Council set to head to US for a gift exchange that could be handled by the Premier who will already be there

ADELAIDE City council will spend thousands of dollars to send a delegate to the US city of Austin to present a gift to its sister city — even though Premier Jay Weatherill will already be there.

King William Street in front of the Adelaide Town Hall cleared after bomb scare in the council chambers 07 Nov 2000. hoax

THE ADELAIDE City council will spend thousands of dollars to send a delegate over to Austin to present a gift to its sister city, at an event that is already being attended by Premier Jay Weatherill.

The trip, expected several thousand dollars, was voted through by the council last night.

It involves the presentation of an $11,000 indigenous artwork created by the Ken Collaborative to the City of Austin, after they returned the $27,000 Lady Mayoress opal, which was sent to the Texas capital in 1983

The opal was returned to Lord Mayor Martin Haese by Austin’s elected leader Steve Adler at the UN climate conference in Paris last December.

But rather than have Premier Jay Weatherill make the handover while he is in Austin attending the SXSW Festival, the council have instead decided to send North Ward Councillor Susan Clearihan.

Councillor Anne Moran, who voted against the move at a council meeting last night said there was no point in going over.

“If the Lord Mayor can’t go and the Deputy can’t go — I mean a Ward Councillor going? Just post the bloody thing,”

“I’m yet to see anything tangible coming out of these visits. I’m not seeing any benefits and I hate the way this goes unquestioned — there is no point in going but to improve ‘relations’ that is all”.

Along with a trip to Austin, the council last night voted through two council members to accompany Lord Mayor Martin Haese to China in April, as part of another Sister City relationship with Qingdao to “strengthen relationships”.

“I’m not against overseas travel,” Cr Moran said.

“I just think we need to be very mindful. We’re debating now whether we put the rates up by CPI which is about one per cent. These overseas trips need to be scrutinised more. The Chinese one — sending three of them, The Lord Mayor and two councillors, I don’t want this to be going unquestioned,.

“I don’t see what three people can do that one couldn’t.”

Cr Moran said that trips such as these should be pushed aside and the council should focus on local issues affecting ratepayers.

“Our local council area is struggling under a rate burden,” she said.

“We still haven’t fixed bloody Frome Rd. The Lord Mayor seems much more interested in going overseas and doing trade relations which is the State Government’s job. We are the local council we are not the State Government. He can go to Qingdao by himself and if he can’t go to Austin to hand a bloody present over — just let the Premier do it.

“Let’s not fly over Sue Clearihan when the Premier will be standing right there.”

Area Councillor Natasha Malani said these trips, despite the cost can could lead to bigger investment.

“Bilateral visits are an important part of building those relationships,” Cr Malani said.

“It’s a small investment and we always travel economy and we have budgets to stick to but if that could broker a deal to support a business in the city and doing business with those markets — it’s well worth the investment.”

The City has sought comment and costings of both trips from The Adelaide City Council.