By Tom Cowie and Kishor Napier-Raman
The Donald loves to call Canada the 51st state but maybe he should consider annexing a couple of council areas in Melbourne’s south-east.
Antics at Kingston and Casey have raised eyebrows in recent weeks, with members of the public at meetings veering away from the topics of roads, rates and rubbish to grind culture war axes on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), wokeness and vaccines.
Some voters believe the Kingston Council could learn a thing or two from Donald Trump’s agenda.Credit: AP
At Kingston, a council meeting in early February featured such questions to council officers as “why is Kingston flying LGBTQ flags yet again?” and “now that President Donald Trump has been elected in the United States, will Kingston take a leaf out of his anti-woke administration?”.
It can’t be long before someone suggests bringing in Elon Musk’s DOGE toecutters to slash the council’s workforce.
Kingston councillor Jane Agirtan, who was elected at last year’s elections, has made no secret of her fondness for the US president, celebrating his early policy “achievements” on her Instagram page.
Kingston councillor Jane Agirtan.Credit: janeagirtan.com
(Readers may remember Agirtan for filing defamation action against feminist commentator Clementine Ford after she allegedly called Agirtan a “racist transphobic” who needed to be “forcibly removed from society in a padded van and taken to a mental asylum”.)
Meanwhile, Casey’s most recent meeting descended into chaos when a packed public gallery asked a string of questions about COVID-19 vaccines and booed the Acknowledgement of Country, prompting councillor Lynette Pereira to fret about “racist” elements in the crowd.
We’re keeping a close eye on what happens the next time Casey meets, with an invite going around on Facebook encouraging residents to attend a non-council “did you know?” information session on Thursday in Narre Warren.
The organisers of the “just asking questions”-style event are unclear but an email address for RSVPs is listed as 2aussiepatriots@gmail.com.
We emailed the patriots but didn’t hear back.
Wrote me a letter
Tunelling won’t start until next year on one of Premier Jacinta Allan’s signature policies: the Suburban Rail Loop, aka Victoria’s most expensive piece of infrastructure.
The project’s first stage, which will connect Cheltenham to Box Hill by 2035 via an underground rail line, is expected to cost an eye-watering $35 billion.
(The full loop to Werribee via Melbourne Airport doesn’t have a completion date or full cost just yet but, as The Age’s Chip Le Grand put it, most of us will be dead by then anyway).
So, we’re in the early stages, and that means letting residents know what is going on, in terms of changes to planning schemes and so forth.
The letter from the Suburban Rail Loop Authority addressed to a resident listing a property she doesn’t own or live in.
Well, it seems like that is proving a bit difficult. A reader from Sandringham in the south-east tells CBD she received two letters from the Suburban Rail Loop Authority informing her that properties she owns in Box Hill and Burwood will be impacted.
Except, she doesn’t own or live in either of the properties, they belong to someone else. Whoops.
“The Suburban Rail Authority can’t even get it right in letters they are sending out – clearly the database they are using is stuffed,” our informant told us.
We asked SRL’s spinners for an explanation but have yet to hear back.
No more podcasts
After Donald Trump coasted back to the White House with a bit of help from the likes of Joe Rogan and Theo Von, Australia’s wholly unoriginal political class cooked up a wholly unoriginal plan to make our leaders appear authentic: go on podcasts.
NSW MP and podcast host Jeremy Buckingham waving the Eureka flag at parliament. Credit: James Brickwood.
As CBD noted last week, both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have been hitting the airwaves with everyone from Olympic divers to former test cricketers. The bro vote won’t win itself!
Meanwhile, a few pollies are getting on the other side of the mic. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has “The Yarn”, where he talks about cool stuff like superannuation and the blockchain.
Up in NSW, a bong-loving upper house MP has earned the nickname “Joe Bogan” by interviewing colourful identities from across the political aisle in episodes that run well over two hours.
Jeremy Buckingham, of the Legalise Cannabis Party, kicked off Into the Weeds, filmed on a set that includes a weed leaf and an alien head bong (which at least one state MP has had a rip on before filming; no we won’t say who).
So far, starters have included NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe, professional irritant Jordan Shanks (aka FriendlyJordies) and “political consultant” John MacGowan, a former dirt uniteer and one-time media minder for Bruce Lehrmann.
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