Cancelled dinner date sparks anger

HCC row over Japan sister-city trip

THE cancellation of a dinner in Hobart’s Japanese sister city Yaizu has sparked a war of words between aldermen and the council’s general manager.

Tensions flared at a council meeting last month when Ald Marti Zucco — who had been asked by staff to assist with preparing a three-course dinner for up to 40 people as part of the delegation to Yaizu this month — took offence at Ald Philip Cocker saying it was a “half-baked idea”.

The dinner was to be part of 40th anniversary celebrations in Japan between Hobart and Yaizu.

A delegation from Yaizu travelled to Hobart in February as part of the anniversary.

Ald Zucco — who cooked in Yaizu as part of the 25th anniversary — threatened to withdraw his nomination to travel to Yaizu in response to the comment, which sparked a heated debate and led to Lord Mayor Sue Hickey walking out of the chambers and abstaining on a vote to scrap the dinner.

Despite planning for the dinner still being discussed late last week, Hobart general manager Nick Heath said a decision had been made to cancel the dinner as time was running out. “Unfortunately, due to a number of logistical reasons, it has proven difficult to organise the planned dinner in time,” Mr Heath said.

“We are, however, working on an alternative function that will still showcase the best of Tasmania’s produce to our Japanese hosts.”

Ald Zucco said the dinner could have been salvaged.

“If the Lord Mayor thought that the dinner was important to the city, then the Lord Mayor [should have] written me a letter asking me to partake in the dinner.

“The Lord Mayor refused to write to me, so my withdrawal remains.

“If anyone wants to say something different to that, they are misleading the facts behind it.”

Ald Hickey said she wasn’t in a position to write to Ald Zucco because she had abstained from the vote.

“The Deputy Lord Mayor [Ron Christie] did write to him but I guess that wasn’t good enough,” she said.

Ald Hickey will now travel to Japan with Ald Jeff Briscoe, Ald Cocker, Ald Tania Denison and Ald Bill Harvey as part of the delegation.