Shire to drown in fees, costs
Column cut out: A column by Frankston councillor Glenn Aitken omitted from the Frankston City News will be published by the end of the year. Picture: Gary Sissons
Stephen Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au
Ratepayer funded newsletter purpose debated Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au A FRANKSTON councillor has claimed that his “reasonable freedom of speech” was infringed when his column was removed from the Frankston City News before publication. Cr Glenn Aitken penned a column about council’s code of conduct for the May/June edition of the newsletter. The Frankston City News is a ratepayer funded publication put out by council that is distributed every two months. Councillors pen one column for each edition of the newsletter. The column was raised at council’s 2 September meeting when Cr Aitken
moved a notice of motion to have the piece published in council’s November/December edition of the newsletter. “I have to remind council of the international bill of human rights,” Cr Aitken said. “There are overarching laws that pertain to reasonable freedom of speech.” “I am very concerned there is here an instance of blocking reasonable freedom of speech.” Cr Aitken said that “diversity of opinion and outlook” should not be silenced. Cr Quinn McCormack, a lawyer, said “we have a councillor claiming freedom of speech, but we don’t actually have a law of freedom of speech,
SPEND MORE
SAVE MORE
that is severely lacking.” “I do take umbrage to the censorship of councillor columns,” she said. The mayor Michael O’Reilly opposed publishing the column, and told council the Frankston City News was for “celebrating volunteers and staff”. “I think it’s time these columns are gotten rid of,” he said. “The fact this has come up demonstrates that this is too contentious.” “We cannot be criticising others.” Cr O’Reilly said the newspaper cost “tens of thousands of ratepayer money every edition” and should be for “community information”. The motion to publish the column was passed by a slim majority.
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council is bracing for a “substantial administrative and enforcement obligation” when tough state government pool and spa regulations come into force early next year. The shire estimates it has about 10 per cent of the state’s private swimming pools and spas – the most of any local government area. About 17,000 are “known” to exist although the actual number could be as high as 25,000 – or one-in-four properties. The dates they were built are uncertain for all but 18 per cent – or 3040 – of the known 17,000. Officers estimate that up to 80 per cent of these pools and spas will be non-compliant under the new rules. These statistics are set to trigger a workload avalanche that the shire admits it is ill-equipped to handle. And it will be costly: The mayor Cr David Gill said the fees the council was obliged to charge would not equal the cost of enforcing the state’s new rules. “It will cost the shire – the ratepayers – up to $100 for every registration for which we will be reimbursed $57,” he said. “We estimate that the whole process, including administration costs, time spent chasing fees and fines, employing inspectors, and tracking down undeclared pools and spas, will cost $2$3 million in the first few years. “After that this figure will come down.” Statutory building manager David Kotsiakos reported to last week’s council meeting that the new rules
aimed to reduce drownings among young children by improving safety barriers. He said since 2000 there had been 27 fatalities and for every fatality 15 “near misses” often causing brain injury. Councils across the state will be required to establish and maintain pool and spa registers when the act comes into force on 1 December 2019. Existing owners must pay a $37 one-off registration fee by 14 April 2020. This will show the build date of the pool or spa (a difficult ask for 82 per cent of pools/spas on the peninsula), the standard of safety barriers, and the date the owner must provide the first Certificate of Compliance. Failing to register a pool or spa carries a fine of $330.44. Mandatory inspections will be carried out every three years. The owner must engage a registered officer (building surveyor, building inspector or private ‘inspector’) to ensure safety barriers are effective, working correctly and comply with standards. The owner then must lodge the certificate of compliance with the shire within 30 days for a fee of $20. Owners found to have non-compliant safety barriers can take 20 days to rectify problems or they will be issued with non-compliance certificates costing $385. The shire will pursue this amount. Owners can apply for time extensions if compliance work takes longer than expected. Cr Gill said he regretted that the shire would be forced to rely on noncompliance fees to help defray costs. “It’s not a position we like being in,” he said. “But in the initial stages that is the reality.”
TEMPEST
3 seater sofa
in natural fabric.
ONLY
$1799
*
SPEND $1000 to $1999
SAVE 15% OFF * SPEND $2000 to $2999
SAVE 20% OFF *
MARTINI
SPEND $3000 OR MORE
SAVE 25% OFF * *TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY
RAWSON
210cm dining table
CE L
E
40 ATING BR
SINCE 1979
$1799
AVAILABLE
ONLY
STELLA
in Australian messmate with resin.
ONLY
chair
in rattan natural wash.
6 & 12 MONTHS INTEREST FREE
HAYDEN
coffee table
ONLY
$499
KOTE
3 seater sofa + chaise
in glass / iron black.
WAS
$4599
in off white.
SEASON SPECIAL
$799
zig zag 120CM X 30CM X 180CM in rosewood.
$2799
ONLY
$1699
MORNINGTON PH: 8560 1137, SHOWROOM D4, PENINSULA HOME, 1128-1132 NEPEAN HIGHWAY FIND YOUR NEAREST LOCATION OZDESIGNFURNITURE.COM.AU
BENDIGO, ESSENDON, GEELONG, HOPPERS CROSSING, MORNINGTON, NORTHLAND, NUNAWADING, RICHMOND. Offer one: Spend more Save more off the recommended retail price on a selected range of sofas and furniture & homewares. Offer available between 10/09/19 till 23/09/19 (inclusive). To be eligible to receive 15% off the recommended retail price, $1000 to $1999 must be spent by the same customer in the same transaction. To be eligible to receive 20% off the recommended retail price, $2000 to $2999 must be spent by the same customer in the same transaction. To be eligible to receive 25% of the recommend retail price $3000 or more must be spent by the same customer in the same transaction. Offer two: Up to 50% off the recommended retail price on a selected range of sofas displayed as Season special sofas. Sale prices on these sofas are as marked in-store and online. Offers exclude Introductory new offers, Hot Buys*, clearance, Guardsman warranties, purchases of gift cards, Glasshouse and Cira candles. Either offer not available in conjunction with any other offer. ZIP Finance available for purchases under this offer on 6 months and 12 months (minimum spend of $1999 applies) plans with 0% interest free. Available in-store and online to approved applicants. Additional conditions apply*. Latitude finance not accepted on this offer. *See www.ozdesignfurniture.com.au/promotions for more information.
*Furniture featured in outdoor photography is for interior use only.
Frankston Times
17 September 2019
PAGE 7