Mr Hadley has set his sights on Cr Rush over a raft of issues, starting with the allegation that he used a pseudonym to “troll” community members opposed to amalgamation of Bathurst and Oberon councils and now delving into his business dealings and even personal life.

The Western Advocate has been long aware of the allegations against Cr Rush and we have spoken to him – and others in the community associated with the allegations – about them.

And what we have determined is that the allegations against Cr Rush remain exactly that at this point – allegations.

There has been no independent finding of guilt against Cr Rush on any of the allegations and, indeed, only one independent investigation has been finalised so far.

That allegation concerned posts on the Oberon Anti-Amalgamation group’s Facebook page and the reviewer in that case found no proof of Cr Rush’s wrongdoing.

In fact, the reviewer went even further and issued a separate media statement confirming that she neither found any wrongdoing on the part of Cr Rush nor intended to convey such a meaning in her findings.

It is not this newspaper’s role to defend Cr Rush against attacks by another media organisation, nor is it our role to protect the mayor. But it is our role to apply reasonable fairness in our reporting of allegations against any individual in our community.

If the relevant investigating authorities find failings in the business dealings of any prominent citizen, then this newspaper has a role to report that.

If a civic leader is proven to have adopted a pseudonym to troll community members then that, too, is a story.

But we will continue to shy from reporting unproven allegations against someone simply because they have been given a wider airing on a national radio program.

Now the Western Advocate has made plain where we stand in all this, it must be time for Radio 2BS to do the same.

It is not good enough for a radio station that has benefited so greatly from this community over so many years to simply wash its hands of what is being said on its airways each morning.

If 2BS truly stands for Bathurst, then now is the time to prove it.