Councillors who voted for this PAO failed Bendigo ratepayers. They clearly had no idea of the total cost. Shame!

Mayor O’Rourke said she wished to address some “outrageous figures” circulating in the community over the amount spent on identifying suitable land. She  claims, after the vote, that “the cost over 16 years was $1.93 million, equating to $120,000 per year”.

This is dressing up the costs, saying “most of the planning amendment assessment work for the project was undertaken in-house as part of staff work plans, which has meant significant cost savings for council”. This is misleading and obfuscation.

Ratepayers are not fools. Whilst staff were working on the issue, other citizens issues would not have been dealt with. Staff and residents’ time is valuable, and the cost must be put against this project, the same as council did for the independent investigations, consultants, engineer reports and expert witnesses.

The mayor just can’t have council staff costs or government officer time and costs out of the equation, another $1.5 million possibly, which raises the cost to $3.43 million.

The average residential rate according to council’s 2016/17 annual report is $ 1,637. So the $3.43 million is really 2,095 mum and dad, pensioners, young couples rates down the drain.

It seems our council wants power, but in this public acquisition overlay project they have not covered themselves in glory. Perhaps it is something else? The minister for Local Government must investigate this project from its very beginning and provide a true report on council’s poor attempt to snatch good farming land for a business park, and no plan B! What a drawn out fiasco.

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The Australian media headed by News Corp unleashed a barrage of insults and accusations leading into the weekend’s by-elections, but the majority of the public did not buy any of them.

Given what is about to happen in the media industry that is a positive, but for how long? The take over of Fairfax by the Nine Network is another example of the weakening of the diversity of the news front. There is certainly no guarantee that the “Nine Brand" will be anything other than another version of Nine news, not at all in the same category as the Fairfax brand, but relying on sensationalism.

On September 20 this year the Government will receive the report into the financial services royal commission and given the PMs insistence on giving tax cuts to big business, and considering their annihilation in the Queensland seat of Longman, he seems to be on a political suicide mission. 

So even after News Corp threw everything at Labor in these by elections the LNP failed miserably to to hood wink the public. So what does that tell you? The public are not as dumb as the LNP think. The message was loud and clear –  change, or suffer the consequences, but this is not something that is in their DNA, so the result is only heading one way –  total  disaster.

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