Critics of council junkets ate their words this week after the triumphant return of Mayor Bruce Harwood and new council chief Martin Cutter from Malaysia.
The pair met AirAsia X chief Benhahim Ismail in Kuala Lumpur for discussions about the airline’s pending arrival at Avalon Airport.
And, according to the Advertiser this week, it all went swimmingly. Or maybe that should be flyingly.
Ratepayers expecting a return on their investment would be relieved to know that the meeting “explored opportunities for increased collaboration”.
While that might sound like code for “developed justifications for further overseas travel”, readers learnt that it was really all about “trade, tourism and economic development”.
So much for roads, rates and rubbish!
But at least our men didn’t return empty handed.
After presenting Mr Ismail with a framed Cats jersey, they in turn received a model airplane. Talk about The Art of the Deal!
Hopefully the other 10 councillors also get a chance to play with the toy A330-300 before it goes on display at City Hall.
Interestingly, any tensions in the meeting would have been confined to the Geelong side of the table given the other local representatives present.
After all, Committee of Geelong chief Rebecca Casson and chair Dan Simmonds would well-remember it was Cr Harwood who axed council’s $20,000 membership of the lobby group during his previous mayoral stint.
And as readers also might remember, the committee had to await Bruce’s removal with the sacked previous council to have the membership restored, courtesy of now-departed City Hall chief Kelvin Spiller.
So was the next round of council dues discussed in Malaysia? We’ll probably never know.
As they say, what happens in Kuala Lumpur stays in Kuala Lumpur.
Did a state Labor minister channel a Liberal arch-enemy at the turning of the sod on Barwon Health’s Norlane facility this week?
Readers can decide for themselves but Health Minister Jill Hennessey certainly channelled former Premier Jeff Kennett when she apparently threatened to fire the first shovel-load of dirt at the cameras.
Of course, Jeff famously carried through with the threat at a picture opportunity in the ‘90s, enraging journos to the glee of the public.
Jeff would have been flattered but his imitator at least added an additional degree of difficulty, pulling off the stunt on one leg.
Show-off. Any further upstaging and she wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on!
