Mick Fanning might have won the main event at the Rip Curl Pro yesterday but Melbourne again claimed the marketing stakes.
The big smoke elbowed out the locals to fly its name on flags around Bells Beach for the duration of the event, with nary a Geelong or Surf Coast Shire to be seen.
Melbourne has commandeered marketing opportunities at numerous major events in the Geelong region over the past few years, most recently including Cadel Evan’s Great Ocean Road ride.
Given Bells and the ocean road are somewhat way outside the metropolitan area, what’s next? The Melbourne Port Fairy Folk Festival?
Stick to your own patch and let the locals grab some glory, we say.
Some of the other locals, surfers specifically, were tempted to grab a little glory of their own during the event.
Used to crowded conditions with dozens often surfing Bells at the same time, the locals could only watch as the event’s three and two-man heats played out on their home break for over a week.
“Might go out at Bells for a surf – there’s only two guys in the water,” was a common quip.
And wouldn’t the crowds have been thrilled!
News this week that the Labor State Government will clean out the local water board was interesting enough.
But what really raised eyebrows, and possibly some temperatures, was associated information that members of state boards earn anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000.
That’s a lot of moolah for attending monthly meetings and the odd corporate function. Excessive, some might say.
The standard justification, of course, is the well-worn observation, ‘Pay peanuts, get monkeys’.
Maybe, but in the case of state boards it might be, ‘Pay bananas, get gorillas’!
Usually low-profile Golden Plains Shire made national TV news this week – unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.
Channel Nines attack dog A Current Affair paid a visit to the shire amid a ratepayer outcry over bin surveillance, plans to reduce collections from weekly to fortnightly and associated gripes about rates and council wages.
A camera man chased shire boss Rod Nicholls and reporter Martin King even trawled through a council bin in a search of double standards on recycling.
As other local councils get involved in all sorts of social and political issues of debatable relevance at the local government level, the segment was a timely reminder about council priorities.
It’s still all about the three Rs: roads, rubbish and rates.
