Update: Apologies to Ben Robson, I accept I can be a bit too touchy about these things. Keep up the good work.

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The Border Mail’s article on Thursday night’s public forum can be found here.

Once again the Border Mail has taken the odd liberty when selecting a “quote” to put next to my name. I the past I can see this has been an honest mistake that has not overly distorted what I was trying to get across, but Ben Robson took it a bridge too far.

“I think retiring the city’s debt is an essential pre-requisite to a just and equitable society,” Kieran Bennett said.

This appears to have been an attempt to contract two parts of my speech into one sentence, because I did say:

We are committed to the environment, because it is an essential prerequisite. Our ultimate goal, is to work towards a more just and equitable society.

And:

At the same time that we need urgent action to secure our future against the threats of climate change, our city’s ability to plan and invest is severely restricted by our large debt burden.

The speech I gave on that night, word for word, can be found here. I hope that in future, Ben Robson will prioritise accuracy over convenience when reporting on local politics.

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