NEW HOPE -- WE can DO IT COLAC! . Over 10 years since the last post

The big night in proved it eh   For more good news click here 

The latests news is about Councils complete incompetence in coastal management  
 
Long standing counsellors have failed completely to do what makes economic and practical sense to protect the beaches and tourists in Apollo Bay North . Nearly 20 years after they were first told of a way forward,   they have failed to do it.
.Details are in the page advertised to the right."Think about this counsellor"     

I will try not to bore you,  but I am only writing here  on this old site  in the midst of Council Elections because normal postings of mine as Author have been taken down by several local  Facebook groups . 

I wonder who or whom is responsible and why ? I don't know why.   
You can see even just a few posts back that our money five and ten years back was being used to limit freedom of speech in our Shire . Ten years ago  we were told that COT shire was badly administered and yet we seem not to be able to talk about it still in 2020, Why aren't we able to really question and assess the performance of people who work for us?  


Its Ok under our law to be personal in your comments  provided you are talking performance in public office and/or  asking questions . Please support or question those of us who make claims about poor performance in office. 

Fortunately in October 2020 we in Colac Otway have a good number of candidates  who won't just be corralled and snowed incessantly by what looks white or right, but will bring their wisdom of experience with them. 

Nothing much is happening

Last post is deceiving, but very symbolic . We havva new CEO but who would know  .

Not for lack of concern but its true --- no pool and no real concern for all the growing rules .

Elected leaders seem to take for granted their right to a no show . What a disgrace ! The big issue at the meeting was non local non accountability.

A good rollout and a good idea of who the candidates were; a credit to Colac DCC . People listening to discussion on OCRFM would realise what a wide range of comments were made, making the evening a really worthwhile way of thinking about who to vote for . I can only wonder why considering Brian Crooks and other Councillors concern to improve local government and accountability ( the talk on many lips) why most Councillors were not there . Maybe they think nothing will happen here while Labor is in power . The absence of Labor suggests they believe less in the effectiveness of a good old democratic discussion in, like last night , and more in their right to rule . I hope Polwarth sends the message that its not going to be taken for granted - certainly this was the feeling at this excellent candidates meeting.

What if we havv big bushfire here this year -- where are all those shelters and road signs councillors 

Choosing the next CEO for the Shire

If ever I had a choice I wouldn't choose a leader who thought he knew a lot about the environment  but who clearly knew how little he knew about the environment . He or she would be a person who didn't just talk like he knew something about the environment but had plenty of EXPERIENCE with people and places where on ground decisions for sustainability were made .
The only real test for sustainable action is time itself .  a longer review is posted here 
I hope those who provide the evaluation will still be around to enjoy their sound judgement in twenty years time   More here

Overlays out of control

Sorry but currently being edited . Please bookmark or link address. If you want to know more about how to return Victoria to the planning capital of Australia - link in here  
INTRO

Councillors won’t get a rap over for saying no to OVERLAYS . They can, if they think clearly, have the satisfaction of finding out that all this impost is white noise , real misinformation, bluff and bluster and find out that there is a much better , simpler and more credible way to do biodiversity planning.

Please say clearly to the State’s dumb sets of drawing board operators that their ham fisted linework doesn’t work and would they please stop making our people pay for indecisive, imprecise and overly legalized incompetence. 

Why are the Council afraid of public meetings ?

Many of us know exactly why - because they and their staff aren't really accountable for what happens and doesn't happen inside those walls .

Because they advocate changes in the rural sector that they don't really understand? ,
Because they don't really trust and respect real people to look after the land and its natural resources ?
because they think outside mangers can look after our resources better?

They believe in meetings all right ;  meetings to plan things;  meetings to plan other meetings; planning meetings

We even get leaders who publicly have a go at Councillors   who don't turn up to every meeting organised . Haven't they ever seen John Cleese's movie " Meetings B meetings "

Haven't they got it yet -
we want you to decide things,  not  plan meetings and decide what should happen at meetings ( codes of conduct number 1 says  -- attend meetings, or else ???)
We want you to tell farmers if they are doing soemthing wrong and why - not ask them to read 300 pages of maps and schedules that even your staff can't digest .
If no farmers turned up at Monday nights meeting its because they do care . they are going broke feeding out poor hay to try and to stop calves and lambs dying . These are animals who still roam the countryside unlike more now in woolies that are cut up after life in a shed !
Which animal do you want us to care for Mr Green , Mr Small and Mr Crook?
The people are planning the first public meeting in years ( something the current executive can't seem to organise) at Elliminyt public Hall .
The main risk is of course that there will not be enough time to properly hear the concerns of those who haven't been heard since our executives first took office . Performance inadequate.

The high school site

What's happening ? The council are telling us nothing .It seems that  they have already subdivided the block . Council say its a Dept of Education decision what happens, but subdivision has to be approved by Council --will our Council get a cut? . This land is what the people have already bought .
Desperate to cover their overspending , what do we expect the new Council to want to do with OUR assets .Sell the new undercover carpark?
If you haven't voted yet,  notice how few candidates commit to doing something to make sure OUR assets are not sold. Put your comments too on OCRFM website survey  Also here

Top down decision making doesn't work

For more on my concerns about our Council's powerlessness and what to do about it click here 

More bypass ideas - will any get up ?

The last round of Shire investigations was a fizer ? Will the latest be just the same?

Evidnce for hard edge planning is hard to come by . They put on more and more staff and make less and less significant decisions. Our CEO is happy to be seen to plant non native  fruit trees in the suburbs, but neither of them have got a word out of Mr Mulders government on how to make better use of the huge potential for  timber regeneration resource to our south.
So easy to pass the difficult stuff off to consultants . If I was still able to do my job,  I would be more open about why some options are not on the table and have already asked Mr Mulder ( Roads minister )  why Vic roads don't give us some ideas on general feasibility instead of us paying for a selection so big you could drive a truck through any one of them in a loud nimby moment - seems to be the order of the day to just hope real challenges don't get discussed  . Too hard for the current Council to even talk to us on this?
How do we take the big initiatives of Mr Delahunty and Mr Meade more seriously than Council are.

Some of the bypass discussion is happening here http://lakecolac.blogspot.com