Friday, August 01, 2008

Picking the Spin

It's nearly that time again.

That's right, on Sept 13 we get to vote again and exercise our democratic right to elect the very best of us to high office. In this case we are being asked to elect a new Shoalhaven City Council.

But this time let's do it right. Pay no attention to the extensive advertising campaign about to be unleashed by the incumbent Shoalhaven Independents Group Party (SIG) led by longtime Mayor, Greg Watson. The Group is anything but 'independent'. It is a fully registered political party.

Instead, pay close attention to the facts-
  1. this Council is controlled by one party led by one dominant individual.
  2. the dominant party is funded by a number of large developers, many of which have benefitted from recent decisions of this Council.
  3. this Council has made a number of decisions which are directly opposed to the community interest and often in the face of contrary advice from council officers and/or the Dept. of Local Government.
  4. this Council has been and is the subject of several inquiries by the Dept. of Local Government.
  5. several prominent local citizens including former State Member John Hatton have called for the activities of this Council to be investigated by ICAC.
  6. long term dominance of any level of government by any one political group/party or individual is unhealthy and can lead to bad government.

Do not be fooled by claims that the economy of the Shoalhaven will collapse if the Watson crew are no longer in control. We already have an unacceptable level of unemployment and under-employment.

When times are tough economically we need governments, at all levels, that are sympathetic to the needs of citizens as individuals not too busy to listen because big business has bought their ear.

Ignore the spin, hit straight down the line.

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