Candidate wants opponent to quit
A CANDIDATE for Division 5 in the local government elections has demanded an opponent withdraw because he has chosen to attend his son's wedding in Bali during the campaign.
Kerry Short was faced with the choice of going to the wedding or addressing a candidates' forum in Coral Cove yesterday.
Opposing candidate Kris Carter said by choosing to spend time in Bali during the campaign, Mr Short had demonstrated he was not fit to represent the people of Division 5.
"If he shows so little regard for the people when seeking their support, one can only speculate how arrogantly he would behave if he was on the council," she said.
"He should do the decent thing and resign as a candidate." Ms Carter was also against plans to have Mr Short's campaign manager, Steve Cooper, read out a statement from him at the forum.
But Mr Cooper said yesterday Mr Short was treating Ms Carter's call as a joke.
"Who doesn't go to their son's wedding?" he said.
Mr Cooper said the wedding was organised 15 months ago, before the State Government changed the election date.
"We can only see the light side of it," he said.
Mr Cooper said he had withdrawn from reading Mr Short's statement.
"I said I would be happy to do it, but I wouldn't do it if it's going to cause conflict," he said.
"To us it's not an issue, but we wanted to have somebody there for the sake of the people who organised the forum."
He said someone from Bundaberg Toastmasters would now read out Mr Short's statement.
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