As Launceston's council braces itself for the upcoming budgetary process the good aldermen, old and new, must be wondering how to pitch it. The outcome of last year's State election was something of a game changer. To a lesser extent so too was the Local Government elections.
Rosita Gallasch's assessment of aldermanic performances in The Examiner was possibly a tad generous and in any event subjective plus rather too early for some to be meaningful. However, it is interesting to see The Examiner paying more critical attention to the goings on at Town Hall.
Finally it is possible to see The Examiner paying closer attention to the quality of the decision making at LCC. At the time of the election last year there was, and there remains, a longish list of questions to do with the style of management and the aldermen's role in it. There is this smell in the air that suggests that all this might not have gone away just yet. Time will tell.
Interstate, in Victoria and Queensland in particular, there is considerable commentaries saying "It is time for renewal, it is time for change." Today, its even starting to flow over into the national political debate with the Prime Minister to give a "game changing speech" at the Press Club tomorrow. The Sydney Morning Herald is even saying "Press Club speech critical moment for floundering Abbott" in the wake of Campbell Newman's spectacular demise in Queensland.
All in all, it is a changing world. It might also be said that 'climate change' is not only about rising sea levels it is also about people's expectations of government right down to the level of local government.
With Mary Machen's story in The Examiner, copied below, it seems possible to think that Local Government might come under much closer scrutiny than we have seen for some time.
Tandra Vale, Launceston
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