16 April 2012

South Australia Day Knockback

Proclamation Day it still is.
The following has been reported from the Eastern Courier website;
UNLEY Council’s move to rename Proclamation Day as South Australia Day has been knocked back.
The council sought support from fellow councils at the Local Government Association’s general meeting today (Friday, April 13).
But the move was quashed by the majority of councils.
West Torrens Mayor John Trainer was among those who said changing the historic day’s name was not the business of local government
.

Interestingly there has been no press release or comment from the Mayor on this. This entire fiasco has been nothing but an embarrassment and waste of Council's time and reflects poorly on it's reputation.
It also shows up a weakness in our system in that this matter did not come as a Motion on Notice by Cr Hudson (so it could be debated seperately) before it became part of the Item regarding the Local Government Association. This weakness has also been evident in recent budget negotiations. I will give details of this when they are no longer confidential.

2 comments:

  1. This is what the Eastern Courier had to say;

    A FAILED push by Unley Council to rename Proclamation Day was an embarrassing "fiasco", according to one councillor.

    Unley sought support to change the name to Mainland Settlement Day at this month’s Local Government Association annual general meeting, arguing celebrations at Glenelg on December 28 were historically inaccurate. But overwhelming objections from other councils at the meeting meant the idea did not even go to a vote.

    Unley councillor Jennie Boisvert later posted on her blog: "This entire fiasco has been nothing but an embarrassment and waste of council’s time and reflects poorly on its reputation." Unley councillor Michael Saies said he was not surprised the motion was quashed. "It probably was the right decision not to take it on at the LGA," he said. "It’s a State Government issue." Unley Mayor Lachlan Clyne was disappointed the matter was not tested by a formal vote.

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  2. I have been resoundingly criticized by at least one member of Council for stating what I actually think on this matter and not publicly supporting a decision of Council. Careful reading will show that I criticized the manner in which the decion was made rather that the decision itself (which I didn't agree with either). However, if motion that was passed is so poorly worded that it needed to be rescinded and reworded at a subsequent Special Council meeting, a meeting that initially failed to gain a quorum and had to be rescheduled, was not a fiasco then I'm not quite sure what would be.

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