from “Maribyrnong Leader”
by Sasga Shtargot and Brad Ryan
November 3, 2009
OPPONENTS of the planned West Footscray Road Tunnel are stepping up their fight with a rally next month.
The Tunnel to Nowhere public meeting will be held by No Freeway 4 West Footscray and the Brimbank Transport Action Group in the Footscray Mall on November 21 at noon.
The State Government is planning the “Westlink” tunnel to run beneath Footscray and the Maribyrnong River to connect the Port of Melbourne Dynon Rd precinct to West Footscray and the Western Ring Rd.
Opponents fear increased traffic, noise and pollution, damage to suburban amenity and forced property acquisitions.
No Freeway 4 West Footscray spokeswoman Claire O’Sullivan said residents were growing increasingly frustrated at a lack of promised consultation.
“We’re highlighting that the State Government have not consulted with us to an adequate extent,” she said.
“Finalising the details about the tunnel and the freeway and then consulting with us is not consultation.”
Linking Melbourne Authority spokeswoman Jo Weeks said the authority would work with local communities and, while the route of the tunnel has yet to be decided, it would not run through residential areas.
“This project is about taking the growing number of cars and trucks off local roads and putting them on to the freeway network as part of the broader package of initiatives in the Victorian Transport Plan,” she said.
“WestLink has the potential to deliver good things for the West like easier access, less congestion and more jobs.”
http://maribyrnong-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/road-tunnel-foes-footscray-rally/
from “The Star”
By Belinda Nolan
3rd November 2009
HANDS off Sunvale was the message Sunshine residents hurled at the State Government on Sunday.
Around 50 people attended a public rally at the former school site in Sunshine to protest Brimbank Council’s push to install social housing at the site.
While their parents demonstrated outside the gates, a handful of children played among the derelict school buildings.
Residents hope they will one day be able to legitimately claim the site as their own.
They are lobbying for the site to be turned into a park, in a bid to combat Brimbank’s chronic shortage of open space.
Sunshine resident Christine Oosthuizen said local children had to make do with residential areas to play because there was no where else to go.
“I grew up in Sunshine and we never had anywhere to play back then,” she said.
“Now I’ve got two kids and nothing has changed.
“There’s still no where for them to go.
“As a family we go for walks to the shops because there’s just no where else.”
Although not opposed to social housing, residents say Brimbank already has a disproportionate amount, a view echoed by youth worker Les Twentyman.
Speaking at the rally Mr Twentyman said putting more public housing in Brimbank would be a social disaster.
“I’d be the first to say we need more social housing but to set (Sunshine) up as a ghetto is just going to rip the guts out of this community,” Mr Twentyman said.
Sunshine resident Speroulla Christodoulou said she was furious over the council plan.
“Are we getting more social housing because we need it or are we attracting (the disadvantaged) here,” she asked.
“We are not a dumping ground.”
Respect the West member Sean Spencer said the State Government was still deciding what to do with the site and would offer it to its own departments before selling it to the council.
“We need to send a message to them loud and clear that we don’t want any government offices here,” Mr Spencer said.
“They can put their offices somewhere else and keep their hands off Sunvale.”
The residents are writing to the state government to urge it to donate the land for community use.
Anyone wishing to have their say on Sunvale or any other Sunshine issue is urged to attend a council consultation this Thursday.
The Sunshine Community Conversation will be held at the Glengala Community Centre in Glengala Road in Sunshine.
For more information call 9249 4383.
From ”The Advocate”
Janae Houghton
27 October 2009
Gym lightens heavy lifting
Macho man: Melvin Becket, Angelo Muorwel, Les Twentyman, Hindoloh K Sesay and Adil Suliman. Picture: Michael Copp
SEVEN teenagers from the western suburbs started lifting weights and using treadmills last week as part of an initiative to give disadvantaged kids easy access to fitness programs and sport.
As part of the 20th Man Fund program, youth worker Les Twentyman and the owners of World Gym in Sunshine asked teenagers to apply to win a free six-month membership.
They contacted schools in Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Moonee Valley and Hobsons Bay, urging them to nominate students who would most benefit from the opportunity.
Melvin Becket, Hindoloh Sesay and Egzon Qorri from Maribyrnong College, Adil Suliman from Debney Park Secondary College, and Angelo Muorwel, Amsalu Mengistu and Sorie Thoronka from Sunshine College were chosen.
World Gym manager Andrew Meade said he hoped to continue the program.
“We were pretty happy with the number of applicants we got and we would like to make it an annual thing.”
Mr Twentyman said it was a great way to make sport more accessible.
“This is just another way to help get kids into sport, which can be financially challenging for parents of teenagers so we have to try and give the kids the best chance we can.”
He cited one of the recipients as an example. Adil Suliman was getting into some trouble before someone recommended that he take up soccer.
Since then, Adil has represented Victoria in the under-15s and been recruited to the Australian Institute of Sport.
Adil said the gym membership would “help keep me fit for soccer”.
The students have full access to the whole gym and will also learn about issues such as hydration and weight training.
While no girls were selected for this year’s program, Mr Meade said they were encouraged to apply in future years.
http://www.the-advocate.com.au/news/local/news/general/gym-lightens-heavy-lifting/1659438.aspx
As previously reported, Tran Siu is getting away with (allegedly) breaching electoral laws. Local Government Minister Richard Wynne is letting him. Do-Nothing Dick has learned nothing from ignoring dozens of letters about corruption at Brimbank Council.
Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association (SunRRA) recorded all registered how to vote cards in 2008 so they could later analyse the use of dummy candidates/rorting of the preferential voting system used to ensure maintenance of an ALP dominated Brimbank Council.
The Brimbank Council election in November 2008 was conducted by attendance voting.
One candidate, Mr Tran Siu – ALP aligned – registered 3 how to vote cards, and (allegedly) used a 4th on polling day which is a breach of electoral laws and can result in him being disqualified from running as a candidate for a period of 7 years.
A complaint was lodged with the Victorian Electoral Commission, and witnesses named and evidence provided. The VEC referred the complaint to Local Government Victoria – a department under Local Government Minister “do-nothing” Richard Wynne. After 11 months, there is no outcome. A witness named in the complaint, have never been interviewed by LGV investigators. LGV investigators are ALP staffers and members.
Letters to the minister (just like the dozens previously written about Brimbank corruption), go nowhere. The letters are referred to LGV and they answer that they do not disclose the detail of their investigations. Tran Siu was later sacked along with the other councillors, but this is still a serious (alleged) breach of the electoral laws.
Minister Wynne should have ensured an outcome to an investigation that should have taken 11 weeks, not 11 months, his Ministerial Apathy Continues.
A Must-win for the Community
A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
The Last Chance for the Brimbank CEO
SunRRA Executive
From Left to Right: Deb Howell, Brian Carroll, John Hedditch, John Girardi, Gwen Goedecke, Sean Spencer, Garry Collins, Darlen Reilly.
Opinion
as written for “The Star”
22/09/2009
Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association (SunRRA) was born out of the grass roots community campaign to replace outdoor swimming pools that had been left empty and cracked for well over a decade.
SunRRA quickly identified the link between disadvantaged communities across Brimbank, and the factional power plays that had dominated Brimbank Council for many years.
Powerbrokers external to Brimbank Council did not want a pool for Sunshine and their puppets on council followed orders. In the end the community won the fight and delivered not only an outdoor pool for the children and youth of surrounding areas but also a community movement focused on delivering better services, facilities and outcomes for the future.
Brimbank residents have been caught in the middle of warring between two sides of the same ALP faction both of whom wanted control of the Council. Both sides have succeeded in getting their wish.
The outcome has been political patronage for a few and neglect for the majority.
The obvious conclusion is that while candidates loyal to factional warlords remain on Council the community comes a distant second. Party-aligned candidates who had the community’s interests at heart have been few and far between. Councillors must not view Local Government as a stepping stone to State and Federal Politics but rather as genuine community service.
For Brimbank residents, missing out due to Local and State Government collusion has manifested as the worst health status, highest rate of diabetes, higher than average unemployment, poor access to open space, sub-par public transport, the highest gaming machine losses in the state and rising street violence due to under-resourcing of police.
The State Government should have sacked this inept Council long ago and saved the ratepayers a lot of money and heartache.
We can only hope the Commissioners will right the wrongs of the last 15 years, invest in our parks and gardens; playgrounds; create environments for healthier living; and improve our sporting facilities and run down community buildings. More importantly, we hope this is delivered fairly and equitably for all in our community.
SunRRA is advocating for a Community Reference Group to be formed to work and provide feedback to the Commissioners. A list of community issues that need revisiting will now be compiled. Now is the time for our community to heal, rebuild and redress all the wrongs that have been inflicted across our municipality.
Congratulations to the residents of Brimbank. Community groups and voices have been communicating the same message – that we deserve better; we refuse to be neglected any longer; and, we demand a better standard of Local Government. Finally, that collective voice has been heard.
We need to learn from communities such as Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat that have regularly turned over local MP’s; kept their electorates marginal, and obtained better outcomes as a result.
When it comes to the 2010 State and Federal Government elections think carefully about what John Brumby and your local MP’s have given you in return for decades of loyalty and vote accordingly.
Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Inc
Sacked Mayor Troy Anatasovski and Sacked Deputy Mayor Tran Siu are at the head of the queue of former Brimbank Councillors intent on making fools of themselves.
Anatasovski, under Local Government Victoria Investigation for alleged breaches of the Local Government Act, claims there was no problem at Brimbank (clearly he didn’t read the report outlining the reasons for his sacking) and claimed residents of Brimbank would cry for their sacked council. The only tears amongst residents were tears of joy.
Also under Local Government Victoria Investigation for alleged breaches of electoral laws – Tran Siu, who at the last council meeting demonstrated a fundamental inability to understand the seperation of business from council matters, has called for the community to stand up for him and his fellow sacked councillors. While he was giving his comments to media calling for council to be reinstated, champagne corks could be heard popping all over the municipality as residents rejoiced in their overdue demise.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Breaking News – Brimbank Council Sacked
Municipal Inspector Mr Bill Scales, appointed after the damning Ombudsman’s Report on Brimbank Council, has done what the community expected of him and has recommended Brimbank Council be sacked.
Brumby, who has no choice after giving the council “one more chance,” will Sack Brimbank Council and appoint a Commissioner to take control of the “most rotten borough in Victoria.” Scales found no change in culture, continued ALP Branch interference, breaches of Council code of conduct and a community left to rot.
From “The Age”
Brimbank Council ‘to be sacked’
KATE LAHEY
September 15, 2009 – 3:30PM
Strife-torn Brimbank Council is expected to be sacked this afternoon after a State Government-appointed monitor called for its councillors’ “suspension and or dismissal”.
An Ombudsman’s report in May found Labor figures had meddled in the affairs of the council, including in the allocation of council resources to community and sporting clubs.
The Ombudsman investigated the former council and a new council was elected in November.
However, the Ombudsman’s report warned of a risk of the same factionalism continuing in the new council, and whether in this case, it was capable of governing properly.
After the findings, the Government appointed municipal inspector Bill Scales to oversee the governance of Brimbank City Council and monitor the implementation of the Ombudsman’s recommendations.
In a report to the Government tabled this afternoon, Mr Scales said: ‘‘I have decided to recommend that you consider suspending and or dismissing the councillors of Brimbank City Council.’’
His report says Brimbank’s councillors had ample time to implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations, ‘‘however a number of councillors have shown by their actions little if any commitment to meeting these basic requirements or to understanding why they are necessary.’’
A government spokesman would not say whether the council is to be sacked.
with DAVID ROOD
http://www.theage.com.au/national/brimbank-council-to-be-sacked-20090915-fp43.html
News that serial international polluter the Huntsman Group are closing down their stench-producing Brooklyn plant at the end of the year, has been met with mixed feelings. Around 300 jobs will be lost in a major blow to unemployment in the west, an area where unemployment is already well above the national average. Concern on jobs is balanced by the positives that a major polluter and ageing infrastucture and associated risk of catasrophe will disappear.
Yarraville’s “On the Nose” group have also reported a small but imortant victory, as reported in “The Star”
Abattoir penalty ‘victory’
By Charlene Gatt
8th September 2009
YARRAVILLE’S On the Nose Group has claimed a minor victory after the former director of a Brooklyn abattoir and meat processing company was fined $80,000.
Former Tasman Group Services director Pierre Gilbert Cabral has pleaded guilty to leaving waste water containing animal effluent in the company’s stormwater drains, where it could have drained into, and polluted, Stony Creek in November 2006.
No conviction was recorded.
In a hearing earlier this year, the Tasman Group was ordered to pay $200,000 for environmental projects, plus $30,000 in costs to the EPA for similar charges. The EPA took court action after the company failed to comply with a notice.
“EPA can and will prosecute such individuals if its investigations find that an offence has occurred, and this case shows that they may face a substantial financial cost as a result,” EPA spokesman Bruce Dawson said.
Swift Australia bought out the Tasman Group in March 2008.
The fine comes shortly after residents kicked up a stink because a fire at meat processing company Australian Tallow caused an outbreak of foul smells in Brooklyn and Altona North.
Yarraville’s On the Nose Group has previously said fines against offending Brooklyn companies were few and far between.
But at a Brooklyn Community Reference Group meeting earlier this year, the group agreed that the EPA should stop focusing on fines and take an “enforceable undertakings” approach, where offending companies would have a time-line to fix a problem area.
Months on from the decision, On the Nose spokesperson Bruce Light is concerned the new resolution is not making any headway.
“We want to know what enforceable undertakings have been issued,” he said. “The piles of dust have just grown higher, the companies are stinking more and more. We’re fed up. We’ve had a gutful of it.”
The Brooklyn reference group will meet on 16 September to discuss dust issues in the area, and will have a full meeting on 18 November.
