Shouts from the desert

Today is the day for the first of two council by-elections for Ward C of Hornsby Shire. There are six candidates, but based on the qualifications of the would-be councillors there are not 6 real options.

Unfortunately information about the candidates is hard to come by. Surprisingly given 21st century technology, the candidates have not even done a great job of making information about themselves available to people who genuinely want to find out about them. At the most basic level, a Google search for the candidate's name combined with the word "Hornsby" ought to bring up their campaign web sites in the first one or two pages of the Google results. Not one of the candidates has achieved this - indeed it seems likely none of them actually have campaign web sites.

I have only received campaign material in the letterbox for one candidate, and while other junk mail gets thrown out my wife makes sure political material lands on my desk. This left me relying on the very limited information in one of the local newspapers (the other one has not been delivered in my street for about 6 months), and on the candidate information sheets posted at the polling place.

Few of the candidates have qualifications recommending them for the role of councillor, and none of them seem to be promoting a compelling policy position to recommend them.

The major "issues" in the area are the acquisition of the Hornsby quarry site, and an equestrian centre to be built in the north of the shire. The first issue revolves around series of costly blunders made by the council in the mid 1970s the mid 1990s and finally the early 2000s that has resulted in an additional levy being unavoidably imposed on ratepayers - those using this position either complain about the past without suggesting they will actually do anything about it, or claim to have a plan to get rid of the levy but do not actually state what the plan is. I suspect the reason they will not describe their plan is that there is none - but an issue that concentrates on ratepayer anger over cash costs to them is too attractive for some to resist, even if they cannot make a difference to matters past.

The equestrian centre is controversial predominantly because it only benefits those in the community who are involved in horse riding. This is a small subset, and many feel their rates should not be used to support it. There are other aspects, but they are subsidiary to this main point. I have a hard time being sympathetic to this position - Hornsby Shire is a large area encompassing both suburban and semi-rural districts, and it is to be expected that facilities will have to be constructed that address the different needs of sections of the shire having a different character.

My guess is the donkey vote will win.

Here is my summary of each of the 6 candidates. Where I have noted that there are no meaningful policies, note that I do not regard motherhood statements or wish lists without a plan as meaningful, so some candidates may dispute whether their stated policies are meaningless.

Frank Coletta

Coletta is a Television presenter who had his 40^th birthday two days ago. Happy birthday Frank, it seems you are likely to get the donkey vote and land on the council. Coletta's candidate information sheet listed no meaningful qualifications and no policies. He seems to be running on the "I'm famous so you'll vote for me" platform.

He is not famous to me, however - I do not watch television news because I find it shallow. Instead I use the written news - it takes a lot more time, but provides much better detail.

Coletta is running as an independent and claims to have no affiliation with any party.

Bruce Mills

Mills is the 30-something ALP candidate. He has a law degree and, if I recall correctly an MBA. His campaign flyer described him as a senior manager in an international IT company. Of course none of this is on the candidate information sheet, where only the mandatory sections have been completed.

Mills at least has the basic training required to do the day-to-day work of a councillor, although there are no clear policy positions.

Michael Bradley

Bradley is an independent semi-retired 54 year old hairdresser. His candidate information sheet listed no meaningful qualifications and no policies. I cannot find anything to recommend him.

In the local newspaper he is reported as having answered the question "would you be bound to answer to another authority in the exercise of your duties" with "yes", stating that the other authority was "God". I am always skeptical of people who have to bring their religious beliefs into the campaign since it suggests they have nothing real to run on and are trying to drum up the support of other believers. Indeed such techniques remind me of the way the Gospels preach against the faithful being boastful about religious beliefs, and using one's religious beliefs as grounds for self promotion seems one step worse.

Martin Maguire

Maguire is the Greens candidate, and has degrees in economics and cognitive science, a PhD and a teaching certificate. He is 61 years old and his candidate information sheet listed no meaningful policies. His academic qualification are useful, but Mills still has him beaten on that score.

Robert Browne

Browne is a 51 year old past councillor and mayor of Hornsby Shire with 6 years of service on the Council. His candidate information sheet lists his occupation with the ambiguous "self-employed consultant", and no academic qualifications. He does have a record of service, but I do not know how well he did in the role. His service on council did coincide with the culmination of the quarry acquisition, but that does not necessarily reflect on him.

Browne is running as an independent, although there was some discussion earlier this year about whether he would nominate for Liberal preselection in Epping, which would require him to be a member of the Liberal party.

His candidate information sheet lists no meaningful policies, although it does document a solid record of service.

Andrew Isaac

Isaac is a 38 year old electrical engineer with degrees in electrical engineering and science, neither of which is relevant to council service although his university education should have given him some critical thinking skills. He is a member of the Liberal Party, but is running unendorsed - at least he is honest enough not to have had the word "Independent" printed against his name, and he freely admits his association with the Liberal Party. Indeed his supporters at the polling places today are wearing shirts that make reference to this affiliation, which probably tread the line of Liberal Party rules on such conduct.

His candidate information sheet lists no meaningful policies. His how to vote card notes his church attendance, which counts as a negative for the same reasons I noted for Bradley.

Conclusion

In the entire field there were no meaningful policies that I could discern. Motherhood statements abounded, but on policy there was nothing to recommend any candidate. I am somebody who pays fairly close attention to political matters, so I suspect the vast majority of voters are working on even less information than I am.

I was left to make the decision based on likely skills. On this score, Mills is the clear leader in terms of training, with Maguire coming next - this despite my preference for independents. Browne has experience, but I pinged him for claiming independence when his name was associated with a Liberal preselection only a few months ago, putting Isaac at number 3 since he was honest on this score. Coletta and Bradley struck me as not offering anything and got my 5 and 6. Independent is better than being a party hack, but it is more important to be able to bring useful skills to bear in the performance of council duties, and neither Coletta nor Bradley have given any indication they have such skills.