“Reasonable laws, reasonably enforced” is by now the regular rejoinder to any public questioning of this Council’s over zealous officers. Of course this slogan is nothing more than a cop out as we’ve already seen for the past 9 years with Local Law 326. However, events of this week surpass even the lunacy of Lipshutz and the park watchdogs.
Rodney Andonopoulos, a candidate in Tucker Ward, was with his children and handing out his election flyers on the hallowed turf of GESAC one morning. Lo and behold, he was told to move on by an officious officer with the excuse that he could not hand out flyers on CROWN LAND! Here is what he had to say from his Facebook page – “Thanks to the management team at Gesac- Glen Eira Sports And Acquatic Centre that told me I was not allowed to spruik on crown land. I moved on to avoid an argument in front of my children. I’ll be back.” We wish him well on his return to OUR LAND.
No wonder we need 1200 staff when their duties involve such nonsense! ‘Reasonable’ this lot certainly ain’t and as far as the ‘law’ goes – well it seems this is made up as we go along. Readers should note that there is nothing in both the Electoral Act 2002 and the Local Government Act which states that what Mr Andonopoulos was doing is a breach of any law!
Glen Eira Debates 
October 24, 2012 at 7:41 PM
Anyone see the channel 2 news on the elections filmed at council? Hyams got his head on and talked about stooges running in the elections. Believe it or not!
October 24, 2012 at 9:07 PM
See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-24/mav-calls-for-a-review-of-council-elections/4332252 for the video/news item
October 24, 2012 at 10:08 PM
The greatest stooge is Attendance Voting.
October 24, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Here’s a simple observation for what it’s worth. I watched the ABC news report and the criticisms of current council elections. These are all warranted. There’s so little information available about candidates apart from their election spiels. The Leader has been a total disaster in keeping people informed. This blog and the Glen Eira Residents’ Association are basically the only sources of information.
Searching for any scrap of news I’ve had a look at some candidates Facebook pages and paid particular attention to their flyers. Now this mightn’t be 100% correct and I might have missed some flyers but the only candidates who do not have something in their publications about “transparency”, or “accountability” or words to that effect are –
HYAMS
LIPSHUTZ
ESAKOFF
Everybody else that I’ve looked at writes about the need for a more open and transparent council. This I’m assuming also implies a 1000% improvement in governance. To my mind the fact that this important aspect of local government is totally ignored by Hyams, Lipshutz and Esakoff, tells me plenty about what they stand for.
October 24, 2012 at 10:55 PM
Ya know years ago, Council would hold community forums at the Town Hall at election time – allowed candidates to state their platforms to residents and give residents and opportunity to ask questions (much like the Glen Eira Residents Assoc. did this time around). Only three incumbent Councillor’s showed (Magee, Penhalluriack and Forge) – full credit to them.
Makes me wonder why the other incumbents (all, no doubt, claiming a prior engagement) are not willing to face residents collectively.
October 24, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Although VCAT can’t tell the difference between Council and Council staff, in this case it seems pretty clear it involves Council staff, and hence its the responsibility of the CEO. Andrew should be able to inform us of the legislation or local law that the officer was relying upon in issuing his or her command. Did the officer really claim the land is Crown Land?? Not that Crown Land restricts you much, when you see what the MRC has done to the Caulfield Racecourse and Public Park precinct. BTW the ABC news footage showed posters of the incumbents in the background, clearly on Council land around the town hall. Looked like spruiking to me.
October 24, 2012 at 11:41 PM
Consistency, logic, and plain old common sense used in conjunction with the administration at Glen Eira Council is a triple oxymoron. I see that they’ve removed all the media releases, plus past annual reports. But, they’ve included the current annual report on their website. Other councils haven’t followed this bizarre practice. Even more bizarre is the publication of the policy on the Development Contributions Levy, which council has now amended and removed from its planning scheme. This has only been made public since it was removed from the planning scheme. It’s also worth a read since it tells the sad tale of how little developers were charged for their projects and how little the community benefited from the meagre funds that were collected. I dare say that most developers were laughing all the way to the bank!
October 24, 2012 at 11:54 PM
Excuse me for digressing here. Dandenong Council stream all of their Council meetings. I think it’s something we should demand of our Council too. In addition to meetings of Council we should require all committee meetings not in-camera to be streamed as well. And those that are in-camera an explanation should be given as to the reasons for that necessity. Let’s make the Council truly open and transparent.
October 24, 2012 at 11:58 PM
Dandenong isn’t the only council. Manningham has audio recordings available online and so do several others. We will be commenting in the days ahead on what we perceive MUST be changed in this Council and we welcome all thoughts on the issue.
October 25, 2012 at 12:08 AM
Not keen on audio alone. We need to see as well as hear. I believe Dandenong Council regularly get in excess of 2000 – I guess predominantly residents – tuning in.
October 25, 2012 at 8:13 AM
GESAC is not Crown land. It is land owned by the Glen Eira Council. Crown land in Glen Eira is Caulfield Park and the race track. Surprised that the Officer did not understand this fact. Not an appropriate place to hand out election material.