I have the upmost respect for the article presented by Brian Bennion and John Nugent referring to the new council format and what they regard as flaws in the system.
Change is always hard to accept especially as we age and it’s easy to live in the past but the past of the Ipswich City Council is nothing to be proud of.
We had some good councillors and some not so good but that’s local government but we had a culture that was toxic and that firmly on the record.
The case put was because present councillors were all not on the same page is expected and view issues from different lights should not be seen as a flaw. That is is what a democracy is all about, and different views matter or you have what we had in the past that allegedly know one knew what was going on from the top down.
Ignorance reigned supreme and was bliss to our many of our former councillors. That too is firmly on the record.
The electoral boundaries were judged on population not navigation so equal representation per head was attempted, not exactly but marginally correct.
I expect and encourage vigorous debate and it’s up to the top table to keep it within the corporate governance accountabilities and ensure we all are properly represented with infantile politics put aside.
No one ever said democracy was easy, in fact it is bloody hard and the thing that is most important is accessibility to our representatives, which I might add does not mean taking them out of the kitchen and giving them a comfy chair in the suburbs surrounded by mates, but making the come to you to earn their wages on a phone call or letter.
We are the employers people, never forget it, and we should never be condescending, as remember in the past those who boasted were playing with our money not theirs.
The Lateral Hazard 