Gundagai businessman John Knight has thrown his support behind a group pledging a substantial amount of money to back an independent candidate to run against Nationals Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson at the next state election. Mr Knight said he has felt “unbelievably let down” by the State Member throughout Gundagai’s fight to stave off a forced merger with Cootamundra. Behind a vote of no confidence in Ms Hodgkinson, moved but not carried at a public meeting in Gundagai on January 28, Mr Knight has hit back at claims by Ms Hodgkinson, published in Monday’s Daily Advertiser, that his very vocal criticism of her performance has been driven by self interest.
“The only thing I’m driven by is the love of my community and my absolute disgust in her performance,” he said. “We’ve seen Liberal Party MPs come out and speak against forced mergers. The National Party is meant to back rural and regional communities, but where are they? It’s not just Katrina, we’ve been let down by the whole organisation. “I’m not opposed to council amalgamations, if voluntary there is room for them, and Cootamundra/Harden is a classic example, but what I am opposed to is the way this whole process has been managed, and the way it’s been forced down our throats.” Mr Knight said Gundagai is a financially viable council that lives within its means, and if forced to merge with Cootamundra, it will ruin the community. “A big concern is the loss of our professionals and the ricochet effect that would have throughout the community,” he said. “It will take away people who run our sporting groups, our cultural groups, schools will suffer. “Then there’s the historical aspect, and all that history being put in the hands of people who don’t actually live it. “Gundagai will survive, but it won’t be the same community it is now.” In response to the claims that the Gundagai community has been disappointed in her efforts throughout the merger fight,
Ms Hodgkinson told the Independent that while Mr Knight is entitled to his own opinion, she has only ever felt supported by her Gundagai constituents. “Gundagai is a wonderful community and a very important part of my electorate. I love representing my constituents there, always have, always will,” she said. Ms Hodgkinson said the vote of no confidence moved against her at Harden was a result of her not supporting Harden in their bid to include Gundagai in a three-way merger with Cootamundra. “I refused to sign a letter of support for Harden to merge with Cootamundra and Gundagai because I made a commitment to Gundagai to support them to stand alone,” she said. “I have 55,000 voters in my electorate and I work very hard every day, dealing with a multitude of different issues, local government is just one of them, but everyone is important and I will continue to work solidly and as dynamically as I possibly can for all the people in my electorate,” she said. Courtesy of The Gundagai Independent
