Welcome to this week’s editorial, New days are upon us. It is a long weekend and the gates are open for visitors to return. Restored are some of the things we have all sorely missed. Fifty of us can now return to the pub, fifty of us can return to our favourite cafes and restaurants, up to 20 people can attend weddings, 50 at funerals and 50 at places of worship , we can visit museums, galleries and libraries and from Saturday the 13th of June, fitness, gyms, pilates, yoga and dance studios can reopen, pools, tattoo parlours, massage parlours, brothels and even community centres can open. While it might tale some time yet to reinstate festivals, plays and concerts the next BIG event we can look forward to coming out of Lock Down, involving tens thousands of participants will be the Eden Monaro by-election voting day on July 4th. With more re-openings inevitable as we open our bubble to other states and even New Zealand it might come as a surprise that the Minister for Local Government, Shelley Hancock, is still insistent that there will be no Council elections in 2020. While the declaration requires an Official Order that must be Gazetted the Minister appears to be playing some sort of political game by not officially acting, resting on a subterfuge that sounds more like “If I announce it then that becomes fact”. The Minister for Random Announcements this week also made another that has well and truly put the possums up Local Councils when she touted the prospect of postal voting next year during an online meeting of mayors on Thursday, as reported by Matt O’Sullivan in the SMH reporting “ Ms Hancock confirmed she was considering the option of bringing forward universal postal voting for the 2021 council elections but said a final decision had not been made.” So, it appears that by September you will be able to go to a pub for predinner drinks with 9 of your friends, then on to a restaurant to later attend a massage parlour, brothel or tattoo shop with no difficulty at all. Maybe some of those may have flown in from interstate or even New Zealand for the reunion. By then we would have a new Federal Member for Eden Monaro following the open public elections of July 4th and will have returned to the gym or the pool with 100 others. So why exactly is Shelley Hancock refusing to change her mind? It now appears that she is considering the option of bringing forward universal postal voting for the 2021 council elections but said a final decision has not been made. More on that to come. Until next—lei
