LET THERE BE LIGHT
Transparency is the newest buzz-word in our Shire of Cardinia - and a virtue demanded of Council by CRRA for over a year now.
We could be forgiven for confusing "transparency" with "exposure" as we are bombarded with photographs and articles about Mayor Runge and our elected representatives via local press coverage.

What is transparent to many of the "simple" folk of this Shire is that council elections are due at the end of the year, ward boundaries and representation are being reviewed, and major changes are likely to be made.

If the present councillors wish to be re-elected we suggest that, in the name of transparency, they consider supporting the following public demands well before election day:

• Produce a responsible and transparent budget, the draft of which is available to the public at least one month before final publication. They might refer to the City of Casey budget as a model that is crystal clear and free of bureaucratic obfuscation.
• Change the time of Council meetings in accordance with public demand from 4.30 pm to 7.30pm.
• Cease the insidious practice of constantly going "in camera" at Council meetings. The decisions reached at these secretive cabals have all too often been tossed to a stunned public as a fait accompli.
• Immediately make public the status of the proposed new shire offices and the future for the centre of Pakenham. The continual denial of this information to ratepayers and even to the ward councillor is a disgrace.

So much for transparency in Cardinia. Council would be wise to change its practice of rubber-stamping unpopular and expensive administrative initiatives if any of its members hope to hold office next year.

TRANSPARENCY

Now that is transparency for you.

When Tony Abbott hangs transparency and accountability from the same hook, he reduces transparency to visibility, which it isn't, though he might mean that the subject he is referring to is transparently visible. If he intends to mean anything at all.

Cynicism aside, what does transparent mean in that minefield of Modern Business Practice? Since it is one of the 'feel good' words in the lexicon of MBP, it is not intended to mean anything at all. Indeed it is a blanket laid over a deliberate void of explanation. If you cannot see what is intended the fault is yours. What it does NOT mean is that you can see through the writer and his or her argument; rather, the imprecision of the word fogs up the brain. Part of World's Worst Practice. Get rid of it.

peter w