Geelong Advertiser

Ratepayer fury over trip

- ALEX SINNOTT

A CONTROVERS­IAL trip by Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood to Europe has been slammed by the City Hall watchdog.

Ratepayers Geelong president Andrew Senia said it was “bitterly disappoint­ing” that no councillor­s challenged the $18,000 excursion to Poland, Great Britain and Italy by the Mayor and a yet-to-be-named council officer.

Councillor­s unanimousl­y voted this week to support the 18-day trip, which will also take in a Kuala Lumpur stopover so Cr Harwood can meet with AirAsia management.

“The feedback we’ve had, not just members of our group, but other ratepayers has been a justified sense of frustratio­n,” Mr Senia said. “This is ratepayer money being spent, $1000 a day for 18 days, in order to give the Mayor a tour around not one, not two, but three European countries.

“Surely that $18,000 could be better spent for the community? The councillor­s are elected to scrutinise costs yet they let a vote sail through that has ‘waste of money’ written all over it.

“We are in 2018, with teleconfer­encing and the latest in communicat­ion technology.”

The main item on the itinerary is the UNESCO Creative Cities annual meeting, held in the Polish city of Krakow. The Mayor and council officer will then travel to the UK, visiting Edinburgh and Dundee before skipping across the English Channel to Italy to visit Turin and Milan.

Cr Peter Murrihy described the trip as an exciting opportunit­y for Geelong, while Cr Jim Mason said it was important for the city to make faceto-face connection­s with delegates.

“This is a great investment, well worth the cost,” Cr Murrihy said. “It’s a huge opportunit­y to showcase our city on the world stage.”

The Geelong Advertiser re- ported this week that lobby groups G21 and Committee for Geelong both endorsed the trip.

“The Geelong Advertiser should be congratula­ted for exposing this outrageous waste of ratepayer dollars,” Mr Senia said. “There are some communitie­s without a robust local press where councils get away with this lack of accountabi­lity.”

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