Parliamentary petition closes today

A Parliamentary petition calling for an investigation and consideration of administration for the Upper Hunter Shire Council closes today.

Lead petitioner, Patricia Taylor, said she has been amazed by the support for the petition with more than 1,170 people signing the petition.

“I have had a constant stream of phone calls from residents asking for assistance to sign the petition, from people in their 90s who say they’ve never seen the Shire like it, to people worried about the rate rise and worried about the huge financial losses Council are making,” said Patricia Taylor.

“When I visited Murrurundi, Merriwa and Cassilis, last week there was also a constant stream of people coming to sign and outlining their reasons for why they have lost faith in the Council to perform their function anymore,” she said.

“Country people aren’t known for signing petitions, but more than 1000 people signing in such a small population of only 8000 voters shows people are fed up and want the Minister to know,” she said. 

“The petition is confidential, with the names of all signatories held by Parliament, and not able to ever be viewed by Council, that was something many people were concerned about, which doesn’t reflect well on this Council,” she said.

“If anyone needs help today to sign the petition, they can phone me on: 0407 417 667,” said Patricia Taylor.

Link to: Parliamentary petition into Upper Hunter Shire Council.

I am a Councillor on the Upper Hunter Shire Council, and I support the petition to Parliament. My views are not necessarily the views of Council, in fact they rarely are.