Wharf priorities clear
The discussion, as limited as it has been, around the fencing of Tathra Wharf is quite simple.
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I say limited because the council has kept a tight control over the so-called risk assessments and their outcome.
Does anyone believe there has been anything like consultation involving all the members of our community?
The council will say we have involved the “stakeholders”.
The stakeholders referred to by the council are not mothers, not teachers or carers, not visitors, not people with disabilities, not in all likelihood you.
So who are these “stakeholders” we are to believe are involved in making informed and independent decisions about public safety, particularly as it relates to children?
You do not need to look far if you are interested in working out the answer to this question.
You just have to look at the “context” of the latest risk assessment that involved InConsult, the company engaged by BVSC to come up with this latest round of safety measures.
The context or terms of reference for this most recent risk assessment is as follows:
1. Preservation of history
2. Provision for recreational fishing
3. Tourism benefits
4. Commercial benefits to business operators
5. Safety
So the terms of reference are, from points 1-4, money!
Point five is safety and, rather than being at the top of the list, it is at the bottom.
Safety last.
What happened to safety first?
Stakeholders may as well be read as money holders.
Red herrings have been flying around for years now.
Ask anyone in council if a fence would have saved three lives in 2008 and you will not get an answer.
That’s because the answer is obvious, it is the “elephant in the room”.
Take away the red herrings and what do you have left?
A simple question around which there has never been any proper discussion with the community - Is money (tourism) more important than safety?
Paul Cozens
Tathra
Vote of confidence
Just a few weeks out from a state election here in NSW and it is noticed that our current member is very confident of being returned - as this week saw his Bega office being refurbished with new carpet furnishings.
And what was pleasing to see, that it was carpet fitters from a company in town and Bega boys doing the job.
Good one Andrew.
Nigel Wiggins
Bega
Important aspect
The Bega Valley Shire Residents and Ratepayers Association (BVSRRA) agrees wholeheartedly with the logical, fact-based analysis of the Cr Tony Allen Code of Conduct matter provided by former Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC) general manager David Jesson (BDN, 9/1), except in one very important respect.
Mr Jesson states in his letter that “Council accepted recommendations made by the Independent Investigator…”
While that statement is true, it is also entirely misleading.
Unfortunately, like every resident/ratepayer concerned about this issue, Mr Jesson is obliged to rely on the council’s resolution on the code of conduct complaint in order to understand what is going on, simply because the independent reviewer’s report remains confidential and the council dealt with the matter in closed session (in secret).
What Mr Jesson and every other resident/ratepayer outside council’s “inner sanctum” couldn’t know was that while the council publicly resolved to accept the recommendations made by the independent investigator, including a recommendation to make the findings public, it secretly decided not to make all of those findings public.
While some might be happy to debate the rights or wrongs of how the various protagonists in this long-running matter are alleged to have behaved, the motive of the BVSRRA in pursuing its complaint was always to ensure that BVSC observed best practice standards of governance.
With that in mind, the BVSRRA asked BVSC why it did not publish the full findings detailed in the independent investigator’s report, as per its recommendation, but it simply refused to provide any explanation.
Because of that, the BVSRRA believes the biggest losers in this matter are actually the residents/ratepayers of the Bega Valley Shire, whose faith and trust may have been abused and betrayed without them even knowing about it, because of the existence of a broken Code of Conduct Complaint process that is not open and transparent and because its keepers are simply not accountable in any real sense of the word - notwithstanding their bold and constant claims to the contrary.
The BVSRRA believes that as long as the foxes are in charge of the henhouse of government, openness and transparency will remain a myth and true accountability will only ever be a reality seen on TV.
This is surely the most important issue that residents/ratepayers should be concerned about.
John Richardson
Secretary, BVSRRA