This paragraph featured in our post of March 23rd, 2011 –
We’ve written that secrecy and transparency do not mix. Secrecy invites speculation; it encourages distrust; and it reinforces a siege mentality – all counterproductive. Yet this is the way that this council has been perceived for years. Residents are not viewed as colleagues and/or collaborators in planning, setting visions for the future, or merely partaking in democratic processes. They are viewed as troublesome cash cows that need to be managed, sidelined and ignored whenever the legislation unwittingly allows for such manoeuvres.
Item 9.11 in the current agenda is another case where secrecy rules the roost – the Municipal Emergency Management Plan. For a council which has one of the highest flood risks in the metropolitan area and where hundreds of homes and businesses were inundated by the floods of February 2011 it is frankly unconscionable that the following statement is made by Waite –
A copy of the current version of the Plan is available in the Councillors’ Room for Councillors to view. As it contains personal information, it is not a public document.
There can be no excuse as to why this document is kept under wraps, especially not when it has the potential to impact on countless lives. Residents have every right to know exactly what the ‘changes’ are and how well positioned this council is in order to respond to any kind of large-scale emergency. Resorting to claims of ‘personal information’ simply will not do – and especially not when all of the following councils (to name but a few!) see no problem in publishing their Emergency Plans on their websites!
As always, the focus needs to be on councillors and whether they have the will to ensure that such practices are put to an end.
http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/Municipal-Emergency-Management-Plan.html
http://www.centralgoldfields.com.au/?id=23510100B6A0B1D9AEE15DBACA25799900168F98
http://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/MEMP.aspx
http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/council/governance/documents/item/b9ccbf99.aspx
http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/search_results.php?q=municipal+emergency+plan
http://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/Services-and-Support/Emergency-Information/Emergency-Information
Glen Eira Debates 
June 9, 2014 at 12:09 PM
I remember reading somewhere that Glen Eira has about 12000 properties situated in a flood zone. That’s huge and maybe Elwood is the only other area in greater danger because of the flooding that comes down from Glen Eira. Keeping the plan secret I think has got nothing to do with personal information and a lot to do with not wanting public scrutiny. If there is any personal information, and I can’t see why something like this should have, then it’s a simple matter of taking out those names. The plan can still be published.
Does anyone know whether any of the houses flooded in 2011 have been flooded since and whether all those people affected have now been able to move back into their houses?
June 9, 2014 at 5:46 PM
I wonder if any Councillors have viewed it. The emergency plan should also include contractors such as waste collection, maintenance or street sweeping. Have they provided input to Waite. Have they even sighted the plan? Does it even exist? As the saying goes, only in Glen Eira….
June 10, 2014 at 8:42 AM
I assure you that the people that own land that is included in the 1 in 100 year flood plan know about their inclusion. The 2011 flood did not come near what could be expected in the 1 in 100 year flood. It was designed by the Board of Works not the Council. It maybe that the Glen Eira plan has more detail than other municipal plans and, if published, could lead to subversion. The Emergency Plan takes into account a lot more than floods.
June 10, 2014 at 11:01 AM
Ya gotta be jokin. Nuthin this mob put into policies has detail like that. Only subversives are Newton and the gang
June 10, 2014 at 4:55 PM
Maybe there is something unique about Glen Eira.
June 10, 2014 at 11:49 AM
Agree that the plan, if published, could lead to subversion – but it is likely to subversion by the residents and ratepayers who will be so aghast at how substandard it is that they will finally get off their collective bums and bring about change.
June 10, 2014 at 4:50 PM
Note that the Kingston plan is labelled “Public Version” Now why would they do that?
June 10, 2014 at 8:53 PM
Probably got to do with the definition of “working papers” – Glen Eira loves defining documents as “working papers” means they don’t have to show them even if a Freedom of Information request is lodged.