So bureaucrats in Canberra have decided that you need 200 persons to constitute a town.
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This is a clear indication that the federal government has no idea, no experience, and no place in the management of local affairs.
It is an insult to the proud citizens of our local communities – which really do not need to be categorised as a district, hamlet, small town, town, suburb or anything else – so long as they have a common interest and clear identity.
We should just refer to them as the local community of ... and continue to place appropriate signs like Sebastian, Elmore, Heathcote, Marong, etc.
The City of Greater Bendigo has several small towns and conducts engagement meetings with all of them on an equal basis, despite the fact that they range in population from 100 to 1000 persons.
All have the same access to advice, advocacy and support – despite population and terminology – and so they should.
I believe that the council’s reaction should simply be to ignore Canberra’s edict and rebadge it’s engagement program to become the “local community engagement program”, and get on with good work of encouraging citizens to better their local communities.
Bruce Phillips
Maiden Gully