Community meeting at Sunshine Masonic Hall: well attended and children-friendly (above)

Community Meeting

In recent months, Brimbank City Council has been rocked by allegations of misconduct. Following the release of the Ombudsman's Report into alleged misconduct, I put forward a motion that Council conduct a community meeting to allow the community to have full and proper discussion of the issues. Not one Councillor would support that motion. Because of this I went ahead with local Greens and organised a public meeting on Wednesday19th August in Sunshine.


About 50 people turned out to a very successful community meeting. It was an opportunity for the community to discuss the key points of the report, and freely raise concerns over issues such as Sunvale PS, Parsons Reserve, the Civic Centre proposal, affordable housing, lack of public open space funding and inappropriate development.


The meeting resolved to pass a couple of motions. One was a request to Bill Scales to attend a community meeting in the next 6 weeks to update the community on his progress. Further the community requested Mr Scales to provide Council with a monthly update of his progress. We await his answer.

The meeting was well attended and there were so many valuable contributions. Hopefully this signals the start of our community becoming more organised and inspired to take up the struggle for a better Sunshine!

Former Greens Brimbank Councillor, Miles Dymott addressing the meeting (below)

Harmony Train gathers steam at St Albans
There was a great turn out for this important day. Residents gathered in the Square opposite St Albans Station to enjoy performances from local musicians and express their support for our community which comes from a diverse range of backgrounds.

50th Anniversary for Sunshine Football Club
Congratulations to Sunshine Football Club for achieving their 50th anniversary. The Club has a proud history of supporting families through tough times and fostering a healthy, caring environment for young people.

Conflict of interest
As a new councillor elected at the last election, it has taken some time for me to process the full effect of the difficulties associated with the new Conflict of Interest provisions.

Overall, I welcome the new provisions because they are clearly intended to prevent Councillors from making personal gain from their role as a councillor and providing a clear set of guidelines about what is a conflict. The new rules are important to help ensure councillors’ act in a transparent way at all times about any associations they have with developers, real estate and other interests that could mean they profit from a particular council decision or have a bias when it comes to making a decision about an issue on a particular development. The guidelines also protect councillors by ensuring that in general they do not accept gifts that could later be used by a group or company to influence a decision about an issue.

I am concerned though that like many dedicated country Councillors I was elected because of my connections to my community and those connections are not about developers or real estate. My involvement is with many community not-for-profit groups working to improve their local area and support their neighbours. Because of my continued involvement as an active local person on my school council, breastfeeding group, playground group etc, those groups have suffered from my association, and are not being able to apply for grants because of a perceived conflict of interest. I believe there is also potential for conflicts to arise on making decisions about issues that might be remotely associated with these groups and that is not necessarily fair.

Council not interested in discussing Ombudsman's Report with Community
At the Budget meeting on Tuesday night (23/06/2009) not one councillor would second the Greens motion for Council to hold a community meeting to discuss the key points arising from the Ombudsman Victoria Investigation into the alleged improper conduct of councillors at Brimbank City Council.
The meeting on the 18th June enabled Council to demonstrate what it is doing to meet the recommendations of the report. It did not allow opportunity for the community to discuss how it hoped to to regain confidence in the democratic process. So I will go ahead and organise a community meeting to ensure our community's voice is heard on these matters.

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.

Watchdog nails Brimbank building inspector
I was horrified to learn about the findings of the Ombudsman Victoria's second report Conflict of Interest and Abuse of Power by a Building Inspector at Brimbank City Council (tabled today in Parliament).

The Ombudsman, George Brouwer says his report into the actions of a building inspector at our Council should be a reminder to all public officers about the damage caused by conflicts of interest and misuse of power.

“It demonstrates how vulnerable members of the community can be affected by the action of public officers,” Mr Brouwer said.

“It also demonstrates how this can erode the public trust.”
In the wake of the OV's first damning report about councillor misconduct the other councillors have demonstrated a choreographed will to present an image of a 'united council' to the public. In the process, I and many others who have different but valid views on these matters have been roundly ignored.
I am concerned that they will similarly play down the significance of these recent findings at the expense of allowing the corruption and entrenched cynicism which have underpinned poor governance at Brimbank to be flushed out and properly dealt with.

Save Reconciliation Victoria
The Brumby Government has defunded Reconciliation Victoria, without measures to build on its success. Reconciliation Victoria has created opportunities for indigenous and non Indigenous Australians to come together to share knowledge and experience in a spirit of mutual respect for a fairer Victoria.

Filming councils is in the picture
The media has the same rights to attend and film Local Government proceedings as it does to cover Federal and State Parliamentary proceedings. That’s the verdict from Victoria’s Minister for Local Government, Richard Wynne after requests from media outlets to film a meeting of the troubled Brimbank City Council.

The Solar Suburbs Program
About 2000 households have signed up with clear Solar at the last count. I am so pleased that Brimbank is leading with at least 280 households signed up.

Foundry Towers at Sunshine
A planning permit was issued by VCAT following an appeal against Council's November 2006 decision to approve the development.
The development is for 3 towers, two of these at 9 storeys and one at 8 storeys.There are however a number of conditions on the permit that must be met before works can commence.

Former detective appointed to Brimbank Council investigation
The Victorian Government has appointed a former detective with the Fraud Squad, David Walker, as an Inspector of Municipal Administration to investigate potential breaches of the Local Government Act at Brimbank City Council.

National waste policy to be finalised later this year
A national policy that will clarify the waste management responsibilities of local, state and federal governments is expected to be finalised by November. Container deposit legislation does not seem to appear in this clarification.

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.

Development Assessment Committees
The Minister for Planning, Justin Madden, announced today Amendment VC56 will take effect from Friday.
The amendment makes him the planning authority for all Commonwealth “Social Housing Initiative” and “Building Education Revolution” projects. Whilst the school projects will be on school land and probably won't have any impact on local amenity, it denies the community any say in how they wish to see these projects develop.

The social housing initiatives are a big worry too. Firstly, it remains unhelpfully vague what is meant by 'social housing'. Are we talking developers building cheap and nasty units and houses on tiny blocks of land that will be sold off at market prices? Are we talking about supported accommodation? If so, what sort of support and services will be provided? Are we talking public housing? If so, are we talking about ghettos of people with high levels of disadvantage being lumped together?

We, the community need to be a part of these discussions and let it be known that we want high quality public housing that is of a standard any Australian would be proud to live in. So that living costs and environmental sensitivity are factored into the design and where people on very low incomes live side by side with middle class people with skills to lobby government for improved services. They must have high quality open space and playgrounds, a town centre (not a shopping centre) and have all the other facilities and services such as schools, community centres, and community health centres within easy walking distance.

Greens Call for New Elections at Brimbank Council. - Letter to the Age

On developments from the Ombudsman’s report
Council has had its first meeting with the municipal inspector Bill Scales (who is currently also Chair of the Port of Melbourne Corporation and Chancellor of Swinburne University). This meeting was held on Tuesday night following the planning meeting. Bill seems to be personable and capable, but still too close to the ALP and its interests. I suspect he confuse the pressure to quietening things down for Labor and restoring good governance, such is the culture of the place. Watch this space.

We have another meeting with Alison Lyons and Rob Spence from the MAV tonight which I imagine will focus on the issues we would like to air concerning governance and up skilling of councillors. I must say I am interested in having full and frank discussions about democratic process, the ethical and moral responsibilities councillors should feel as elected representatives, the importance of genuine representation of our community and the place of factions. Let’s see how we go!

A lot of the local press has been transfixed on the Ombudsman’s report; almost all of it is in calling for the sacking of the Council. My predecessor Miles Dymott and I have been the only ones fighting this self-interested behaviour of the Labor Party – but this is hardly recognised by the papers as newsworthy. Genuine informed debate to redefine elected representation in our region is still lacking, as is analysis of the depth of rot in Council’s governance structures. Although I was heartened to see one letter stating there is one councillor who is not corrupt!

I’m looking to outline again what it has meant to have a Green on Council. Miles achieved many things in his term on Council including consistently standing up to the abusive behaviour of the ruling faction towards both him and toward the community. For our community Miles fought successfully to restore funding to Sunshine’s pool redevelopment, our parks and our bike paths. He championed the redesign of the Sunshine shopping precinct and has always defended environmental initiatives, local environment groups, community groups and sporting groups.
The pair of us work consistently to oppose inappropriate housing development, to support policy and strategy that promotes a more democratic, healthy and environmentally sustainable outcomes for the Brimbank community. We hope many others will continue to join us in the coming months.

The Ombudsman’s Report – analysis in brief
· The Government dodged and weaved (before, during and after the release of the Ombudsman’s report) until it was impossible not to finally take the appropriate action. The continued reluctance to face the electorate speaks volumes.
· Whilst I welcome the report – which exposes the underbelly of Brimbank Councillors and the Labor MPs who have been exposed as their puppeteers – it is limited by a narrow terms of reference.
· In light of what has been inflicted on the community – by greed, ambition and factional in-fighting – the recommendations do not go far enough.
· None of the recommendations will trigger a culture change. That is what Brimbank Council needs. A complete clean slate and a shared understanding of what their role as Council are.
· The Brumby Government needs to restore democracy in the western suburbs. And I am under no illusion that this is an isolated case. Other Councils, documented in Hansard, have been either in need of scrutiny or have been scrutinised in the past: Glen Eira, Geelong, Banyule.

Sack the ALP!
I am ploughing through the rest of the Ombudsman’s report into Brimbank Council and I am keen to extend the message that so far seems to be predominating in the media calling for the sacking of the council.
We can't rely on the Labor Party to fix this mess. Bringing in an administrator will be bringing in an ALP person. Suggesting the Local Government Victoria or the Local Government Minister (Richard Wynne MP) can fix it is nonsense when they are the ones who refused to address it up til now. Every ALP MP in this area has been implicated - right up to Premier Brumby who relies on them for his numbers.
I think we need to call for another election immediately, and let the people of Brimbank decide. Let them face the electorate having disgraced themselves and run down democracy in the West. I want to see people genuine in their commitment to our community step up and redefine our local politics for the public good.

Interview with 774AM Jon Faine
I am interviewed by Jon Faine, who has an instinct for inducing a sensationalist sound bite and cuts me off when I explain the importance of voting for the Greens.
Link to the interview

Released: The Victorian Ombudsman’s report into alleged improper conduct at Brimbank Council
This report is well overdue and very welcome. It is finally saying the things our community has been telling the Local Government Minister for years. Now we need action to eliminate these practises and ensure genuine democratic processes.
The Brimbank Greens call for new elections immediately.

Streets Ahead in Ardeer and Albion
This evening more than fifty Ardeer and Albion residents turned out for a well organised workshop which looked at making our neighbourhood safer for children and more welcoming for all. Next meeting is on the 1st June 2009.