Special Meeting: Ombudsman Victoria report recommendations

Seven items were tabled, relating to recommendations in the Ombudsman Victoria report into "the alleged improper conduct of councillors". The items specifically related to matters such as declarations of gifts, access to (Council) information, councillor conduct (behaviour), and meeting procedure.

Each was forced through the agenda, as the old guard of new (and some not-so-new) Labor-aligned councillors read in turn their carbon copy statements about 'unity-of-the-future' and the 'somewhat unfortunate' past.

The TV media were there, the local papers, Council's entire Media team, and Liberal MPs David Davies and Jeanette Powell amongst others. Some councillors were so bold as to declare, hand-on-heart, that none of the present councillors are Labor-aligned. (A partial admission that Brimbank Labor is on the nose for good reason.) Presumably 20-odd years of stacking and factional shuffling had folded with the previous council, the memory of their own recent (and now documented) deals for upcoming mayoralty conveniently forgotten.

I put forward a motion that motions (including recission motions) should not to need to be seconded in order to be brought to the chamber. If this were the case back when the Sunshine Pool was being used as a political football, we would not have a Sunshine Leisure Centre to speak of today.

I also proposed that motions put to the chamber that are not seconded also be recorded in the minutes. To which Cr Guidice and the Mayor Cr Atanasovski replied such unseconded motions need no air time in the chamber as it would cause embarrassment to the Council. I can only take this to mean that any view that is not consistent with theirs ruling faction is an embarassment. How soon they forget that those 27% of Harvester who had hoped that I would champion their interests in the chamber deserve also to be represented.

It's very easy to be drawn into the cynicism (about community participation, about party politics and the like) but we really needn't be. Brimbank is bigger than the Labor Party. And change in the Brimbank political landscape is occuring, whether they're paying attention or not.

Transparency?
Mayor Troy Atanosovski decided to not allow television media into the chamber. Click here to see Brimbank Greens media release.

Isabella Williams Masterplan
The Isabella Williams Masterplan was adopted by Council tonight. Please phone the Council on 03 9249 4000 to enquire about the document - it seems to be unavailable on the website

Sunvale PS – only the greens support the community
I want to reiterate my concern that there has not been proper consultation over this issue despite the ill-thought out process being undertaken to give up this valuable public asset.
Again I would like to flag an alternative resolution if this one fails
That is “That council authorises the CEO to write to the state government stating that:
1. The site stays 100% in public hands; and
2. That Council will conduct an immediate consultation with the Sunshine community”

When community members became aware of the possible sale, they were led to believe a separate discussion on the development of the site would take place. This has not happened.
Even though this letter says its preferred option is 0.8 of a hectare retained for public open space, it also says it is open to negotiation and does not stress the importance of us getting a better deal because of severe disadvantage.
It also concerns me that the report is saying we advocate for affordable housing without specifying what ‘affordable housing’ is. We all know that affordable housing can too easily mean a multitude of things – none of which have been properly discussed with this community that will have to live with any development that takes place at Sunvale PS site.
If we push this through as it is we will be missing an opportunity to work with our community and together lobby the State Government for what could be a great community asset.

Sunshine UDF
This is a really important opportunity for improving the walkability of the centre of Sunshine.
I hope to get to see it implemented because I think it has the potential to bring our community together and revitalise the life of Hampshire Rd.
Our community has had concerns for a long time about the importance of fixing the interface between Sunshine Marketplace and the Plaza. This urban design framework offers some really exciting solutions that will give the town centre back rather than an ugly shopping centre that turns its back to the street.
I am still concerned about what progress has been made in discussions between Council and Centro. They are still looking perilously close to selling off their shopping centres and we are relying on whoever owns the space to work closely with us on its new design.
Unfortunately we have privatised a lot of the public space in Sunshine and it has caused real problems when it comes to working to fix public amenity and attractiveness of the town centre.

Concerns re: Council budget process

Councillors were presented with a draft budget and a couple of rate options a while back at an earlier briefing. I am concerned as it came back to as a 6.5% rate increase after no discussion. The discussion on that night became heated and some members of the ruling faction walked out. Cr Maria Kiselis and Cr Heidi Seitz stayed however, forcing Mayor Cr Troy Atanasovski et al to have to return and resume discussions. It was put to the rest of us that there would be no discussion because they wouldn’t accept the higher rate rise figure and that they would tell the CEO to include everything in the lower figure.

The discussions quickly broke down again and people stormed out making any further discussion impossible. The next thing we know a revised budget of the lower figure + 0.5% was presented to us “as the result of our discussion” or “our decision last time”, when in fact the group had reached no such decision.

Have your say on the draft 2009/2010 Council Budget, draft Council Plan 2009-2013 and the draft Road Asset Management Plan, which are now available to view online.

The Brimbank Community Plan was endorsed by Council on 24 March 2009. A copy of the Plan and Local Area Plans can be found here.

The Solar Suburbs Program aims to help as many households ‘go solar’ before the Federal Government's $8,000 rebate expires on 30 June 2009. Find out more here.