Shire ‘lacks respect’

SURF Coast Shire should begin treating ratepayers with “decency and respect”, according to a former councillor.
Heather Wellington said her “extraordinarily difficult” experiences trying to extract public information convinced her the shire must change the way it deals with the community.
The medical practitioner and lawyer, who has served on Geelong’s council and Peter McCallum Cancer Centre’s board, said the shire routinely refused to supply “basic public information”.
Ms Wellington and other Barrabool residents have been battling the shire for several years over plans for a regional off-road motorcycling facility nearby.
Ms Wellington said the group had won “multiple” Freedom of Information battles for documents that should clearly have been publicly available.
“The shire has blocked us at every point,” she said.
“We’ve done all this ourselves but the shire has obviously spent considerable resources on legal advice. I question how this public money is being spent.”
Ms Wellington said the final straw was a battle lasting almost a year to have the shire correct a consultant’s report on the motorcycling facility.
The report contained misleading information on residents’ attitudes to the facility, she said
The battle culminated with Victoria’s Privacy Commissioner ordering council to publish an advertisement acknowledging the errors and committing to correcting the report.
The advertisement also said council’s “entire” leadership group and the shire’s Freedom of Information officer would undertake Privacy Act training.
“Council regrets the inconvenience residents have experienced as a result of the lengthy process necessary to achieve resolution of this issue,” the advertisement said.
Ms Wellington said the residents had only wanted the shire to circle offending statements in the report to indicate they were incorrect.
“It didn’t even have to go on the public record.”
Ms Wellington urged council to change its ways.
“We’d just like to see the community dealt with much more reasonably and appropriately.
“This is just about respect for the community and understanding that people are entitled to public information.
“We just want some common decency and respect.”
The shire refuses to answer questions from the Independent.