Voters deserved to know Our Newcastle councillors split with group | Dungog Chronicle

dungogchronicle.com.au · Feb 17, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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From left, independent 2024 council candidate team Our Newcastle members Leisha Parkinson, Ross Kerridge, Mark Brooker and Peter Gittins. File pictureFor months we have been harangued by Kerridge supporters about the lack of transparency of those not on the Kerridge team. Alleged actions to deny the newly elected lord mayor delegations which had been allocated to the previous mayor. Where were the governance principles that should underpin transparent and open political functioning in a modern democracy? Shame on the non-Kerridge councillors, and particularly the ALP councillors, for their tactics.Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue readingAll articles from our websiteThe digital version of Today's PaperAll other in your areaWe now discover that two of the Kerridge team, councillors Brooker and Gittins were quietly removed from the books of the Our Newcastle candidates team, the banner that Kerridge and four other councillors ran under at the last council election ('Independent split: councillors cut ties with Our Newcastle', Newcastle Herald 13/2).This happened more than a year ago, which seems to mean just after the local government elections.So within weeks of the outcome of that election, the powers that be behind Our Newcastle removed two of their five elected candidates from the books of Our Newcastle, and apparently, didn't even bother to tell the two affected councillors who only found out sometime after the fact?Surely the voters who supported Cr Brooker and Cr Gittins had the right to know immediately that the organisation under which the voters elected them both had rejected or ejected them. Why wasn't this communicated to the public?Why, indeed, weren't the affected councillors informed of their removal?Surely in the interests of transparency and good governance this was a set of changed circumstances that demanded an immediate and full disclosure, so that the actions of both the Our Newcastle group and the affected councillors could be assessed within the context of these changed circumstances.Alas, demands for transparency appear to be the sole prerogative of only one side of the political divide in Newcastle council, a case of "do as I say not as I do".Dire days for Aussie politicsWHAT an appalling state of affairs Australian politics is at this point in time. We have the Coalition parties, the Liberals and Nationals, who cannot even articulate and promote a single policy; a Greens party that has abandoned their environmental principles for activism; teal independents that stand for transparency except who they would support, and to top it all off, a government with a trillion-dollar debt, rising inflation, rising energy bills, high immigration, companies going to the wall and national productivity declining. Regardless of one's political ideology and preference, we should all be concerned of where this will all end.Preferences make the differenceI'VE heard so many times that the Albanese government would not have won the 2025 election without the preference votes. This is true, but there have been very few elections won by either side of politics ever.A large number of voters don't seem to know how the preference system works. The voter marks the paper how they choose, and if the candidate they choose first is not elected, then the person they gave the number two gets the vote; if they miss out, it goes to third, and so on, until there's two candidates left. It is the one with most preferences that wins. Thus, we have the two-party preferred result. In the case of the Coalition, it takes more than one party to form a government but their votes are counted separately, and preferences generally flow directly to each other if there is a candidate from each party standing in an electorate, which is very rare. I am a Labor member and always vote Labor, but I very rarely follow the how-to-vote preference suggestions. It is me who makes that decision, not the party.Gaza woes are nothing newTony Mansfield's claim ("Cartoon missed the mark", Letters, 12/2) that Gaza's issues originate from October 7, 2023, beggars belief. It stems from the unilateral declaration of an Israeli state that seized Arab villages, land and homes, murdering and displacing the original inhabitants. This created a huge Palestinian diaspora that was resettled in many countries and what are now known as the West Bank and Gaza territories. Most of Gaza's residents are refugees. These territories have been occupied since 1967. Hamas and the Israeli government have one thing in common: neither wants a two-state solution.Double dip on public holiday will cost usREADING that NSW Premier Chris Minns has decided to make the Monday following Anzac Day (when it falls on a Saturday or Sunday) a public holiday just puts another nail in the coffin of small businesses. The retail sector loses a day of trading on the Saturday, then I assume has to pay public holiday loading on the Monday if they open. Other types of businesses lose a day of trading with Monday being a public holiday, and are up for employees' wages and super for no productivity. Just another unwanted expense for small business.Drive home e-bike safety messageIN answer to crushing e-bikes not being the answer ("Crushing e-bikes not the answer: Ward", Newcastle Herald 13/2): make these delinquents responsible by issuing future penalties by increasing the age at which they can apply to get their licence by six months for each offence proven. Their peers who followed the rules can enjoy their freedom while they will have to wait. It also means their parents have to cart them around longer, so they might think twice before supporting their children's activities. Make it a maximum time frame of when they turn 20.Doing the maths on MAFSAT school, maths wasn't my favourite subject. Now they have a TV show called MAFS. Imagine my surprise when there were no algorithms. It doesn't add up.Gary Fagg, LakelandsMany cultures celebrated hereSHANE Tull ("A shift away from assimilation", Letters, 14/2): Chinatown, The Italian Centre, The Hellenic Club, The Croatia Sports Club, The Germania Club... you were saying?Foreign aid freeze hits hardPresident Trump's sweeping foreign aid freeze is causing mayhem across the globe. Life saving programs worldwide remain shut. Confusion is rampant. This is madness.Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Disclose political party roles or affiliations. Correspondence may be edited in any form.More from News