Gets your goat

YOU have to wonder about the wisdom of the decision of a majority of the Geelong council to back the Lara anti-goat farm protesters.

Geelong council, under the management of administrators, previously granted Nuchev approval to establish its goat farm in Lara.

Regardless of the merit of the Lara residents’ complaints, what message is a majority of the new council sending to business by seeking to reverse its own prior approval?

It is saying we are akin to an unstable South American republic where uncertainty reigns and government makes up the rules as it goes along.

Ratepayers will now foot the bill — if unsuccessful at least $60,000 — for a VCAT legal appeal to ‘stop the goats’.

The clear advice of the Geelong council officers is that such a legal action stands little chance of success.

And even if we win we lose: Nuchev could turn around and sue council for the costs expended and potentially the cost of setting up elsewhere.

What if Nuchev appeals our appeal to a higher tribunal? Will we be dragged on and on into expensive, snowballing, ratepayer-funded litigation?

All this begs the question: Why has a majority of the council done it?

Perhaps the councillors who voted that way had at the front of their minds the way popular protests against closing local libraries caught the administrators unaware and ultimately did them a lot of damage.

But if this is a branding manouevre or a populist vanity exercise then it is likely to be a pointless and expensive one.

Councillors Kylie Grzybek, Anthony Aitken, Stephanie Asher, Trent Sullivan, Eddy Kontelj and Ron Nelson may have some explaining to do if this goes south.

We usually support populist endeavours but this is not smart governance. It is Trumpian populism without the strategy.

It is bad for Geelong’s reputation.

And it tells us you don’t need many placards to shake the sense out of City Hall.