28/08/2026
Italy has given the world many wonderful things.
The Renaissance.
Opera.
Espresso.
Ferrari.
Pizza…
Hand gestures.
It also has a satisfying way of dealing with local government grievances.
Each year, in the city of Trento, a curious tradition takes place under the bridge.
A mock court is assembled.
The public gathers, and frustrations are vented. The local politician judged to have delivered the year's most spectacular screw-up is placed into a cage, suspended over the Adige River and ceremonially dunked into the water below.
The remarkable part is not the submerging.
It is the applause.
With public office comes public scrutiny and, on occasion, a little public embarrassment when common sense has taken a holiday.
It can do wonders for letting off steam.
One cannot help but wonder whether Bundaberg has been overlooking an opportunity.
There has, after all, been no shortage of anger surrounding this year's excessive rate rise. Public protests out the front of council, statewide media coverage, pages with thousands of angry comments.
The Italians have found humour to be a great remedy in such situations. Rather than forming a committee and deliberating, they simply built a cage.
There is a refreshing honesty about the arrangement.
Naturally, difficulties would arise if such a custom found its way to the Burnett.
Australia has developed an impressive talent for regulating almost everything. A ceremonial dunking would no doubt require approvals from all sixteen Federal Government Agencies and well over a hundred Commonwealth Agencies whose existence most people have never heard of.
The cage would require engineering certification.
The rope would require certification.
The person operating the winch would require certification.
The person supervising the certified winch operator would definitely require certificationon.
Then there is the river itself. The Burnett isn't known for crocodiles, which is probably just as well. Bull sharks, on the other hand, do turn up from time to time.
Thankfully, the citizens of Trento are quick to hoist the cage from the water, with politicians suffering nothing more than wounded pride and damp trousers.
With the next round of rate notices never too far away, one suspects there'd be no shortage of volunteers willing to serve on Bundaberg's very first Tribunale di Penitenza.
As for who might find themselves in the cage...
We'll leave that to the jury.
Written by John E Middleclass for the August 2026 Chitchat Newspaper
