May I, through your column, express an opinion regarding a decision made by the councillors of Greater Shepparton at their council meeting on August 15? At this meeting, the members of council voted unanimously to support the Yes vote in the upcoming constitutional referendum. I suggest to the council that they stay out of politics and concentrate their efforts more on the three Rs of local government: roads, rates and rubbish.
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We have seen this country’s ‘Big Brothers’, the hierarchies of the sporting codes, the big corporate businesses and local municipal councils telling us, the ‘Little People’, what is good for us. I, for one and no doubt many others, strongly object to the ‘Big Brothers’ of this world telling us how to vote on this matter. If anything, their attitudes have made me more determined to vote No.
Perhaps the council could reflect on the words of the late Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia, who said as part of his Australia Day address to the nation in 1988, “In Australia, there is no hierarchy of descent; there must be no privilege of origin”.
Perhaps the councillors of Greater Shepparton, at their next council meeting, might consider rescinding the motion of support for the Yes vote that they made at the August council meeting and stay neutral. If the recent opinion polls are any indication for the result of the referendum, the council, by their support of the Yes vote, have alienated over half of the people in Greater Shepparton. Leave it to the people to decide.
