I must say I was quite shocked when I heard along the grapevine that our local member had unceremoniously been dumped from her parliamentary position at what most people would assume was the behest of NSW Premier Mike Baird.
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Member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson was ousted as Parliamentary Secretary after she crossed the floor to vote against the greyhound racing ban bill.
It seems to me that Mike Baird got a bit of a bee in his bonnet over Ms Hodgkinson representing her constituents and voting against what has become a bit of a personal project of the Premier’s.
This is completely unacceptable.
If there were issues of Ms Hodgkinson bringing her position into disrepute or doing a poor job, then I could understand her being dumped.
This has not been the case and it appears as though her removal from the position is purely a consequence of Ms Hodgkinson doing the job the Cootamundra electorate voted her in to do.
What kind of a message does that send?
Ms Hodgkinson is a member of the NSW Nationals and I would have thought a Liberal Premier may have shown a bit more respect for her position.
Supposedly, Nationals in a Coalition government are voted in as Nationals first, Coalition second.
They are voted in by the public who want a Nationals representative.
Effectively Mr Baird is saying do not represent your electorate, tow the government line.
Has he influenced future voting by scaring others from crossing the floor, thus interfering with the democratic process?
The fact that Ms Hodgkinson was not even notified in person, but found out via a press release shows a distinct lack of character and respect from the Premier.
These parties are supposed to be forming a government to work together and produce the best possible outcomes for the NSW people.
It looks as though this only works if the best outcomes suit Mr Baird.
Ms Hodgkinson’s party leader, Deputy Premier and Minister for Racing Troy Grant praised her for voting with her conscience.
For Mr Baird to then turn around and dump Ms Hodgkinson does not reflect well upon his Deputy Premier.
Which ever way I look at it, it seems an abuse of power and a total lack of respect for not only Ms Hodgkinson and the NSW National Party, but also the Cootamundra electorate.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor,
Notwithstanding the expanding list of Premier Mike Baird’s “difficult reforms”, the callous disregard for the vast majority of decent participants in the Greyhound Industry continues to infuriate me.
Pushing this decision to ban the sport, without allowing the industry to complete their reforms was grossly unfair but now, to rub salt into the wounds, we have had to endure a tax payer funded advertising campaign to justify their decision.
To top it off, our Cootamundra National MP, Katrina Hodgkinson was sacked from her Parliamentary Secretary position along with her colleague Chris Gulaptis for crossing the floor.
Earlier, Deputy Premier Grant was complimentary of Katrina and Paul for standing up for what they believed.
Why does the phrase “speaks with forked tongue come to mind”?
Regards,
Stuart Freudenstein
