By Luke Voogt
An $18,000 mayoral “jaunt” across Europe will be waste of money unless it produces tangible results, according to Ratepayers Geelong.
Group president Andrew Senia slammed council’s vote on Tuesday night to send mayor Bruce Harwood and a council officer on a 16-day study tour.
“This has got to stop because it’s not the first time it’s happened,” Mr Senia said.
“The ratepayers are sick and tired of it.“
Mr Senia demanded council demonstrate “direct, realistic and measurable“ benefits the trip would provide Geelong.
“Before these people go off on these jaunts they’ve got to show the ratepayers this is money well spent,” he said.
“We want to hear what the benefits are and when they will come, and could they have been achieved from home.”
Cr Harwood will represent Geelong at a UNESCO Creative Cities Network annual general meeting in Poland from 12 to 15 June.
“It’s just another warm-feeling talk,” Mr Senia said.
Geelong became a member the network in 2017 under the city’s state-appointed administrators as part of their Clever and Creative 30-year vision.
Attending the meeting is a requirement of membership.
The mayor and council staffer will then travel to Turin, Italy, and Dundee, Scotland, to examine the cities’ waste-to-energy operations.
The pair will then stopover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to visit the headquarters of Air Asia as the airline prepares its expansion to Avalon Airport.
But no amount of “PR from City Hall” could justify the decision, Mr Senia said.
“Who knows where the next trip will be and how much it will cost,” he added.
Mr Senia said Cr Harwood would face scrutiny upon his return after stating during his council election campaign that Geelong’s membership of the network must produce “tangible outcomes”.
“What outcomes can we get other than another discussion or consultant’s paper?” the then council candidate said to the Indy in November 2017 .
But Cr Harwood on Tuesday night described the trip as a great opportunity to promote Geelong and build relationships with cities in the network.
Visiting Dundee and Turin would be “invaluable” in learning how the cities transformed their economies from a traditional manufacturing base, he said.
Deputy mayor Peter Murrihy said failing to attend the meeting could be seen as a snub.
“There’s no substitute for face-to-face dialogue when it comes to learning about important matters and making meaningful connections,” he said.
