“Throw the Bums Out”

Last days of electioneering and a day in Bombala

It’s just a little over 24 hours until election day (14th September) here in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council area. Voting has been taking place all week though at pre-polling stations around this vast region. My team has had the opportunity to meet many local people, all of whom are dissatisfied with the performance of the current council.

We have been highlighting on our Substack, the failure of council to control expenditure. There was even the desire by 5/11 councillors to build a new Taj Mahal council headquarters. This project was narrowly defeated by the previous council but is sure to return.

The projected headquarters cost of $40+ million would be certain to balloon to double that. Most of the ratepayers I have talked to have been shocked to find out that this project was even presented to the councillors. They also have been stunned to find out about current expenditure and financial decisions of council, which we outlined in a recent podcast (see below).

The common theme from local residents is that the roads have got a lot worse, council is providing terrible services and they are angry about the rate rises.

A Tour of Bombala

Yesterday we spent the day in Bombala talking to many local residents. It is a beautiful little country town that has gone backwards under the amalgamation of the three councils. The state of the affairs here is scandalous with this local council moving from being ~ $11-12 million in the black to having no funds and relying on the “good offices”of bureaucrats located far away in Cooma.

Figure 1. The main street of Bombala showing the early blossoms of spring.

Figure 2. Looking back toward the main part of town from Bombala heights.

The Disaster of Council Amalgamation

Three local councils that were originally independent, were amalgamated seven years ago in the name of “efficiency”. Of course, services have become worse and I heard shocking stories from residents about council service failure since amalgamation. This could have been predicted in advance. No bureaucracy gets better and more efficient by centralizing it and making it bigger and more distant from the services that it is meant to deliver.

Before amalgamation, Bombala residents had better services and also a sense of community pride as they took responsibility for the local issues. Now, their hands are tied and they have become subservient to the centralized bureaucracy in the big town of Cooma. And of course no one cares. Why would they? Centralised council offices are distant from all the issues. Even their local representatives haven’t taken action on simple problems that could easily be fixed. They don’t seem to have a voice with the council bureaucrats.

The Bombala swimming pool is in a crisis because insufficient maintenance funds are available. One resident told me today that suddenly his water rates had increased more than 10 fold per quarter since amalgamation. It is clear that if these rises and financial mismanagement continue, people’s livelihoods will be under threat. Several local pensioners told me that the rate rises were increasingly impossible for them to pay because the rises were outpacing their increases in income.

I spoke to one man who was a pensioner and lives 30 minutes out of town from Bombala and he was really upset because the local post office has been closed for a week and he couldn’t do any financial transactions. He also didn’t know that the council elections were being held. When I told him about the policies of Group F, he immediately went to the polling station to vote for us. “You blokes couldn’t do any worse”, he told me.

Another Bombala resident had been asking the council for a simple request: put a disabled parking space on the IGA side of the main street of Bombala near the garden store because it is difficult for him to get supplies and groceries. He has been asking for this for three years with zero response. There is even an excellent location for this to be done:

Figure 3. Area on the main street of Bombala near where a local resident has been attempting for three years to have a disabled parking spot installed. NO ACTION BY COUNCIL!

Throw the Bums Out!

There is no doubt that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Unless local residents take the bit between their teeth and vote the current councillors out, nothing of substance will change and services will become worse and rates will continue to rise. There needs to be a total restructure and return to independence otherwise the situation for this beautiful small town will continue to go downhill.

As I was walking the streets of Bombala today, I thought of the great line used in the United States when voters want to remove freeloaders and get a change in government. “Throw the bums out” - is the cry, and the great Ray Stevens even wrote a song that captures this sentiment well in relation to US elections.

This is exactly what the local resident of the snowy barrow region need to do!

“Throw the Bums Out” by Ray Stevens

Peter Anderson has distributed a four-page pamphlet throughout the region, demonstrating that not one of the promises made by the current mayor, Chris Hannah, and his team have been kept. Furthermore, there is shocking financial mismanagement and also a complete lack of transparency across the board, including a serious local issue with a water tank failure in Cooma.

It’s Time to Hold Them Accountable!

Figure 4. Pamphlet distributed by Peter Anderson encouraging people to vote a new group of councillors in.

Peter has highlighted the failure of the mayor, Chris Hanna to deliver on any of his team’s promises. This type of performance must be given a fail, and the only solution is to “throw the bums out”.

Vote 1 for the Reuben Rose Group - Group F - at the SMRC elections on 14th September.