THE Liberal-National Coalition should come clean on whether they support the “hounding’’ tactics of Loddon shire councillor Colleen Condliffe by the Plug the Pipe group.
The dirty tricks campaign over control of the Victorian Farmers Federation water council, of which Colleen is a member, is in the news.
I was alarmed to read one quote with Colleen saying she has been hounded by the Plug the Pipe group over her decision to stand for committee membership of the VFF.
Plug the Pipe have overstepped the mark by hounding Colleen in this way. Colleen has served as a councillor on Loddon Council for eight years; she is a former ABC Rural Woman of the Year winner and serves on a number of local community-based committees.
Colleen said it was her “democratic right to stand’’ and she had been “under pressure’’ to stand down.
It is well known the Plug the Pipe Group is heavily backed by the Liberal and National Parties. It is time the Liberal-National Parties rejected the hounding of a local community representative wanting to exercise her democratic right.
If they do not reject this bullying behaviour, they are endorsing this strongarm tactic by Plug the Pipe - giving it the green light to be repeated.
JACINTA ALLAN MP,
Member for Bendigo East