Is letterhead next in displacement operetta?

If only the great John Clarke were still with us.

What a time he would have had with the appointment of an ex-policewoman to the prestigious post of Coordinator General for the Central Coast.

No doubt, in matters animal and vegetable and mineral, Ms Shearer is the very model of a modern Coordinator-General, but is there any indication that her knowledge of waste collection, drains and kerb and guttering has been brought up to the beginning of the century, which would, at least, put her ahead of most of the local councillors we have had.

After all the grandiose talk, this is the Government's contribution to the development of the Central Coast region: it would be laughable, if it were not so pathetic.

Whatever Ms Shearer's personal virtues (and I'm sure they are many), this decision is what psychologists call "displacement action", a pointless piece of business designed to cover inability to face what really needs to be done.

The importance of the post can be easily judged from the fact that Ms Shearer will report directly to the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment, in other words, she is a supernumerary in a department renowned for its ineffectiveness.

However, we can all take heart that the Council will have an important role to play on the Consultative Committee, pushing forward priority projects, such as harmonizing our housing development controls, a clerical task that has been hanging fire for a year and has now emerged in all its incompetent glory for public comment.

Add to that such vital matters as the Warnervale town centre, the Central Coast airport, the new university precinct, the China Theme Park, the regional library thought-bubble, the Performing Arts Centre shambles, and it can be seen that the Consultative Committee will have its work cut out.

I suspect that the Consultative Committee will probably be bogged down for the first six months of its operation designing its letterhead.

Email, 18 Apr 2017

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy