SPECIAL EDITION | Jo Roberts | Doesn't matter how flat you make a pancake

Dr Phil always says, "It doesn't matter how flat you make a pancake, there's always two sides." Meaning, there's always two sides to a story. But when it comes to any tier of government quite often that pancake turns into a dodecahedron. (That's a shape with 12 sides, just FYI). After news broke last week when the report from the public inquiry into the Balranald Shire Council was handed down and Council was dismissed and put in the hands of administrators, my heart sank and I felt sick. Mostly for Euston local and long time community volunteer and former Councillor Joanne Roberts. After reading some of the horrid, ill informed comments on news threads, I quickly sent a message of support to Jo and mentioned that if she ever wanted to have her say, then we have a podcast for that these days. A couple of days later, I was thrilled to receive a message from Jo saying she would like to come and have a conversation about the whole situation, but I had to be gentle. As if I would be anything but. Jo and I have been in similar situations. Part of a Council who's wards are geographically located a long way from ground zero, so I had nothing but empathy and what started out as a nervous quick chat, soon turned into almost an hour of sorting through a very small part of the inquiry, the report and the future of the Balranald Shire Council. I can not applaud this woman enough. She was one woman amongst a sea of experienced men. She stood up for what was right. She stood up for what was due diligence. She stood up for legal process and she stood up for Euston. Then after it imploded on top of her, she still has the strength and the leadership to publicly share her side of this dodecahedron that is the dismissal of the Balranald Shire Council. As our VIP's (Very Important Patron's) you are getting former Councillor Jo Roberts uncut and before anyone else on the planet. There will be an excerpt of about 10 minutes in the regular podcast episode, but this is her side of the story. Raw. Honest. Diplomatic and uncut.