In a land where 75% of citizens distrust their governments & political leaders, it is hardly surprising that those same citizens expect those same governments & politicians to routinely act to deceive them.
In a land where politicians are less trusted than the clergy, police, bankers or lawyers, where public trust in governments & politicians is at its lowest in 60 years, it is hardly surprising that the majority of citizens are cynical about the motives of politicians & what they say.
In a land where corruption abounds, where those acting in the public interest can be destroyed through secret trials, where the fate of the public interest is less likely to be determined by fact-based evidence, but more likely by the weasel words of paid charlatans & spivs, where citizens have lost faith in their democracy, its symbols & institutions, because they believe the game is rigged, it is hardly surprising that our politicians believe that everything can be reduced to “spin” … to keeping-up appearances … & simply doing whatever it takes to achieve their aims.
And if through some mischance our politicians are caught-out, in less than a week their minders & spin merchants can repaint them as hapless victims of persecution.
Council & its controllers are no different to the rest.
They can acknowledge no error or mistake: in the words of its general manager “council does not operate a blame culture”, effectively virtue-signalling a secretive culture where there is no management accountability for anything.
Deny everything & keep-up appearances at all costs.
A recent example of how far this deviousness has penetrated the BVSC culture can be found in the Minutes of council’s Extraordinary Meeting of July 13th, 2020.
According to the Minutes of that meeting published on council’s website, no fewer than 8 point of order were raised by various councillors during the meeting, with the Chair of the meeting, the Mayor, Cr Tapscott, ruling in favour of the point of order on every occasion.
Rubbish.
The purpose of Minutes of Meetings is to create a factual record of the proceedings which can be relied-upon by all concerned.
The reality was very different to anyone who listened & watched
the circus that passed as a meeting, with the
Mayor at times completely at a loss as to how to deal with points of order raised, while on at least seven occasions ignoring them & not responding at all.
At the same time, the Minutes themselves make no mention of at least two points of order raised, one of which was also effectively ignored by the Chair.
The association believes that the Minutes of the meeting evidence the fact that the council is obsessed with keeping-up appearances & with ensuring that residents & ratepayers are not made aware of major performance deficiencies within council.
That council cannot or won’t produce an accurate record of a formal meeting says everything about its integrity & the level of trust that residents & ratepayers should extend to it & its management.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au