Confidence in the future relies on clarity. But every day we see what uncertainty or speculation can do. When, for example, doubt is thrown about on future economic growth, the stock market takes a tumble.
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But when there is a clear path ahead, articulated without the encumbrances of spin or sparse detail, it allows everyone to get on with the job.
Of course, speculation and smoke and mirrors are all part of the game. Any shrewd political operator will know when to show their hand and when to keep things quiet. It’s a simple reality of finding a way through the maze without having to lose too much, or anything, of what you want to achieve.
But there is a difference between accepting the rules and playing the game and straight-out refusing to reveal your intentions for no apparent good reason. The latter appears to be the case when it comes to the political future of Albury MP Greg Aplin. Mr Aplin was happy to talk, about himself, when NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian paid a visit to the city last week.
He veritably gushed in claiming her belief that he would contest the 2019 election as a rubber stamp of what he had secured. It was, he said, something predicated on his “delivery of projects and the future delivery of projects”.
But when the talk wasn’t about his achievements he instead chose silence. He just won’t say if he will stand for that next election, even with his boss’s blessing.
For Mr Aplin to argue that discussion about his political future is mere “speculation” and at that, speculation solely from The Border Mail is an absolute nonsense.
Knowing what their handsomely paid local MP intends to do in the not-so-distant future is the question coming squarely from the community that Mr Aplin has been given the privilege to represent.
This community, the people of the Albury region – regardless of whether they voted for him or not – have the right to know.
No, Mr Aplin, you are not being asked about your plans of “10, 20, 30 years ahead or whatever” as you said. It is not “crazy”.
Certainly this was not the word pulled out of the hat when Benambra MP Bill Tilley announced late last year that he intended to stand at the next Victorian election, which at the time was less than two years away.
Mr Aplin needs to remember that he is there to serve the community and that the community deserves to be treated with more respect.