berths, playground equipment, walking trails and a man-made beach.

Austick

Austicks Pty Ltd produces ice cream sticks from plantation-sourced timber. The factory, located at Gladstone, produces for both the domestic and export markets.

Boyne Smelter Limited

Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) is the largest shareholder in the Boyne Smelters Limited. (BSL) joint venture and has been operating in the Gladstone region for over 40years. As a shareholder in other local industry operations including Rio Tinto Alcan Yarwun, Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) and the Gladstone Power Station, RTA maintains significant contributions of A$3.34 billion into the region‟s economy annually.BSL has been in operation since 1982 and over time has undergone extensive expansion. The smelter underwent a A$1 billion expansion in 1997 introducing a third reduction line which increased aluminium production from 260,000 to more than 558,000 tonnes per annum.

Cement Australia Limited (Queensland)

Cement Australia Gladstone is the largest cement Plant in Australia and uses state of the art technology. The plant is Australia‟s most efficient and is the leading environmental performer in the industry.

Cement Australia Gladstone has a production capacity of over 1.6 million tonnes per annum and processes limestone, clay, silica sand and copper slag to produce and supply cement and clinker throughout Australia and overseas destinations, as well as cement in bulk or in bags.

Rio Tinto Aluminium Yarwun (RTA)

RTA has been part of the Gladstone community for over 40 years. RTA maintains a significant shareholding in Queensland Alumina Ltd, the Gladstone Power Station and a shareholding and management of Boyne Smelters Limited. A 2008 Socio-economic study found that Rio Tinto Alcan contributed A$3.34 billion annually into the region‟s economy.

RTAY was constructed between 2002 and 2004 at a capital cost of A$1.4 billion. Stage One of RTAY has the capacity to provide 1.4 million tonnes of smelter grade alumina per annum and with the construction of Stage Two currently taking place the refinery will increase its production capacity to 3.4 million tonnes per annum.