Today’s blog is a bit late and for good
reason. News of the untimely death of
Alderman Jeremy Ball of Launceston City Council in a car accident has hit like
a medicine ball in the gut.
Here is the loss of someone who
personified all that is good in local government, and the sort of people we all
want and need to represent us in local government. I can understand how Mayor Van Zetten needed
some time alone on hearing of the loss of Jeremy. All the good adjectives over the coming days
will be used to describe Jeremy; my choice is “loyal”. Not only as Deputy Mayor of Launceston, but
to the city and local government and to the State he’d chosen to live in.
Jeremy took the wider view when it came
to the Hobart-Launceston Memorandum of Understanding, and knew it wasn’t all
about the who gets what of AFL
football games. It was more than
that. Jeremy knew that the sum of two
great cities working together was greater than petty squabbling over
football. The MOU was an opportunity to
address and develop good policy, and on two matters dear to him – youth
development and the city’s built heritage.
If we got the population strategy branding right, we’d get more young
people staying in the State, and coming back to raise their families. If we took care of the built heritage that
has covered the State since 1803, we’d be a State that has preserved history
and its lessons to pass on.
Conversations with Jeremy always left
you thoughtful about how to do positive change.
The loss of Jeremy in the MOU team of Hobart and Launceston Aldermen and
Council staff will be sorely felt. Vale
and deepest condolences to his family and workmates.
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