By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY councillor Wayne Smith has blamed the council’s Liberal bias for his resignation as its advocacy spokesperson.
He was set to relinquish the role he shared with Cr Sam Aziz after the state election but stepped down several weeks early after complaining to CEO Mike Tyler and new Mayor Mick Morland about the council’s open support of the government’s East West Link proposal.
Cr Smith, a Labor Party member, said the council had failed to give similar backing to his party’s state policies.
He was appointed to the role to act as a spokesman for the council after former Mayor Geoff Ablett decided to stand as a Liberal candidate in the state election.
Two other councillors are also Liberal candidates.
“I was unhappy with the East West promotion that we did, but I did vote for it because I thought there was a need to put pressure on political parties to do the right thing for Casey,” Cr Smith said.
“I’m still not convinced that East West is best for Casey but I went along with it, although I didn’t expect 16 signs to go up and be as blatantly pro-government as they have been.
“And we’ve copped a real hit over that.”
Cr Smith said he had approached Mr Tyler and Cr Morland in recent weeks to encourage the council to support major Labor announcements, including the party’s $106 million Casey Hospital pledge.
“It seems we were OK to praise the government on announcements but not interested on promoting or acknowledging the Opposition, and the hospital really was a key one,” Cr Smith said.
“In my view that showed bias – there wasn’t any interest in supporting other non-government announcements.”
Cr Morland rejected his fellow councillor’s claims.
“He (Cr Smith) is making what I believe is a political statement.
“I think council’s advocacy of the East West Link was completely warranted.
“You look at what’s happened when we’ve had a few closures of roads due to chemical spillages in recent weeks, this proves we need the East West Link.”
