MAYOR Teresa Harding has employed Trump-style politics in attacking the media.
In a long post on her official council Facebook page Cr Harding took aim at comments made by Member for Blair Shayne Neumann in the Ipswich Tribune on Wednesday about the absence of funds for the North Ipswich Sport and Entertainment Precinct in the 2023-24 council Budget.
However instead of challenging Mr Neumann on his comments, Cr Harding turned her attack on the Ipswich Tribune titling the rant “Fake News Wednesday” with two lying face emojis, saying “It’s Fake News Wednesday with another misleading article in the Ipswich Tribune”.
Cr Harding told her Facebook followers one paragraph of her page-long response to the Tribune’s questions was “not published”.
The comment was published along with two thirds of the article dedicated to Cr Harding’s response and only two paragraphs attributed to Mr Neumann.
Cr Harding meanwhile made no attempt the previous week to correct a major error in the newspaper she regularly promotes on her official council Facebook page.
What the Mayor described as “Fake News” was a report published in the Ipswich Tribune on P9 “No funds for North Ipswich stadium” in last week’s paper.
Cr Harding took issue with the Ipswich Tribune correctly stating that the council was yet to lodge an application for the $20 million promised for the North Ipswich project by the Federal Government.
The Mayor took to her Facebook page publishing misleading comments suggesting the statement was wrong and that the Council had “finally received notification” from the Federal Government at 4.10pm on Monday, July 3, that the Council could apply for the grant.
The Ipswich Tribune had asked if the council had applied to the Federal Government for the promised $20 million for the project and received a response at 4.31pm on Monday, July 3, which made no reference to receiving notification on the grant application.
In her response Cr Harding avoided the question, saying “To date, council has fulfilled all requirements set by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport,
Regional Development, Communications and the Arts”.
She then said “We are currently waiting for an invitation from the Department to make a grant application under the Priority Community Infrastructure program”, confirming the council had not applied for the grant.
In her Facebook post Cr Harding suggested the Tribune ignored the facts about the application when she gave an incorrect answer, presumably unaware of the latest development. However the council made no attempt to update their official response the next day and was unlikely to have submitted an application before the Tribune was published.
