Why the councillors won’t be attending today’s Wonthaggi rally

HE SAID, she said!

You won’t see any Bass Coast Shire Councillors at today’s Wonthaggi public meeting.

Why they won’t be there is a matter of contention.

One of the organisers of the meeting, Sam Brotheridge, who owns some business industrial land covered by the Wonthaggi North East PSP Structure Plan, followed up on conversations he’d had with the Bass Coast Shire Council and sent a formal invitation to the Bass Coast Shire Council CEO Greg Box last Monday, May 6, to invite him and another officer of the council to Saturday’s meeting.

An exchange of emails followed.

“Talking to the group, we also thought we should invite the Mayor Cr Le Serve as well so I called her and she answered the phone right away which was good,” said Mr Brotheridge.

“Unfortunately, she had a previous engagement and couldn’t attend but offered to take the request to the council briefing session on Wednesday with a letter we had written to the Planning Minister which summarized the issues for us.

“We got an email back from the CEO saying that the former mayor Cr Tessari had been nominated to attend.”

That’s when the issue of councillors or officers of the council attending the meeting went pear-shaped.

“Thank you for your email regarding the Environmental Audit Overlay that has been applied to Wonthaggi North East. I appreciate from your email that you are seeking to establish some leadership for this issue and to make any liaison with Council a streamlined process. I thank you for the offer to attend and talk. Council has nominated Cr Brett Tessari to attend the meeting on Saturday. Should there be any questions raised, Cr Tessari will bring these back and we will be happy to provide a response in writing,” was the response from CEO Greg Box.

Mr Brotheridge wrote back saying he believed there could be a problem with Cr Tessari attending mainly due to previous dealings he had had with the councillor over his own plans to build a warehouse on his land in the business-industrial area off Inverloch Road.

“I have told the Wonthaggi Police Station this is a non-abuse meeting… I think the council could be inciting the residents of the precinct with Cr Brett's appearance,” he said in an email back to the council.

Mr Brotheridge maintains that Cr Tessari knew enough about the problems with the Wonthaggi North East Structure Plan to highlight his concerns to local people but Cr Tessari claims he was completely unaware that the Victorian Planning Authority would be introducing environmental overlays across a broad area of the estate when council had recommended the exact opposite.

The outcome is that neither councillors nor officers will be officially attending or speaking at the event today.

Mr Brotheridge claims it was not his fault. That he communicated with the council civilly on all occasions but certainly the claim that Cr Tessari’s appearance might “incite” unrest seems to have been the catalyst.

The Bass Coast Shire Council has however posted an update about its negotiations with the VPA, EPA and the Minister ahead of the meeting.

It is not known if the government will send a representative to the meeting but the Shadow Planning Minister James Newbury has asked the Member for Narracan Wayne Farnham, the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition John Pesutto, to attend.

After a lifetime working in the construction sector, Mr Farnham has the right background

The public meeting called by the ‘Wonthaggi Residents Affected by the Environmental Audit Overlay’ will be held at Wishart Reserve in Wonthaggi at 2pm on Saturday, May 11.

Bass Coast Shire Council update

Here is EAO Update 3, from the Bass Coast Shire Council (May 10, 2024):

“Thank you for your patience while we work through this complex issue. I can assure you it is our highest priority, and this week progress has been made.

“The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) provided Bass Coast Shire Council and the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) with an update late yesterday afternoon (Thursday 9 May.) They are continuing their work to review the information available, specifically the 2016 GHD background report, to provide advice to VPA about whether the land requires an EAO. The EPA confirmed in this meeting that they will need until the 22 May to finish this process.

“The EPA advice will be used by VPA to consider whether the EAO should remain in place.

“All authorities are aware that even when the EPA has completed its work, there will still likely be a need for further assessments, known as Preliminary Risk Screen Assessments (PRSA), for many of the properties in the Wonthaggi North East PSP area.

“PRSAs are completed by EPA Appointed Environmental Auditors. These assessments look at the history of the land over time, in this case predominantly farming, and determine if there is a need for an environmental audit. If this is required, they also determine the scope of that audit. PRSAs typically occur with little or no disruption to individual property owners.

“It is important to note that these assessments are precautionary in nature and are not a result of any contamination being found in the area. A number of these assessments have already been done and there has been no need for further investigation.

“While the EPA completes their review, the VPA and Council are jointly working through how any remaining PRSAs can be completed in a timely and comprehensive way without impact to property owners.

“I have attached a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to this email as well as instructions on how to search zoning and overlays and our Duty Planner is available to speak to you during business hours. The FAQ and previous updates can also be found on our website: Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO) | Bass Coast Shire.

“I appreciate the distress this planning amendment has caused homeowners and thank you for your continued patience. I will provide a further update next week.”

Greg Box, CEO Bass Coast Shire Council.