E
FRE
August 13, 2012
Your independent local newspaper
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Ph: 4325 7369
Issue 39
Central Coast Alliance fail to nominate
Central Coast Alliance candidates now unable to stand for Council election
G
osford Cr Peter Freewater has said so long to local government after his nine candidate party failed to submit its nomination forms in time.
All of the nomination forms for Central Coast Alliance were completed and handed to one of the candidates on Cr Freewater’s ticket to submit while he was in Scotland supporting his son in the world championships of highland dancing. “This person decided to wait until half an hour before the close of nominations to submit the paperwork and then realised that they hadn’t brought the form with all the candidates’ signatures. “Subsequently, they went home to look for it and
by the time they got back, nominations had closed. “Therefore, not only did they not submit the group nomination, they didn’t submit [the forms for] any of the candidates at all. “That’s it - all over red rover,” said Cr Freewater. The person handling the nominations for the Central Coast Alliance came into the office of Ducks Crossing Publications shortly after nominations had closed to cancel booked advertising in view of missing the deadline. He said he was “devastated” in missing the
nominations by one minute and was too upset to make further comment. Number five on the ticket Mr Jake Cassar said he was disappointed and it was unfortunate it was left until the last half an hour. “I guess the whole group should take some responsibility to a point. “It’s remarkable how it could come down to those last few minutes, but rules are rules. “The real losers in this are the community because I think we had a really, really great team of genuine community leaders that are
out there in the community making a difference. “Me personally, I’m not deterred from any of the things I’m doing for the environment and social justice,” he said. Cr Freewater said he had worked hard for the last four years to clean up Gosford Council and had made a pretty good fist of it. “I saved Coastal Open Space System (COSS) from getting a recreation zoning that would allow sporting fixtures and hotels; I got the entrance [to Brisbane Water] dredged so boats wouldn’t get trashed on the rocks; I helped secure Bambara. “I showed the community that they can stand up to Gosford Council and
expose them. “I also played a major role in the retiring of the general manager and so now we can make a clean start with a new one. “My concern is that many of the old councillors will still be there and I believe it would be better if the new Council were to grow out of fresh, fertile soil. “So with this in mind, please don’t vote Labor, Liberal, Central Coast First or Craig Doyle; you’ll just be throwing the same old fertiliser on the new general manager. “I think Kate da Costa and Hillary Morris would be excellent councillors if you don’t mind the fact that they’re Greens.
“I’d like to thank all those people in the community that have supported me and written to me or called me to thank me for things I’ve done. “It was really good to hear people say ‘thank you’. “I’m just sorry I won’t be there for another term to ‘keep up the good fight’,” said Cr Freewater. He said he would now be able to return to being a marine scientist and spending more time with his family. Email, 9 Aug 2012 Peter Freewater, Horsfield Bay Kaitlin Watts, 10 Aug 2012 Jake Cassar, West Gosford