PRIORITY OUT OF FOCUS

FILM director P.J. Hogan, son of colourful Tweed politician Tom Hogan, did much to put his home town on the cultural map with the movie Muriel’s Wedding.

Many in the Tweed are proud of their movie heritage, with an exciting exhibition – Film on Tweed – opening at the regional museum in Murwillumbah and including the wedding dress worn by the character Muriel Heslop, played by Toni Collette.

It also features props such as the replica whale skeleton used in a scene shot at Hastings Point for the latest film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

As museum director Judy Kean notes, the Tweed has been the inspiration and location for a long list of films, TV series and documentaries, including another Hogan movie, Mental.

The irony is that while the exhibition is about to open, a decision by Tweed Mayor Katie Milne and others to hold an urgent meeting of the Tweed Coast Reserves Trust could jeopardise the region’s future as a beautiful backdrop for film. Much will hinge on why a bid by the Aquaman

production people for a filming licence at Hastings Point suddenly warrants such ominous treatment.

Another irony that has escaped the group feeling put out by “lack of consultation’’ by the filmmakers is that back in 2011 when Hogan was filming Mental,

about a politician who hires a hitchhiker to be nanny for his five teenage daughters after his wife is committed to a mental hospital, then-Tweed mayor Kevin Skinner happily worked from home while the film crew took over his office.

“The secretary said she had 40 people packed into the area ... it was no problem at all,’’ he told media at the time.

“I think it’s very important that we support the film industry.’’

Mr Skinner was right. In an area with more than its share of battlers chasing work, the Tweed has to encourage the movie industry, not put it off-side.

Unfortunately, the region is also known for having more than its fair share of umbrage-takers who try to block anything they perceive as “development” or harmful to the environment, even when it isn’t.

Why people would vote in the nay-sayers is a mystery. They should remember these antics at poll time.