Way, way too late as it is The Examiner has this week been dragging out candidate information for the Council and it is time to call-out the process in play such as it is. Whilst there is much to cause mirth equally there is a great deal revealing itself that should give all Launcestonians serious reasons for concern. The incumbents have been imbibing at the CIVICtrough, and in many instances, for quite a long time. Despite all that the candidates collectively have, in their statements, given their constituency not the slightest reason to expect anything than more, and more of the same old, same old.
In their case, its an example of 'not happy Jan' given that when we vote in Local Govt. elections we're not just voting for individuals to do this or that, rather we should be voting for an agenda – for a platform and/or a 'philosophic purpose'. By-and-large, searching for such things in the
superficial incumbent candidates' statements is unedifying with perhaps the exception of the Mayor's audacious contribution – that's a doozy! Back to that later.
The story is pretty much the same for the aspirant candidates who one assumes are 'browned-off' by what the incumbents have been dealing out for the past four years except in the case of what is forming up to be a 'core group' of credible aspirants.
All-in-all, the crop of candidates on show – 32 strong as it is – have been the victims of an underwhelming press response. If one was a cynic it'd be possible to muster such emptiness and then seek forgiveness, based on an assumption that the 'backroom collective' are pitching for more and more of the same.
Typically these people play their cards very close but the Mayor seems to have blown their cover. in promising to "invite the hidden – and the well-known - leaders to form a Launceston Action Team. We’ll find out what you, the people of Launceston, are passionate about and support you to make the changes". Is he telling us that, if he is elected, he'll finally bring those who have been pulling his strings, his chosen few, out into the open to do what the electorate has appointed him to do, rather the Council to do? Is he really?
The Mayor's 'elect-me-spin', if he's elected, is to enlist a 'team of right minded leaders' – a DREAMteam?. Clearly, this is a signal that Council may already have the backing of such a 'team' right now.
So, is 'the Mayor' perhaps seeking to bring these 'hidden leaders' out from the darkness of the backroom in order that for the next 4 years they can more happily circumvent aldermanic and public scrutiny and accountability? One would hope not!
Voting for candidates based on too little, or no information, is the outcome of a badly broken system.
The various candidates statements typically tell us nothing relative to a policy of any kind. Almost always it is a collection of 'motherhood mumblings'. A voter trying to separate between candidate (A) and candidate (Y) needs to be a clairvoyant.
The candidates generally do not have publicly available contact information to enable comparison of their positions on matters of interest. What is this telling us? How can one to vote for change?
Yet how can anyone vote for more of the same when history tells us, and our bank accounts tell us, the Council has been conscripting our money with spurious outcomes – and now seemingly hatched by unelected and unaccountable outsiders behind closed doors masquerading as a 'team of right minded leaders'.
Typically these people play their cards very close but the Mayor seems to have blown their cover. in promising to "invite the hidden – and the well-known - leaders to form a Launceston Action Team. We’ll find out what you, the people of Launceston, are passionate about and support you to make the changes". Is he telling us that, if he is elected, he'll finally bring those who have been pulling his strings, his chosen few, out into the open to do what the electorate has appointed him to do, rather the Council to do? Is he really?
The Mayor's 'elect-me-spin', if he's elected, is to enlist a 'team of right minded leaders' – a DREAMteam?. Clearly, this is a signal that Council may already have the backing of such a 'team' right now.
So, is 'the Mayor' perhaps seeking to bring these 'hidden leaders' out from the darkness of the backroom in order that for the next 4 years they can more happily circumvent aldermanic and public scrutiny and accountability? One would hope not!
Voting for candidates based on too little, or no information, is the outcome of a badly broken system.
The various candidates statements typically tell us nothing relative to a policy of any kind. Almost always it is a collection of 'motherhood mumblings'. A voter trying to separate between candidate (A) and candidate (Y) needs to be a clairvoyant.
The candidates generally do not have publicly available contact information to enable comparison of their positions on matters of interest. What is this telling us? How can one to vote for change?
Yet how can anyone vote for more of the same when history tells us, and our bank accounts tell us, the Council has been conscripting our money with spurious outcomes – and now seemingly hatched by unelected and unaccountable outsiders behind closed doors masquerading as a 'team of right minded leaders'.
Ray Norman October 19 2018
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