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Tesla talk goes to the top
Electric dreams: Sorrento resident Ryan Cowan caught the eye of the world’s richest man. Picture: Yanni
IT was his love of all things Tesla that inspired Sorrento resident Ryan Cowan to begin making Tesla content for social media. Over the past year he has created videos about his own Tesla, and all aspects of owning the famed electric vehicles. His following has increased exponentially, and he has now more than 20,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. But it was a simple 18-second video that boosted his efforts into the stratosphere. The video shows Cowan, hands on his head, walking towards a Tesla Model X and the car’s doors automatically opening. The door to the car then automatically closes after he enters the vehicle. The video caught the eye of Tesla who posted the video and then Elon Musk, who retweeted it to his 102 million followers. Musk, the world’s richest man with an estimated worth of $363 billion, noted that he believed the selfopening and closing doors on the Model X was “one of the car’s best features”. Cowan woke on the morning of 20 July to his notifications “going wild” at the recognition Musk had given his video. “I was filled with total disbelief. Waking up and seeing that on my phone was a surreal moment,” said Cowan. “I was so overwhelmed that all my hard work had been recognised that I cried tears of joy. “It was extra special to be recognised by the brand and founder of the company I love so much”. Cowan now intends selling his beloved Tesla, the subject of many of his videos. To buy a different Tesla. You can keep up to date on all things Tesla by following Cowan’s posts on YouTube at Ryan’s Model 3. Cameron McCullough
Shire tracks state poll promises Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is going to keep track of financial pledges made by candidates in the lead up to the November state election, similar to what it did before the May federal election. The pledge tracker will list the dollar amounts of promises made for specific projects in the shire but not broader issues such as climate change, social welfare, education or integrity.
Missing from the tracker will be election issues that do not attract a financial commitment, such as whether the shire should be classed as regional or metropolitan. The shire is pressing for a peri-urban classification, Liberal candidates say it should be regional and the government has given no indication it wants any change. Nepean MP Chris Brayne, who holds his seat with a margin of less than one per cent, said an election tracker “is simply for the things a politician says they’re going to do, not what they ac-
tually do” Brayne says he is willing to work with the council “to ensure the tracker actually meets the needs of informing the community of what we’re doing, not what we’re saying”. The federal tracker showed pre-election commitments made by Liberal candidates for Flinders and Dunkley ($26.75 million) easily surpassed those by their Labor opponents ($16.5m). The Liberal Party lost the election and as it is now in opposition the money promised by its candidates may not materialise.
However, the pressure will be on Labor’s Peta Murphy in Dunkley to make good her promise of $15m to upgrade the Emil Madsen Reserve, Mount Eliza and $1.5m for Mount Eliza Secondary College. The shire’s advocacy, communications and engagement manager Randal Mathieson said Murphy had been asked “about the timing of funding” for her election promises. Flinders MP, Liberal Zoe McKenzie had been asked to “support” the shire’s advocacy to the federal Labor government for “a range of local projects”,
now including a more than $120m$150m performing arts centre (“Casting for performing arts centre” The News 26/7/22). Mathieson said both MPs had been “very positive” in their responses. The shire was criticised over its presentation of the federal election pledge tracker and for posting a photograph of Liberal candidates on Facebook. The picture, which included Cr Susan Bissinger, was quickly taken down after attracting online criticism (“Shire accused of political bias” The News 23/5/22). Continued Page 5
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