Newly-elected Hilltops mayor Brian Ingram is disappointed at what he calls “a snub” by the New South Wales Premier on her recent visit to Young.
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The Premier was in town last week to throw her support behind National Party candidate Steph Cooke for the upcoming Cootamundra by-election and met with many locals during her two days in the region, but not the mayor.
Cr Ingram said he wanted to let the Premier know what was on the agenda for the newly elected council.
“Our community deserves better treatment from the Premier if she is in town,” he said.
“That was a one off visit, she won’t be back and I would have thought it was appropriate for her to sit down with local government representatives such as myself and the deputy. I am angry because I think the snub shows she could not even acknowledge the people who are now doing the work and going to be implementing a lot of the stuff that they put on top off us, I have been a big supporter of the amalgamation and I think it was bad form from the Premier.”
Cr Ingram said other political parties have made the effort to seek him out during the Cootamundra by-election campaign.
“Charlie Sheahan and Peter Primrose from the Labor Party met with me to discuss the many important issues and challenges around the Hilltops Council area,” he said. “It is not every day that the Premier comes to our community and I think it is a bad sign to send out to the electorate, I have been asked several times by members of the public, ‘How did your meeting with the Premier go’, and I have to tell those people that we had not been contacted.”
But a spokesperson for the Premier said Ms Berejiklian did try and meet with the mayor but had a very busy schedule which included the Women in Leadership forum, a visit to the Southern Cross Young Retirement Village and a chance to meet some locals with Steph Cooke.
“The Premier very much looks forward to meeting with the Mayor next time she is in Young.”