… and you lot as well

MEANWHILE, over at Hobart Town Hall, we find another group of elected officials busily arguing over a side issue. In this case, the dispute relates to Lord Mayor Ron Christie’s overly enthusiastic response to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Reconciliation Week gift of the indigenous name nipaluna for Hobart.

When he received it a week ago, a clearly excited Ald Christie vowed to use “nipaluna” in “every speech and every welcome I make to this city”. He also said he would present a proposal to the council that it be accepted as the dual name for our capital city, and he vowed to push for its use on street signs.

The problem is, he can’t do most of that. He’s the Lord Mayor, not the chair of the Nomenclature Board.

And, tellingly, he hasn’t. In fact, the Lord Mayor has been super-quiet about nipaluna since council general manager Nick Heath wrote to the Mercury on Friday to clarify that “the Council has not formally considered this matter or adopted any policy on Aboriginal dual naming or indeed the use of this name”.

Meanwhile, aldermen Marti Zucco and Damon Thomas have been busy criticising the Lord Mayor for overstepping the mark, and Ald Helen Burnet is talking about wanting council to formally recognise the name.

Again, surely there are more important matters for our elected officials to be spending their time on, when you consider our capital city is facing a housing crisis, traffic problems — and is still busy recovering from the worst flash-flooding here in half a century.