Boroondara Council employees received a document advocating the Council's position on single-councillor wards with their pay slips last week. Is the implication that employees who oppose the Council's stand on single-councillor wards are in danger of losing their jobs?
We have no objection to the Council providing employees with information about the VEC representation review. Our objection is to the Boroondara Council taking a partisan stand.
Imagine an outcry from employees if the Council prior to the last state election issued a pamphlet telling employees the virtues of Andrew McIntosh or Ted Baillieu. They wouldn't tolerate it and neither would most Victorians. Of course we couldn't see the Council issuing a pamphlet supporting Bob Stensholt, whose electorate also includes part of Boroondara. Only one Councillor, who represents the Ashburton area, is likely to support him. That Councillor does, however, support the Council views on single-councillor wards, and that is her personal choice.
We think the Council should provide a balanced pamphlet to its employees with arguments for and against both alternatives. The VEC does so. Why not Boroondara?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
BRAG want a wog-free Boroondara?
The anti-Baillieu blog has an item about the Boroondara Residents Action Group this morning. Says they want no wogs in Boroondara.
We are not great supporters of the BRAG. They censor items on their web site that disagree with them, according to comments on our blog. Their main concern is not Boroondara but Camberwell Junction. They are good self publicists. Their activists are well heeled Anglo and white. Their main spokesperson Mary Drost writes letters to the Progress Leader claiming anything but the present ten councillor wards in Boroondara is undemocratic.
We don't think they are racist, and we think that item on the anti-Baillieu blog claiming they are is offensive. We don't agree with Mary Drost for reasons we'll explain in a minute, but we make no personal attack on her. She has good intentions and we commend her for that. We'll explain in the next paragraph why we disagree with her.
No Mary. The present Boroondara Council is undemocratic. A move to multi-councillor wards and proportional representation, opposed by BRAG, may not be totally democratic but it is FAIRER.
Why don't we have a more diverse Council? It's because the single member wards favour candidates who are white Anglo and Liberal. That's Boroondara. The twenty or so per cent who were born overseas are unlikely to be elected. Anyone who is known to vote anything other than Liberal is unlikely to be elected. It's OK to be an independent. It's OK to claim not to be a member of any political party. If the good burghers of Boroondara, except for that small pocket around Ashburton that includes public housing (and how did it ever become part of Boroondara? You didn't campaign hard enough Mary) if people think you are anything other than a true blue Lib you won't get elected. No socialists for Boroondara is a tried and true slogan. We are fairly conservative ourselves, but we prefer to look at a candidate rather than what their politics might be. Boroondara is not federal parliament.
We are not great supporters of the BRAG. They censor items on their web site that disagree with them, according to comments on our blog. Their main concern is not Boroondara but Camberwell Junction. They are good self publicists. Their activists are well heeled Anglo and white. Their main spokesperson Mary Drost writes letters to the Progress Leader claiming anything but the present ten councillor wards in Boroondara is undemocratic.
We don't think they are racist, and we think that item on the anti-Baillieu blog claiming they are is offensive. We don't agree with Mary Drost for reasons we'll explain in a minute, but we make no personal attack on her. She has good intentions and we commend her for that. We'll explain in the next paragraph why we disagree with her.
No Mary. The present Boroondara Council is undemocratic. A move to multi-councillor wards and proportional representation, opposed by BRAG, may not be totally democratic but it is FAIRER.
Why don't we have a more diverse Council? It's because the single member wards favour candidates who are white Anglo and Liberal. That's Boroondara. The twenty or so per cent who were born overseas are unlikely to be elected. Anyone who is known to vote anything other than Liberal is unlikely to be elected. It's OK to be an independent. It's OK to claim not to be a member of any political party. If the good burghers of Boroondara, except for that small pocket around Ashburton that includes public housing (and how did it ever become part of Boroondara? You didn't campaign hard enough Mary) if people think you are anything other than a true blue Lib you won't get elected. No socialists for Boroondara is a tried and true slogan. We are fairly conservative ourselves, but we prefer to look at a candidate rather than what their politics might be. Boroondara is not federal parliament.
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