It’s with disappointment that the Times writes that yet again we ‘didn’t get the memo’ when it came to a local visit on Monday from the Nationals Member For Cootamundra, Steph Cooke.
Cooke toured the Harden Cricket facilities at Tim Doolan Oval before opening the new Showground amenities at the Murrumburrah Showground. After this, the Member attended the Harden Racecourse for a ‘sod’ turning ceremony with the user groups who will benefit from the new facilities.
Again Cooke is quick for a photo op but it appears some media outlets are favoured over others.
We only realised the member was in town when we saw people gathering at her first appointment at the Harden Cricket Ground around 9am. When our cadet asked where else the member would be attending she was not given a clear answer yet told to ‘have a nice day’ by Ms Cooke.
We regard this as disrespectful to a new employee of ours when they are learning the ropes. Not very becoming of a person who has been elected to represent the people of the area.
There is a saying, ‘Thanking a politician for spending money is a bit like thanking an ATM for providing money.’ It’s our money anyway!
We contacted Cooke’s office and spoke to staff where it was made clear that a number of staffing changes had been undertaken lately. This was a reasonable answer except for the Times not receiving media releases for months. In fact, we don’t believe we are on the list.
News flash for Steph Cooke. We at the Times view this behaviour as childish and so do our readers and the wider community. The matter was brought up with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack recently where he stated he would discuss it with the Cooke.
McCormack’s media releases often appear in the Times because he sends them to us. He might have to have another chat with his junior coalition state partner and make it clear the expectations the public has for a Member of Parliament. So far it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
The Times which is an independently owned newspaper plastered its front pages on 2 occasions when Cooke first won the Cootamundra by-election in 2017 and again in March 2019. The best the Area News at Griffith could do for Helen Dalton when she won the neighbouring seat of Barwon in a landmark win, was place her inside the paper.
State elections are pretty newsworthy.
It further disappoints us that during a time of intense drought where many small businesses are on their knees across NSW, we are being neglected by the local member, someone who is meant to represent us and the businesses in her electorate.
We would like to be sent media releases from Steph’s office. It will then be up to our readers to decide whether they want to read them or not. Unlike other news outlets we won’t be a mouthpiece for the local member, but we will where possible let our readers know what is happening in the area in regards to the local member, something newspapers have been doing since day dot.
Last month Cooke toured a Hydroelectric Facility at Wyangala Dam, around the same time that her Federal Government counterparts released 22 gigalitres of her electorates water from mid-September which could have sustained the population of drought ravaged towns — somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people for at least a year — which face the real prospect of running dry.
Over the past year the Lachlan Valley has experienced 8.8 per cent of the average inflows — 107 gigalitres instead of the average 1212 gigalitres and yet the water was released.
You won’t hear Cooke scream from the rooftops that this shouldn’t have happened or that it even happened in the first place. She should be hounding the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office for answers or at least to be kept in the loop. Something that hasn’t happened as yet and now it’s too late.
Towns under her care have now been left in dire circumstances.
You will hear this news from the Times, especially when it makes the Daily Telegraph and is National news.
It’s time to grow up Steph.
