We stand and applaud The Australian‘s vigorous campaign
to root out wacky and dangerous local councillors who waste our rates
money on zany ideas best kept at their leftist bookclub – and we had a
giggle at Saturday’s page three beat-up by Oz hackette Caroline Overington outlining some of the more obscure blueprints of power-crazed local authorities.

In particular, Overington zeroes in on the antics of local Sydney
mayor, Mora Main, who’s promoting such mad schemes as fewer cars,
air conditioners and backyard swimming pools in Sydney’s overcrowded
east. “The mayor of Waverley, Mora Main, has a vision of a perfect
world and it’s practically car-free,” announces Overington.

Mayor Mora’s crimes include: “refusing to accept an Australian flag to
fly over Bondi Pavilion,” suggesting a “share care” scheme for
residents, and cutting down on air conditioners “because we get
beautiful seabreezes and it is only 40 degrees once in a blue moon.”

Just who is this woman who’s attempting to put a brake on the rampant
consumerism in our midst? To quote Overington, Ms Main “is 50 years
old, never married, has no children, and [her] politics are Green.”

Are we to believe that Main’s age, marital status and lack of children disqualify her from public office?

Maybe we can glean a clue on where Caroline’s coming from by glancing at her homely column on page 18 of the same newspaper. We thought toothy pop culture columnist Emma Tom
was self-absorbed. But in fewer than a thousand words, Overington
mentions herself 79 times – that’s 51 ‘I’s, folks, and 28 ‘me’s and
‘my’s.

Never mind the content – which consists of apparently random childhood
memories of skinning rabbits and smoking cigarettes, capped with an
icky reminiscence of that magical first night with her husband that
screams TOO MUCH INFORMATION! We simply ask: is Caroline’s unhealthy
self-absorbtion the fruit of a mind equipped to deal with matters of
public policy, even at a local council level?

We will be watching Overington’s continued public navel-gazing with interest.