College comment refusals

By Cherie Donnellan
TORQUAY ward candidates have slammed Christian College’s attempt to preempt a response on support for development on its controversial Spring Creek site.
The college asked Surf Coast candidates if they would support the school’s plan to build a Torquay campus in a September 27 letter.
The Independent reported last week that Christian College notified parents it sought an amendment last month for a “rezoning from the current farming zone to a special use zone” for its Spring Creek site.
But Torquay candidates unanimously said they refused to respond to the yes-no question because they would violate a local government act decision known as the Winky Pop (2007) ruling.
Victorian Local Government Association defines the ruling as a candidate making a “pre-apprehensive” public statement on planning issue.
“Councils have a quasi-judicial role as the local planning authority,” a VLGA statement said.
“It’s natural justice and a long established legal principle that those who determine a matter shouldn’t demonstrate in advance of the case that they’ve already made up their mind about it.”
Dean Webster told the Independent he responded to the school’s letter specifying if candidates replied they would be “excluded from being able to vote on the matter if elected to council.
“If (candidates) do vote, they can be prosecuted under the act,” Mr Webster said.
Eve Fisher was concerned about Christian College’s motives.
“It could be completely innocent but the college shouldn’t have done this.
“This issue’s too big to be answered or solved with the tick of a box without fully understanding and considering the proposal,” Ms Fisher said.
“That will be the responsibility of elected candidates in the chamber.”
Rose Hodge and Gary Dunne said they had not received the letter, but both said they would not respond.
“I will have an open mind until I’m in chamber to debate,” Ms Hodge said.
David Bell said the letter was “almost designed to entrap” candidates.
The VLGA ruling put “immense pressure” on candidates to uphold a higher probity than other forms of government, Mr Bell said.
“If all candidates were to respond incautiously, we might have a situation where no councillor could vote on the decision because they’d be caught in the Winky Pop ruling.
“How could we possibly represent our community if there’s a chance we could be constantly caught up in being seen as biased for speaking on a matter publicly?” Mr Bell said.