General News
14 October, 2026
English ready to serve the community
A FOURTH-generation dairy farmer whose name is synonymous with the Malanda area has thrown his hat into the ring for the Tablelands Division 1 by-election.
Greg English, whose family was the first Europeans to settle in Malanda and brought the first dairy cows to the region, reckons it is the right time for him to stand for local government.
“I have been asked by many, many people for several years now to consider running for council, and now it just seems to be the right time,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I have decided to put my hand up for council because if you’re not trying to be part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
“I believe I bring a commonsense approach, I’ve got a good handle on what the community wants, and I’ve also served on a lot of community organisations over the years.”
Mr English is known for his long-standing involvement with the Malanda Show Society, and has also represented his industry as the Federal vice president of the Illawarra Cattle Society of Australia, vice president of the Queensland branch, and as a board member for the local AI Co-op.
But he wants to take another step forward by representing the division he resides in, adding that the council needed change to regain the trust of the community.
Commenting on the recent community satisfaction survey, which showed a vast majority of ratepayers were dissatisfied with the council’s overall performance, Mr English said it was a sad situation.
“As an organisation, they’re not exactly what you’d call popular. They are very strongly disliked and as a result, you’re hardly going to have pride in your own local area if that’s what you think of our council,” he said.
Mr English believes rebuilding community trust is paramount and thinks better communication and explanation of council decisions would improve community understanding and engagement.
“If people know what’s going on and understand what’s going on, and it’s explained properly, most people will just have a better understanding of what you’re trying to achieve,” he said.
He also believes not enough emphasis has been given to improving the council’s road network to ensure it caters to heavy vehicles and tourism traffic, and is aware that many people are dissatisfied with the level of maintenance of roads, drains and the upkeep of town areas.
“The public face of most councils is its outside workers which seem to be getting fewer and fewer, and there seems to be more and more administrative positions,” he said.
Mr English also stressed the council must provide support for community clubs which were the “foundation” of every community and should be protected from unaffordable rates, with many of them having very limited options to make revenue.
He is also supportive of reinstating some of the advisory groups that were disbanded months ago, especially for the agricultural sector.
