Acting for Ugly People

“Politics is acting for ugly people, writing is acting for shy people,” Lee Childs author of the Jack Reacher series.

The politics of this Shire certainly doesn’t favour the shy, the introvert, those who think deeply about issues affecting their community but have no public speaking ability, or the poor, or the employed, or anyone with responsibilities at home.

The system chosen by the administration of this Shire is that if you wish to ask the Council a question then you must attend in person, thereby limiting the risk that any truly ‘public’ questions will be asked. Anyone living outside of the Margaret River townsite is unlikely to attend, unless they are property developers. At five o’clock rural people will be milking the cows, locking up the poultry, cutting hay before a weather change, grape picking, olive pressing, and so many other time pressured tasks that must take precedence over a drive to Margaret River.

Written questions are allowed to be sent in, but if you send one be prepared for a lengthy wait for a reply. When an answer from the Shire finally arrives, however bizarre the content, however unbelievable the response, the rest of your community will never know that your question was ever asked, or that it was answered really badly. There will be no record in the minutes

Does anyone wonder why the Shire demands a public performance before a question can be placed before the full council and recorded in the minutes? Do those who sit on the highly questionable “Sustainability Committee” ever think about the waste of fossil fuel required for people to drive into town so that they can ask a question that could easily be read out from an emailed text? There is no debate in the Council Chamber, no opportunity to engage in a lively dialogue. All that is possible is the reading of the question, which has to be submitted beforehand in writing.