ONE councillor has issued strong support of the amount of mayoral visits to China in recent years, claiming it's "securing the future of the region".
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At its meeting on Tuesday evening, Tamworth Regional Council voted unanimously in favour of sending mayor Col Murray and economic analyst Alex Wang to China next month as part of a Namoi Unlimited "study trip".
Cr Murray wasn't present to vote on the matter, but Russell Webb strongly advocated for the council's various trips to China.
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He acknowledged it had drawn criticism from the community in the past, and while this federally funded trip wasn't costing ratepayers in this instance, he argued for Tamworth shoring up Chinese trade relationships.
"It's securing a future for the region and it's building our capacity as a region as one of the major suppliers of protein," he said.
Acting mayor, Phil Betts, backed Cr Webb's sentiments and said the trip would go some way to it also enhancing the city's chance of becoming an international freight centre in the future.
Absent from the meeting on Tuesday, Mark Rodda still fired-off a critique of the latest trip.
He said he wouldn't have supported it if this trek wasn't funded by the Australia China Council.
"I don't believe there have been many historic tangible benefits to these trips," he said.
"They seem to be an opportunity for some councillors to use the trips as a platform to raise their profile in their respective communities by inflating the actual benefits of the trips."
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
