Patricia Dasic
Readers might be interested to know how the government’s ‘community forum’ in Oatlands last weekend was apparently conducted. Several weeks ago invitations were sent to residents of the Southern Midlands inviting them to meet government ministers at a community forum. Those interested were instructed to RSVP but no mention was made at any stage of the need to make an appointment to speak with a member of the government. On the day, those who attended were surprised to find that after about ten minutes of speeches by our elected representatives the audience was then told members would ‘take the appointments’. It then became obvious that some in the know already had appointments. Other members of the audience were told they would have to make one and it could be some time (i.e. an hour and a half) before they could speak to a minister. David Bartlett was already completely booked out. It appears that some people who had driven a considerable distance to take part in the community forum left feeling quite disgruntled. After Lara Giddings’ previous sham invitation-only community forums, one has to wonder at the discrepancy between the public perception of what a community forum should be and what the government’s perception is. Read more, Comment here
