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Bass Coast Meets With Local Government MinisterBass Coast Shire Council and community representatives met with the Minister for Local Government, Candy Broad, yesterday to discuss the Minister’s refusal to conduct a municipal review of the Shire. By Bass Coast Shire Council - 9th June 2006 - Back to News Cr Goodwin said the Minister advised that her letter of refusal was not meant to stifle discussion on the issue, but to clarify Government policy.
No evidence had been provided, the group was told, to demonstrate exceptional circumstances.
Cr Peter Paul and Phillip Island Municipal Review Committee President, Pauline Taylor, argued that 11 years on from amalgamation, it was time to review if the Kennett Government’s decision was the right one.
Both discussed the existence of a community petition with 4,800 signatures.
"The Minister acknowledged that every community in Victoria had been affected by amalgamations and Bass Coast was not unique in having sections of its community who felt disadvantaged by this," said Cr Goodwin.
"She also commented, however, that although the Labor Government didn’t agree with the decision to force amalgamations, both her predecessor and herself maintained a policy of not wanting communities to be subjected to revisiting the upheaval and disputes that characterised amalgamations in some Shires, by conducting reviews.
"In addition, the Minister stressed that the very few reviews done to date highlight the substantial cost of de-amalgamation to communities."
Cr Goodwin said the group was advised, as they were in the Minister’s original letter, that the Council had the potential to review its own operations if it so wished.
"Minister Broad said that the Government still held offers of support to all councils should they need assistance on such items as financial trouble or governance issues.
"She also commented that she was pleased that Cr Paul and Ms Taylor felt that things had been improving on Council.
"The Minister was pleased our delegation had confidence in the Council’s financial position and operations, which, she said, confirmed the advice of her staff," informed Cr Goodwin.
In response to a question about Council’s presence on Phillip Island, the Minister was informed that Council maintained a depot and Customer Service Centre in Cowes offering access to all Council services and held Council Meetings and Community Forums on the Island. Four of Council’s seven wards represented Phillip Island ratepayers.
Cr Goodwin said that while he was disappointed that the State Government had refused the request for the review, the Minister’s reasons had been very clearly communicated to Council.
"Council now needs to decide what action we take from here," said Cr Goodwin.
"There will be ongoing discussions and Council will be exploring all the options available to us in terms of persuing a review for Bass Coast." The Minister’s decision was discussed at Wednesday night’s Council Meeting at the Civic Centre in Wonthaggi.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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