Inquiry's anticipated scenario playing out?

The Inquiry into the Central Coast Council fiasco got off to a bad start.

Any organization that can't set up a simple Zoom connection must be at the bottom of the range for incompetence, so the beginning didn't bode well for a good outcome.

For my 90th birthday, my daughter in New Jersey was able to set up three separate Zoom meetings with friends around the world, including speaking with one participant riding on a train in Oslo, so it's not that hard.

Perhaps, we can see the problem as symbolic of the whole breakdown of management ability within the Council, during the three years or so that councillors led us into the Slough of Despond from which Administrator Greatheart is going to extract us.

When the inquiry did finally get under way, the evidence presented was a good deal less than edifying.

Ex-councillors had hardly anything more to say than that they didn't know nuthin', which we could easily guess without their having to tell us so, and, if any of the testimony helped in uncovering the reasons behind Council's failure, it wasn't readily apparent.

Also, whining that other councillors were rude to you doesn't fit with the purpose of the inquiry: I've had councillors be rude to me, but you shouldn't be there, if you're so fragile that that behaviour interferes with your doing your job.

If what we've heard so far is a good sample, my suggestion would be that other ex-councillors do themselves a favour and not appear.

It was always obvious, from the start, that the terms of reference were designed to prevent any inquiry from undertaking a serious investigation.

When you add the confusion over who will give evidence and the see-sawing pronouncements about access to written submissions, the whole operation suggests a rudderless craft with no identifiable destination and a crew haplessly bailing just to keep it afloat.

The Commissioner must be desperately regretting her unfortunate decision to shoulder this undertaking and wondering how she can emerge with a shred of credible reputation left.

Still, perhaps it was always intended that the inquiry end in confusion and chaos, so we're only seeing the anticipated scenario played out.

SOURCE:

Email, 13 Oct 2021

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy.