FEW protests will garner as much attention as more than two-dozen tractors lining the streets of a regional town.
The scenes in Mallala on Monday were something to behold as Adelaide Plains residents continued their push for what they believe to be a reasonable rate rise outlook.
Nearly 30 tractors took to the streets prior to the June ordinary council meeting, with the upcoming budget still very much up in the air.
It was an extravagant protest to say the least, but the peaceful nature of the event means that council, if it truly exists to serve its residents, should be welcoming the event.
Recent times have seen social media attacks on elected members, calls for council staff to resign and plenty of negative commentary that you could be forgiven for thinking came straight out of an X-rated version of a ‘Neighbours’ script.
It is often the case with complaints against council that emotions can get the better of ratepayers.
After all, the matters being discussed are as close to home as it gets.
Anything that becomes overtly personal, however, needs to be seen as unacceptable.
Monday’s protest is an excellent example of how to ensure council knows that the people they have been elected to serve are unhappy, without going overboard and directly attacking individuals.
Rarely, if at all, will you see council’s decision influenced by the comments section of a Facebook post.
There are plenty of avenues for people to raise concerns in an effective manner, rather than heading online to slander people.
The task is now for council and the ratepayers association to work together to achieve the optimum outcome for all stakeholders.
Ideally, it should see both the ratepayers association and council fulfil their functions as intended.
Open communication is going to be key throughout the remainder of the saga, but it remains in the best interest of both parties to come to the table respectfully and with the right intentions.
Hopefully a mutually beneficial decision can be reached.
While all of this is playing out, a pair of councillors that failed to garner an adequate amount of votes to earn their seat remain at the decision-making table.
This is no fault of their own, but it does add an asterisk to the entire process, and indeed any decisions made by council since the vote-counting mistake was discovered last year.
