By CASEY NEILL
A GREATER Dandenong Business group member will visit China on a trip that was last month slammed as a waste of ratepayers’ money.
City of Greater Dandenong councillors on 22 April voted for a delegation to travel to the council’s sister city, Xuzhou, from 15 to 18 July – but the decision was far from unanimous.
Three councillors said the relationship should be reassessed and was a waste of money.
On Monday night, councillors amended the original decision to include a Greater Dandenong Business Group member in the delegation.
The council will now also ask Chisholm TAFE if it would like to send a representative or material to pass on to education institutions.
Mayor Angela Long and engineering services director Bruce Rendall will make the trip to seek capital and private investment in Greater Dandenong, and stronger ties between the cities’ education and medical sectors.
In April, Cr Peter Brown said Cr Long was not the best person to send, given the trip’s objectives.
“I don’t think she has the qualifications nor the experience to deliver the outcomes this agenda is seeking,” he said.
Cr Maria Sampey said “nothing viable” was coming out of the relationship, which spans 18 years, and Cr Sean O’Reilly said the benefit of going back to the same place year after year was not clear.
But Cr John Kelly said the city had benefited from the connection, which was built over time.
