McKiterick suggests rethink on advocacy

THE next Surf Coast Shire council should take a serious look at the projects it is advocating, according to outgoing councillor Brian McKiterick.
The council confirmed its list of advocacy priorities at its September 15 meeting.
During debate on the motion, Cr McKiterick said not everything on the list should necessarily stay there, particularly anything that was “floundering”.
He used CORA – the $350 million elite sport centre and tourist destination proposed to be built near Modewarre – as an example.
“When you look through it, a lot of these items have been on our books for several elections, particularly when you look at the Thompson Valley feasibility study, the aquatic centre, even CORA.
“Some of them, like CORA, seem to have floundered a bit, and we need to reignite them, or cut them loose.
“Initially I was thinking of putting in a procedural motion that this be deferred until the next council, but I think they’ll have that ability, and this will be a document they can look at and then reflect and then see if there’s a need for change. Possibly councillors here now will be able to guide them and support that.”
He acknowledged it was only a year until the federal election and two years until the state election so the council obviously needed a framework when lobbying for funding.
“I’m aware that other councils don’t actually do this, so at least we’ve got a platform, we’ve got our own roadmap that hopefully gets us through.”