No dummies here
TARWIN Valley Ward candidates Rosemary Cousin and Di Tod protested ‘dummy candidate’ claims in the lead up to the South Gippsland Shire Council election.
The candidates featured on a how to vote card which appeared to favour Cr Don Hill, which raised some eyebrows from the community about their legitimacy.
Ms Cousin and Ms Tod firmly stated they are independent candidates.
“The reason the old school majority block in council have resorted to scurrilous personal attacks and accusations of ‘dummy candidates’ and ‘stooges’ being fielded is that they have no real policies, and no long term vision to take our communities forward in a tough global environment,” Ms Cousin said.
“We are independent women and independent thinkers who judge each situation on its merits, and we care very deeply about the future of our shire.”
Ms Tod said neither she nor Ms Cousin spoke to the other candidates when they agreed to feature on the how to vote card.
Both candidates stand for a safe environment, building resilience against global warming , fixing rate inequity and changing the culture of ‘bullies’ in council.
“There is an unhelpful culture in South Gippsland Shire. There’s no customer service. You go in looking for help only to feel like what’s happening is your fault. There’s a feeling of hostility,” Ms Cousin said.
“It also seems to be some serious rate inequality. Charges and rates need to be given a closer look at.”
According to the candidates, good values are the first step to change.
“To turn our current predicament around will require restraint, a new vision and a return to some of the values that our grandparents espoused – the old fashioned values of selflessness, hard work and good economic management. It also need new values for the 21st century – those of science and evidence based decision making, environmental awareness, a fair distribution of resources across all communities; teamwork, community engagement and capabilities to solve complex problems,” Ms Cousin said.
“It does not need a culture of negativity and bullying in a vision free zone. A vote for us is a vote for you, our children, our grandchildren and our communities.”
Dummy free: from left, South Gippsland Shire Council candidates Di Tod and Rosemary Cousin refuted claims they are dummy candidates in the council election.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Oct 11 2016. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
