Comment by Michael Giles

AS A journalist, Ben Harvey is no mug, apparently. He’s been around.

Won ‘Columnist of the Year 2022’ in the WA media awards, according to his LinkedIn page.

And as a director of Crime Stoppers Western Australia, he probably knows a thing or two about crime.

But he doesn’t know much about Leongatha.

In an article in the online publication ‘The Nightly’ owned by Seven West Media which publishes The West Australian, the newspaper he has worked for since 2012, he has included ‘Leongatha’ in the same sentence as ‘Snowtown’, ‘Columbine’, the Norwegian island of ‘Utoya’ and Martin Bryant’s ‘Port Athur’.

‘Welcome to Murder Town’ is the catchy graphic of a stylised postcard with scenes of Leongatha and Erin Patterson that accompanies the article.

“The dairy province of Leongatha used to be famous for its milk and cheese,” he says, “but on July 29, 2023, Erin Patterson ensured it would subsequently be known for a different food.”

OK, yes, we can cop the stuff about Beef Wellingtons and death cap mushrooms, but it’s an absolute crock to say that anyone here is concerned about damage to our reputation.

Outsiders might think that, but Leongatha people don’t. The reason? Erin Patterson is not one of us.

She’s not related to anyone locally, so no tarnished bloodlines. She lived in the town for less than a year before the fateful lunch date, in July 2023, and only lived in Korumburra for 10 years. Again, not related to anyone locally there either.

Unlike our world-class milk and cheese, she’s not a product of South Gippsland.

She was, in effect, parachuted in here to commit her heinous crime. We don’t own the crime, or her.

By all means, report the news, but leave out the rubbish.