The Beagle Editor,
On15 November the Tuross Head Progress Association held a Meet the Candidates Forum for the 2021 local government election. Bernie O’Neil from ABE facilitated the Forum.
It was attended by all 7 mayoral candidates Alison Worthington (The Greens), David Grace (Eurobodalla Labor), Karyn Starmer (The Mayne Team), Tubby Harrison and Gary Smith (A Better Council), Mat Hatcher (Advance Eurobodalla), Rob Pollock (Prefer Pollock) plus James Thomson (who has a ticket but is not running for mayor).
During the Forum the candidates were asked to indicate by a show of hands whether they supported action on a number of issues. The answers were taken to represent the position of the other councillor candidates on their group tickets. The issues chosen emerged for questions put by the Tuross residents and the broader Eurobodalla community.
There was wide ranging and revealing discussion in response to many of the questions raised during the evening, including some qualifications on responses reported below. A full recording of the Forum can be heard HERE.
Candidates’ responses are important to help us chose who we should vote for. They also help us to hold those candidates elected as mayor or councillor to account against the commitments they have made during the election campaign.
Broadly the questions below are about how councillors, and Council, should operate. They reflect peoples’ concerns about how the 2016-21 Council has operated and how that might be improved.
Bernie O'Neil,
co-convenor of ABE (A Better Eurobodalla)