IN ARGUING to ban fracking within the Katherine municipality on February 24, the majority of the individuals elected to represent the community’s best interests demonstrated that they have no idea where their powers end.
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The debate also highlighted that personal agendas and theatrics designed to appease factions continue to trump good governance at Katherine Town Council.
The problem is that the council has no legislative decision-making capability on fracking.
Despite this glaring reality, a motion was tabled during last week’s meeting calling for the council to ban the controversial mining method.
In September, the council wrote to the Mines and Energy Minister, asking for the Katherine municipality to become an exclusion zone to reflect community sentiment.
That 101-word letter was the limit of the council’s ability to influence fracking, yet the banning motion was still added to the agenda and debated.
The motion showed publicly that some of the town’s aldermen are ignorant of their obligations to ratepayers and residents.
It also proved a few are using meetings as orchestrated instruments to push personal agendas, to the delight of a small minority and to the detriment of the community as a whole.
Even the mayor, who gave the nod to include the motion in the agenda, admitted she believed its actual intent was “point-scoring” for several aldermen.
The Local Government Minister has offered the elected members education to remind them what their legislative responsibilities are.
The council has fracked the community’s confidence in its ability to provide effective leadership, so it can only be hoped that the offer to go back to the classroom is accepted with open arms.