THE results of the annual community satisfaction surveys of local government are in, and while there’s no real good news in it for the City of Greater Bendigo, there’s certainly less bad news than in previous years.

Our civic leaders would be mistaken to dismiss the survey outcomes as representing perceptions only, because in politics (and life), perceptions matter.

It would appear that in arresting the slide in approval ratings of the past four or five years, the council has taken on board some of the harsh realities exposed in previous years’ surveys, but there is still a long way to go before the City can hold up these annual survey results and proudly claim to have got it right.

Local government is the tier of government that should be closest to the people and it is problematic for this community that sadly, this is not always the case here in Greater Bendigo.

As a community we owe it to ourselves and to those we elected to represent us to work with them, not against them, because when people can set aside their differences and work together for the sake of others above themselves, good things can happen.

And while there will be the inevitable rush from some sections of the community to embrace these survey findings and proclaim them to be further evidence of a deterioration or decline in local government, it is more important that there be solutions found to address where things are not as good as they should be - and that is a shared responsibility for all of us.

What do you think?

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