Fast Buck$, Coorabell
Last April a Council event took place that was unapproved at the time. The right-wing, led by the Council staff, tried to take advantage of COVID-19 fears by having Simon Richardson installed as generalissimo.
They asked elected councillors to give Simon the delegated authority to take over their role for six months so that Simon would make all the development and other decisions, meaning that councillors wouldn’t even have to attend. This move was enthusiastically backed by Council’s National Party rep Cr Alan Hunter. However, they miscalculated. Cr Coorey moved an amendment to give the Mayor only the power to look after specific, COVID-related measures, for three months, and Cr Ndiaye seconded that move.
At one stage last year I believed Cr Lyon had potential, if he could only be weaned away from Simon’s influence. Simon was on compassionate leave and Lyon was in the chair; being far more flexible and open that Simon had been.
What’s changed? Everything, of course. The Greens failed recently to endorse either Ndiaye or Lyon as their Mayoral candidate, with Lyon doing far worse that his self-belief could countenance. He blamed the voting system rather than his own shortcomings, and quit the party.
Things are getting nasty, I note that Simon hasn’t been involved with the last three Greens meetings, so maybe he’s trying to avoid the grilling he deserves. Meanwhile the Greens had better decide whether they too seek oblivion, they need to formally distance themselves from Simon’s shenanigans, which will probably get a lot worse as the election approaches.
