Fast Buck$, Coorabell
Further to my advertisement in last week’s Echo I can confirm that Sarah Ndiaye did take advantage of the Greens’ affirmative action policy to jump a place for the election ballot, even though the guy she jumped, Matthew O’Reilly, was certainly a superior choice – as indeed reflected in the Greens’ own voting. In my opinion, in a situation where a male and female candidate are roughly equal in talent, affirmative action was intended to give women a leg-up, not a permanent gerrymander. Sarah had four years to strut her stuff and was found wanting. I note that at least half of local Greens members are women, so what exactly is the beef?
And when I spoke at last week’s Council meeting, Sarah got up to leave while I was speaking. As she passed the lectern, she gave me a faint smirk of victory, probably about her success in the pre-selection. Somehow, I doubt it’s a victory for the Greens.
Of course, Sarah is too obtuse to perceive the irony of what she’s done. The Greens vote will undoubtedly go down significantly at the next election, and the third position on the ballot paper must therefore be in doubt. Now that she’s elevated herself to number two position, however, she is much safer – even though she herself has been a major cause of the Greens’ fallen credibility. Sarah does not appear to be big on accountability.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
