I am not sure why The Border Mail continues to undermine the roles of both Albury and Wodonga councils in their reporting. The recent article raising the travel expenses of Anna Speedie and Kevin Mack had less than subtle undertones of exotic travel and extravagance.
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Albury and Wodonga councils are actually businesses that operate 24/7 to provide great services to ratepayers and residents and like any other businesses their leading executives must travel to get the word out on what a great business we are and in our case, what a great region we live in, to secure investment, promote the brand and pitch for new business, amongst many other endeavours.
Of recent times The Border Mail seems twist stories and take cheap shots that portray the council and mayors poorly.
An example of this is The Border Mail reporting on travel costs by both mayors and in particular the reference to a presentation made by Kevin Mack and Anna Speedie to the Australian Regional Development Conference in Tweed Heads.
The conference was a premier conference that put Albury-Wodonga squarely in the focus of MPs both state and federal and other no doubt envious councils. Rather than highlight the great opportunity that this presented for Albury-Wodonga’s Two Cities One Community, the article cheapened itself by focusing the cost of doing business in this day and age.
Where does The Border Mail think millions of dollars of federal and state grant money for Albury-Wodonga comes from?
It comes from the direct representations by our cities’ leaders to those with the money and that money is in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra or wherever the steward of the grant money may be.
Where does new investment in areas such as manufacturing come from? It comes from the promotion of the cities by its leaders and in our case it is Anna and Kevin and invariably those new business that we want in our region are somewhere else.
This advocacy does not occur by sitting in an office in Hovell Street, Wodonga or Kiewa Street, Albury.
It comes from getting on a plane in the early morning or late at night, sitting in airports, putting on your game face in a unfamiliar city with unfamiliar people, being away from your family and friends, living out of a suitcase and all the other joys that come with being away from home and for what? $70,000 or $80,000 a year.
If Anna and Kevin did what they do for council in the private sector they would be on $200k a year, so I think we are getting a pretty good deal.
In the scheme of the turnover of both cities of hundreds of millions of dollars I think the amount of travel expenses is very, very low and that any other business with the turnover of combined cities would question whether it needs to be more.
Cr Murray King, Albury City Council
Editor’s note
The Border Mail rejects the assertion that any of its reports have been twisted, or that there were “undertones of exotic travel and extravagance”. The Border Mail presents the facts in regards to councillors’ expenses and travel costs, as we believe ratepayers are entitled to know and that it is our job to inform them. It is up to readers and ratepayers to determine whether they think such expenses are excessive, or otherwise. We welcome your opinions at letters@bordermail.com.au.
