Amazing musical deserves full house
Just a short note to recommend to readers that they go and see the show The Boy from Oz at the Capital Theatre.
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I was part of the audience on Friday night and was so impressed with the local talent we have here in Bendigo.
In all areas of the production the standard was amazing and people need to see what great things our local people can do.
It has three more performances next weekend and deserves full houses.
I have been involved in the performing arts for many years and can safely say this has been a highlight for me.
Bendigo Theatre Company can be rightly proud of this professional show.
Vern Wall, Strathdale
Need to overhaul council ward system
I’m seriously concerned about the probable outcome of the imminent election of councilors for the City of Greater Bendigo.
The Victorian Electoral Commission decided four years ago to take an easy, little maintenance, approach by creating three wards with three councillors per ward.
The three wards encompass both urban and rural areas and span many widely spaced suburbs with little in common between individual communities.
Whilst the councillor per capita ratio has been maintained, the relationship between councilor and the individual has become more remote. The result is that the voter is faced with a plethora of candidates who cannot effectively represent all the individual communities within their ward.
Voting is compulsory and, frankly, 80 per cent of voters don’t care who is elected unless they have a pressing local issue to be resolved.
This means that donkey, reverse donkey, dartboard and informal voting is rife with little, if any, regard to the attributes or policies of the candidates offering themselves for election.
Sure, candidates with a public profile may fare better, but they are not necessarily the councilor we need to solve local problems or contribute to the critical forward planning aspects of council business.
Some candidates will spend a lot of money and some next to nothing on their campaigns without influencing the outcome at all. Honestly, you might as well draw names out of a hat.
It’s all very well to say that you get the (local) government you deserve, but we deserve a better deal and better governance than we currently have.
A good start would be reverting to one councillor per ward to strengthen the bond between councillor and the community, even if the ward boundaries need to be more regularly adjusted to balance representation.
This is, after all, local government and whilst the total municipality needs to managed, most people are vitally concerned with local issues.
If the local government electoral system is not broke, it is seriously injured. Only the state government can fix it, but currently simply wields a big stick to deal with symptoms rather than fixing the cause of the burgeoning occurrence of dysfunction of local government in our state.
Bruce Phillips, Maiden Gully
Cyclist safety back on the agenda
I have had enough of hearing and reading of fatalities and horrific injuries as a result of the cyclist or motorcyclist being hit by a motorist.
Those who wear dark clothing are so hard to see particularly in inclement weather.
Many years ago the helmet law was brought in. Now I’m suggesting, no I’m demanding, a law is brought in for the compulsory wearing of a high visual helmet and/or jacket.
Why wait for a new law? Just think of self-preservation, and make it easier for the motorist to see you.