Welcome to this week’s editorial, We now live a world that now recognises, and appears to accept, alternate facts and alternate truths. Or do we? Back when most of us were growing up these “alternate facts” were referred to as porkies or just plain and simple lies. And as we all know from parental advice “A small lie builds into a much bigger lie”. What we are now seeing with the Eurobodalla Council is one big “alternate truth” after the next. They appear to be unstoppable and the more they “alternate fact” us the lesser they become. Sadly, there appears to be a total incapability on their part to draw a line in the sand and say “Yep, sorry, we were lying, can we start again?” Over recent months the Eurobodalla community has gathered momentum. Groups up and down the coast have begun to form and to confront Council over a raft of issues whch are usually either due to Council failing to communicate in the first place or being very selective in what they communicate. When caught out it appears the first thing they will turn to is a lie. Take for example the recent ROSS report that identified the sale of a reserve in Narooma called Walker Park. The community were informed by the Beagle that if they happened to read the substantial report they would find the intent to sell the land buried deep in its pages. Even the local Narooma councillor had no idea. When it was revealed and the Narooma community rallied Council said “it was an error”. Under extreme pressure they withdrew. It wasn’t an error as Council had been wanting to sell this land for many years and had previously earmarked it for sale. The Surfside community have now discovered that there have been a swag of “alternate facts” presented to them in regards to where they stand with sea level rise and “planned retreat”. Council claims it has no policy yet clearly does. Council has now seriously compromised any trust that the Surfside community once might have had in them and this has resulted in a community at large no longer believing a word that Council says, or writes. The Mackay Park Project debacle has sadly seen “alternate truths” built on “alternate facts” to the point where the community simply can’t work out where the truth is. From the purchase of the Bowling Club site in 2016 to the recent grant application, from the condition of the Bowling Club building to the leasing of the site to the RMS. On one hand Council have indicated the Bowling Club building is in ruin while a 2016 engineering report says it is sound with a few leaks in the roof. With the request for a simple engineering report on the condition of the Batemans Bay Pool turning into a major saga the Council has again lost the respect of the community. What is becoming more than evident is that every time Council opens its mouth it is managing to put both feet in it and the community at large are beginning to see that our once respected emperors have no clothes and tell big porkies. Until next, lei
