The Chronicle

Communitie­s of corflutes carelessly clutter countrysid­e

- GREG JOHNSON JOHNO’S SAY

RECENTLY THE Chronicle published a number of letters and SMS contributi­ons decrying election corflutes.

Come election time, be it federal, state or council, corflutes pop up like mushrooms after rain.

Corflute is the industry name given to corrugated polypropyl­ene, a fluted plastic which is lightweigh­t, yet rigid.

The name is registered to the company “Corex” and I am supposing they used part of the company name and flute to arrive at the final masterstro­ke.

That all makes sense, but for old people like me we just call them “signs.”

The signs are used for a variety of other activities including school fetes and art shows, danger from pecking birds like Magpies and real estate auctions, all of which attract no letters or SMS to The Chronicle.

At the last Australian Capital Territory election in 2020, (they pretend they have a state government but it’s really a local council), the Canberra Times very cleverly wrote, “Around now, Canberrans are witnessing the signs known as ‘corflutes’ popping up like daisies around our suburbs. These are the flowering stage of the political cycle, and like flowers, they are designed to propagate the species. They are located prominentl­y and brightly coloured in the hope of attracting pollinator­s.”

You’ve got to love that sense of humour!

We have eight candidates standing for Groom – some will have hundreds of corflutes out and others just a handful, or even none.

On any corner, on any street, you’ll find corflute communitie­s with happy, happy faces upon them,

Come election time, be it federal, state or council, corflutes pop up like mushrooms after rain.

happier than a bus full of real estate agents.

There’ll be mischief aplenty over the next week and a half as these easy targets are stolen, run over, defaced with tomato sauce and other ingredient­s and even shot. Indeed one candidate told me he had one blasted by a shotgun. Still, better the sign than him.

And there’s some clever

marketing occurring as our candidates’ corflutes are joined by the “Steak and Ribs Party” and “Shen Yun.”

Sadly, or otherwise, there will be seven unsuccessf­ul Groom candidates come Sunday morning, May 22, and their dilemma will be what to do with the thousands of corflutes they’ve scattered across the Darling Downs.

Some schools take them for art classes, and rifle clubs use them as a backdrop to targets. I am reliably assured shooters only fire at the reverse side of each corflute, not at the face side – they’re apolitical!

One such rifle club is the Toowoomba Small Bore Silhouette Rifle Club, and member Andrew would be keen to talk to you if you’d like to dispose of your corflutes. Give him a call on 0400 987 679.

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 ?? ?? Greg Johnson column corflutes
Greg Johnson column corflutes

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