Hawkesbury Council Slammed for Deceptive Facebook Post

Hawkesbury City Council (HCC) is facing fierce backlash tonight after publishing a Facebook post that many argue deliberately conceals critical events from Tuesday’s Council meeting, raising accusations of public deception and manipulation.

The heavily sanitised Council summary has been slammed for intentionally omitting crucial matters, including the Liberal-Labor alliance’s controversial rejection of a plan to protect local koalas. Despite a petition signed by 900 residents urging the Council to fund a Koala Plan of Management, this significant matter was glossed over. Additionally, the post failed to disclose a covert scheme to sell publicly owned land with high biodiversity value without a public tender or auction (the Hawkesbury Post will publish a story on that matter tomorrow). Another key omission was the Liberal-Labor alliance’s decision to withdraw from the Hawkesbury River County Council without any community consultation.

The FB post comes as Hawkesbury Council has actively been promoting itself as the only source of truthful information in the region. Mayor Sarah McMahon has frequently directed the community to rely solely on HCC news.

Critics have condemned the Council for spreading misleading information and are questioning who authorised the post. Myra McDonald blasted the post, saying, “Who actually wrote this? Or approved this post? Because they are delusional if they think this is what the public want to be updated about ‘at a glance’. Don’t treat the voting public like idiots. We are watching. It seems like the only person who isn’t watching what’s actually going on, was the one who compiled this inane list.”

Al Lozzie condemned the summary as a blatant attempt to deceive, stating, “This is not a true summary of the meetings outcomes, it appears to have been censored for public distribution, by whose direction?”

 A screenshot of Council’s debate on Koala’s which was omitted from the Facebook summary of events.

Eric Finley, who was present throughout the meeting, asserted, “From someone who was present through the first 4 hours of that meeting, this is not an accurate ‘at a glance ‘ summary of what occurred.”

Greens Councillor Danielle Wheeler criticised the Council’s sanitised account and posted her views on her own Facebook page,” while Fiona Hamann added, “Goodness this is a really sanitised version of events. Thank goodness for Hawkesbury City Councillor Watch and Hawkesbury Post. What a misleading summary. Who approves this content?”

Sarah Terry said “If you’re aiming for transparency, not reporting on the two most controversial items is a poor way of going about it. No wonder people are seeking their information from other sources. Also, the Mayor serves a 24 month term, not 12.”

Resident Alex Rogers agreed,  “This is no where near what I saw, especially with regards to the sale of Woodlands to a dog food factory, which will have a direct impact on residents with the stench it creates, further heavy vehicle traffic, along with depriving children of their enjoyment of their hobby.”

Councillor Nathan Zamprogno, a vocal advocate for transparency and council integrity, expressed concern over the Council’s approach, saying, “Although it is flattering that Council has lately been publishing these post-meeting summaries, my concern is that they offer a very curated view of the debate and issues. I am very proud to be associated with Hawkesbury City Councillor Watch that gives a much fuller and (in my view) fairer and more useful summary of each meeting.If re-elected, I will be reintroducing my previous motion to have all councillor voting, attendance and expenses reported publicly (and especially around election time) for the greatest accountability and transparency.The account we’re seeing here omits some of the most important, and most contentious items, discussed,” 

The Council has now turned off comments on the controversial post, but residents will have the chance to express their frustration when comments reopen tomorrow morning. “This Facebook page is only monitored between the hours of 8:30am and 5pm, the comments to this post will be closed until tomorrow morning,” HCC said in the comments.