I offer a response to letters from intending candidates in this month’s Huon Valley Council elections, and from J. Iles, Geeveston, and A. Duggan, Huonville (It’s your opinion, September 24).
It is reassuring to see these candidates declaring themselves “independent” despite their earlier declared membership of the Heart of the Huon team. I congratulate them for saying so.
Now that their independence is on the public record, their individual policies can be monitored by the general public. This way, electors will be able to decide who are the real independents, and who are those who are simply following their leader.
For example, when a candidate publicly declares a voting preference for another candidate, that clearly demonstrates a relationship exists. Last week’s letters show that a property developer, a real estate agent and an accountant are all supporting each other. With the benefit of hindsight, the performance of our council since the turn of the century has me, as a voter, very concerned.
While some members of the public are reluctant to see open debate, I believe that it is essential that it occurs. When good people work together, good things happen. This month’s election is about good people working together to achieve a wider community good for the whole of the Huon Valley and all its residents and visitors.
Your votes will decide whether we stay with the Futures Team formula (via the Heart of the Huon Team), or opt for a council, led by myself, that wants all our children and our grandchildren to have a secure future with real job opportunities and a sustainable economy and environment.
J. Iles writes: “Mr Coad, please don’t judge other candidates . . .”. At no time have I made any judgment on the qualifications or abilities of candidates. By my saying that they are part of the Heart of the Huon Team and, therefore, could be subject to block voting, is not making any judgments on their personal abilities or qualifications. A football team, with good and average players, normally kicks to the same end.
What concerns me is that the simultaneous presentation of these letters to the editor gives the impression to voters that, if you are not part of the Heart of the Huon Team, you are in the greens’ camp. A serious question here is, why do these individuals, including several existing councillors, not want Peter Coad either as either councillor or mayor? What is it that this council has got to hide?
For A. (is that Councillor Tony?) Duggan of Huonville to recall my vote against the Southwood project so many years ago, I regard as evidence that the real people behind the Heart of the Huon Team do not want their current cosy arrangements upset. The Southwood project promised 200 jobs and a wood-fired power station, yet it has delivered only 45 jobs and no power station.
My concern with Southwood had nothing to do with the greens. It was about the dangerously possible impact of sewage effluent upstream of the domestic water supply to Huonville. In those days, we were expected to vote as a block. If you did not, you were automatically branded a green, and publicly identified as such. I can assure all readers that I have no membership of any political party. My candidacy is all about family and jobs.
I agree with James Doyle: let us change the debate to how each candidate intends to address the important issues that the Huon Valley faces — youth unemployment, unemployment generally, economic development, and council governance.
If A. Duggan and other candidates are concerned about my economic-development credentials, will they support my proposal to establish in the Huon Valley an “international forest innovation centre”? This would establish the first international centre for sustainable temperate forest and forest-product innovation in the southern hemisphere. Costed at $600 million to build, it would provide 5000 jobs in the construction phase and 1500 full-time jobs after completion. (Full details of this proposal will soon be on my website.)
Now to the ‘Huon Trail’ marketing debacle. Which candidates are offering policies that will address the decline in the valley’s share of the Tasmanian tourist market from 27% in 2002 to only 15% in 2013? Such a dramatic decline, even while council has been spending hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars, suggests a disastrous waste of public money. Who has been masterminding this sad tourism debacle? And why is it happening? To redress this problem, we, as potential councillors, need to offer concrete proposals and answers.
Are candidates prepared to support my policies to develop eco–tourism in the southwest and to upgrade our road infrastructure and develop new road networks that will enable sustainable eco-tourism development? And what proposals do other candidates have to address our serious youth and adult unemployment in the valley?
It is time for an end to the platitudes — passion, commitment, values, heart of the valley, and so on — and for all candidates, if they are truly independent, to let us know how they would tackle the vital issues facing the valley that I have touched on.
Peter Coad Deep Bay Cygnet
