Politics & Council
14 June, 2024
Comment: Bad habits mar visits of ministers
WHAT is it with State Government ministers coming into Loddon communities? If locals are lucky, the first they will know of a dignitary on the patch is seeing a flash car heading out of town. For the third time in two years that is what happened in...
WHAT is it with State Government ministers coming into Loddon communities?
If locals are lucky, the first they will know of a dignitary on the patch is seeing a flash car heading out of town.
For the third time in two years that is what happened in Boort last week. Mary-Anne Thomas set the “gold standard” with not one but two visits for internal photo-ops on worker accommodation projects.
Throw in last year’s Calivil dairy stop by Agricultural Minister Gayle Tierney and now Natalie Hutchins in Boort last week and you really wonder what game is being played.
It’s discourteous and perpetrating bad habits to have ministers coming into the area and not involving local communities, that is, engaging with the local people for growth in an MP’s understanding of what’s happening outside of Melbourne. Worse still, not even telling the next level of government - the local council - of the visit. When a minister comes to down, that’s a big thing. It’s local news deserving greater in-depth coverage than a media release issued after the event.
Whatever the reason for the exclusion of local presence at Ms Hutchins’ visit, the Government’s style is at odds with country values on this occasion.
- CHRIS EARL