They say politics is a dirty game.
If you listen carefully on these quiet spring nights, you can almost hear the knives being sharpened in the lead-up to next month’s Wyndham Council elections.
In an effort to be noticed, some candidates are spruiking their views about local issues on social media, while incumbents are increasing their presence at events.
Most use it to their advantage.
But one suffered a humiliating episode recently when a press release with disparaging comments about a colleague mistakenly found its way to journalists.
In the meantime, semi-clandestine meetings to work out preference swaps and allegiances are being arranged as the election train slowly gathers momentum.
Pretty soon, a ‘how to vote’ pack will arrive in your letterbox, containing photos and sales pitches of each candidate.
They’ll all have their reasons for wanting to lead our growing community and it’ll take a bit of reading for voters to decide who deserves a tick.
More than ever, our community’s growing frustration and anger takes aim at everything from rate increases to traffic, road infrastructure delays and shortage of swimming pools.
No matter the ward, or candidate, I consider them all brave souls, putting their hands up to lead residents who rarely appreciate their work but are quick to condemn.
But how do you choose strong leaders for our community? Read the voting literature, flyers, websites social media pages and reports in the Weekly, and carefully consider the performances of current councillors.
It’s been said before but I’ll say it again, whatever you do, make your vote count.
Emma Sutcliffe is a freelance writer on Facebook at ‘Little River Emma’.
