Zuvele Leschen letter questions Federal/State member co-operation
Driving back from Melbourne on Tuesday, I listened into the ABC’s ‘Drive’ program as the future of Odyssey House at Molyullah was discussed.
To my surprise, Dr Bill Sykes, the National Party member for Benalla, admitted that, despite contacting her office several times over the last few months, our local Federal member had failed to return his calls.
Given Ms Mirabella’s eagerness to engage in State issues, one would have thought that she was in constant communication with her State counterparts.
This does, however, raise an issue that has long concerned me: despite all of our local members being from the ‘same side’ of politics, there seems to be little co ordination of their efforts.
When an issue such as Odyssey House or public dental health comes up, instead of getting together and working out how it can be solved, our local members’ first reaction seems to be to argue about whose problem it is.
I realize that the Federal constitution – despite some of our Prime Minister’s recent actions – defines what is a State responsibility and what is a Federal one, but given that they all live in and represent the same area, I would expect that our local members would work together for the common good.
This doesn’t seem to happen.
It would be interesting to know whether Ms Mirabella failed to return Dr Sykes’ calls because he represents the National Party, or whether she simply didn’t want to be involved with this issue.
When I am elected as the Federal member for Indi, I can assure my State counterparts that I will take their issues very seriously – and try to return their phone calls within a reasonable period.
Regards
Zuvele Leschen
To my surprise, Dr Bill Sykes, the National Party member for Benalla, admitted that, despite contacting her office several times over the last few months, our local Federal member had failed to return his calls.
Given Ms Mirabella’s eagerness to engage in State issues, one would have thought that she was in constant communication with her State counterparts.
This does, however, raise an issue that has long concerned me: despite all of our local members being from the ‘same side’ of politics, there seems to be little co ordination of their efforts.
When an issue such as Odyssey House or public dental health comes up, instead of getting together and working out how it can be solved, our local members’ first reaction seems to be to argue about whose problem it is.
I realize that the Federal constitution – despite some of our Prime Minister’s recent actions – defines what is a State responsibility and what is a Federal one, but given that they all live in and represent the same area, I would expect that our local members would work together for the common good.
This doesn’t seem to happen.
It would be interesting to know whether Ms Mirabella failed to return Dr Sykes’ calls because he represents the National Party, or whether she simply didn’t want to be involved with this issue.
When I am elected as the Federal member for Indi, I can assure my State counterparts that I will take their issues very seriously – and try to return their phone calls within a reasonable period.
Regards
Zuvele Leschen
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posted by Greg Naylor at
5:49 PM
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