Council rates are going up again

by almost 10%. That's a huge increase...and not one that can be justified. 

I did not vote for the current mayor. I did not vote for her because she has an agenda I do not believe is appropriate. Councils are there for things like "rates, roads, rubbish" and some community services. They are not there to push an extreme political agenda or heavily woke ideas. 

The current mayor obtained a lot of votes by promising "free solar panels" to anyone who did not have solar panels but wanted them. Of course these solar panels are not "free". They are being paid for by the rate payers. What is more they have apparently ordered more than they can currently use so they are "selling" them at "reduced prices because they were bought in bulk". I am told they are not the best solar panels available - and that some installers do not want to put them on the roof.  This house already has some solar panels - which we paid for in the usual way and so do other houses. We do not benefit from this scheme but we are subsidising it for others so the mayor can claim some "green" credentials. 

She has also gone ahead with buying "pride" flags for the council. Now if people want to fly "pride" flags on their own buildings that is fine with me but there is just one flag which should be flown on a council building and that is the national flag. If there is a second flagpole then there are occasions on which it is appropriate to fly a second flag but flags (and their maintenance) are expensive. Always flying the flag of a tiny group in the community for the purposes of "inclusion" is not "inclusive" at all. There are many other groups in the community which feel excluded and discriminated against. We do not fly flags for them.

She has also gone ahead and started to rename some local landmarks. They are being given "Aboriginal" names. The mayor tells us that this is being done in consultation with the local aboriginal community. There is a problem with this. Our council area runs over more than one tribal area. The tribes often clashed. They spoke different languages. There was more than one name given to some landmarks. In some cases people have no idea what something was called. The mayor is relying on information from people who are not experts and who could just as easily be making something up. (Before you tell me not to be ridiculous, this happens more often than researchers want to acknowledge.) Renaming places is expensive.  It is also wiping out a lot of important local history.

The community bus service has been cut back. (It relied on volunteer drivers.) The library budget has been reduced and has to be fought for even though it is the biggest community service there is - used by hundreds of people everyday.  The mayor wants to cut back on rubbish collection "so people will think about doing more recycling" - which is why we already have a recycling bin is it not?

One of the people on my regular pedalling route tried to go to a council meeting recently. They are supposed to be open to the public. It was not open to the public. He had been trying for months to get the council to do a simple alteration to a drain in his street. I have no engineering knowledge but he does. He explained it to me. It makes sense.  He has offered to do the job himself so that water can be saved. No, he may not do it. When will it be done? It's on the council list - for 2027. It would take a council worker an hour at most. 

I know....I know. All these things are the sort of things which happen everywhere but I am going to be paying hundreds of dollars more for things which should not be done and watch water go along the street instead of the proper catchment area instead. Meanwhile the mayor is telling us how "inclusive" the council is. The engineer just happens to live with his male partner and would prefer the drain to be fixed than a flag to be flown.