An Independent Council? That’s the ticket

Democracy is a funny animal.

There are different breeds all over the world, each claiming to have the greatest breeding and pedigree.

Some varieties seem benign, others malignant.

They…. actually that’s about as far as I can stretch that animal metaphor.

Suffice to say, there are many variations on the concept of democracy but they’ve all strayed a little from the original greek model where the populace had a say on all matters deemed worthy of a vote.

One person, one vote.

No representatives voting on your behalf.

No political parties.

Of course we couldn’t vote on everything these days. We are all time poor. Many of the matters we’d be asked to vote on would also require in depth reading and study for an informed opinion.

The reality is we need people to stand for us and vote for us and so we put them through a process of finding out more about them prior to an election and test them on their opinions and platforms.

Some people prefer to find out about an individual and vote for the one individual they feel represents them best, regardless of what party they stand for. Other people are happy just to elect someone based on party affiliations, assuming that answers some of those questions on how they feel and will vote about a given subject.

In that respect, political parties are a bit like a franchise fast food store. If you are out of town, you know what you’ll find at and what to expect from a Maccas store. That attracts some people, while others prefer to get to know an individual eatery and discover what they like for themselves.

At the state and federal levels, for convenience… for simplicity… political parties serve a purpose and can be quite helpful.

But we don’t need them at the local level. And certainly not in regional Australia.

The Goulburn Mulwaree Council has mercifully been free of political factionism for most if not all of its existence and it’s important it stays that way.

While the original Greek city-state version of everyone votes democracy isn’t a realistic proposition, independent council’s – where every vote is a conscience vote and not simply a party decision – are crucial.

Of course the people on our council have personal political affiliations. They existed before they ran for council and developed opinions, attitudes and political leanings. It would be no surprise to anyone that our mayor, Geoff Kettle – a former staffer for Alby Schultz, is an active member and participant of the Liberal Party but likewise many other councillors have personal political preferences..

And fair enough. We all have opinions, interests and allegiances in everyday life that don’t suddenly stop because we take on a new job or, in this case, stand for council. But once on council, you should take of that hat and the main priority has to be your local area.

It’s impossible to serve two masters and our city deserves members who put party allegiances to one side while acting on our behalves. Goulburn Mulwaree must be their first priority… what the party they belong to or follow wants must be a distant second.

I’ll give you an example.

Recently on the Ray Hadley show he spoke with the mayor of the Clarence Valley Council. The town had just heard how the Grafton Gaol would be massively downscaled with a loss of many jobs to the region.

The mayor said that while he was a National Party member, on council he was an Independent and he did not support in any way the decision by the O’Farrell government to effectively close the Gaol.

Brilliant. That’s what towns want and need. Someone who is all about the town first, and then their personal political allegiances a distant second. I believe our mayor similarly identifies himself as an independent while on Council.

It also underlines the very reason parties should have no place in local government. If you voted for ALP and hate the carbon tax… you’d say the party betrayed your trust. If you live in Grafton and voted for the coalition, you’d feel like they didn’t live up to their promise about not closing Grafton Gaol.

Political parties (and I hope I’m not breaking this news to you) are as faulty as any other group of humans and have many limitations – most of which relate to making decisions aimed and keeping in power and furthering individual positions.

Local government, God Bless it, is the last bastion of the fully independent political forum where every single vote should be a conscience vote… not a prearranged deal or an opportunity to do a favour in expectation of receiving a favour in return.

And when parties enter local government, voting tickets come with them. Tickets are a calculating exercise to drag through the top few people on the ticket while using the lower placed members as fodder.

It’s a bit like on Survivor, where groups get together to form an alliance to get through as the final five knowing full well they’ll jettison several members of their alliance once they’ve used their popularity to get through to the final vote.

So if you see parties or tickets running for council, you should run too… in the other direction.

Because we don’t want a group that have decided to vote together regardless of what’s in the town’s best interests.

Because we don’t want local government to become polarised along party lines.

Because we want every councillor to be a person of conscience who may or may not have a political persuasion but who leaves it at the door and votes for what’s good for Goulburn Mulwaree each and every time.

We want an independent forum made up of people who love this part of the world and don’t place personal interests and allegiances ahead of that.

That’s the ticket.

Originally published on the Goulburn Post website.