OPINION: New council dept head's comments need clarification

If council wants "...a more unified pride in who we are, what we stand for, where we're going” it should start by reinstating a Rattler stop at Dagun

Gympie Council Futures head Lynne Banford. Picture: Philippe Coquerand

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

"WOT'S in a name? she sez...An' then she sighs,

An clasps 'er little 'ands an' rolls 'er eyes.”

Some readers may have shared my bemusement on reading the article "New Council department head looks to future” (The Gympie Times, January 18).

Announcing the appointment of Ms Lynne Banford as the new Tourism and Economic manager, the article informed us that the department had been renamed (or was it rebranded) as Gympie Futures.

The questions that crowd the mind!

Lynne Banford, Nick and Ashleigh Hamilton at the Gympie Business Awards. Picture: Philippe Coquerand

What happened to the previous manager? Presumably there was one. Or was the department headless till last October?

And why change the name from the perfectly understandable Tourism and Economic Development to the almost meaningless Gympie Futures?

Gympie Council Futures head Lynne Banford. Picture: Troy Jegers

Is it a ruse to eliminate the relevance of the past?

And the plural form, "Futures”?

Do we have more than one future?

If so, do they begin simultaneously or sequentially?

Will we ratepayers be kept informed as to which future we are about to experience?

Or does the new brand hint vaguely of some tenuous connection with the Stock Exchange? Surely not some aspiration towards floating the council?

And while I applaud the appointment of a woman to this senior position and I wish Ms Banford the best in her new role, I was not reassured by some of her comments.

She claimed that other regions have hijacked "...our broad range of tourist attractions and the amazing things we do”.

Apart from the entirely predictable return to out-of-town tourist operators selling Rattler packages, her claim could have borne some elaboration.

Dagun Station. Picture: Renee Pilcher

Ms Benson also claimed that, since her appointment last October, "...she has been working with more than 1000 people to find out what they think Gympie's 'brand story' should be”.

If "brand story” means what I think it does, Ms Banford has overdone the research and that, apparently, to no avail.

A chatty stroll down Mary St in a coffee break would have informed her of what the Gympie community values and what they believe are the region's major attractions.

Happier days at Dagun railway station

The rest is geography.

The "brand story” apparently will encourage "...a more unified pride in who we are, what we stand for, where we're going”.

It is a noble aspiration, the attainment of which might begin with the small, practical step of having Dagun reinstated on the Rattler itinerary.

Merv Welch,

The Palms

The C17 No 45 locomotive engine running as the Mary Valley Rattler. Picture: David Crossley