NEWS DESK
Administrator to ‘fix’ land council woes Keith Platt keith@baysidenews.com.au THE special administrator appointed to take control of the Frankston-based Bunurong Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation) says he will work to bring the organisation back to “good health”. Peter McQuoid, who was appointed in early September, has told the land council’s members that someone in his role “helps to fix problems such as money trouble, service delivery problems or poor governance”. “… The special administrator’s aim is to work with the corporation to fix internal problems and restore it to good health. When I achieve that, I will appoint a new board of directors and hand back control of the corporation to its members.” Under the terms of his appointment McQuoid, of PDM Consultancy, is due to hand back control on Friday 15 March 2024. In his first newsletter, McQuoid said the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation's Tricia Stroud had “formed a view that the corporation was not being governed effectively or in the best interests of the corporation and its members”. “Problems with governance and financial management have been going on for some time. The corporation hasn’t successfully held an AGM for the past two financial years, denying members their right to elect directors to govern the corporation on their behalf.” Financial statements on the Bunurong Land Council website for the year ended 30 June 2021 show a net profit
of $1,294,887 ($698,446 in 2020) and a “positive cash flow from operating activities” of $3,542,405 ($1,128,815 in 2020). The land council provides municipal councils with archaeological field assessments as part of cultural heritage management plan (CHMP) process, cultural heritage advice, and information about the Aboriginal community, people, Bunurong culture, and the environment. For each of the past two years Mornington Peninsula Shire has given the land council $100,000 under a memorandum of understanding agreement that, according to the mayor Cr Steve Holland, “details our partnership on matters such as land care, cultural training and some of the actions of our Reconciliation Action Plan”. Holland said the land council’s involvement in CHMPs costs “from about $6000, depending on their complexity”, but was unable to say had how much the shire had paid in the past three years “due to the range of services and fees involved over multiple projects”. When announcing the appointment of a special administrator Stroud said an examination of the corporation’s books in March “identified serious concerns with respect to the standard of corporate governance of the corporation”. Examiners who checked the corporation’s books in March “confirmed poor standards of corporate governance and financial management, likely arising from long-standing dysfunction and factions among key roles in the corporation.” Stroud said positions on the board of
LETTERS
On 23 October at about 2pm, I received a phone call from a Mornington Peninsula Shire Council officer who told me that the sign at the northern end of Sunnyside North beach which designates the limit of the clothing optional area had been reinstated (“No easy access to nude beach” The News 24/10/23). I went for a walk along the beach and found the same broken off sign still lying on the rocks and no new sign to replace it. I have pictures taken today showing the same broken sign still lying on the rocks. There has been previous discussion in relation to people being naked outside the limits of the clothing optional area at Sunnyside North. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council may be considered to be negligent by failing to maintain adequate signage to advise people of the start and end of the optional nude bathing area. More than 12 weeks and still no sign of any effort to fix this problem. Totally unacceptable given the ease which with council has been able to erect multiple signs advising of the paid beach car parking “trial”. Michael James, Frankston
Assess terminal plan I was shocked to read that the state government is even contemplating dredging and reclaiming land in Western Port’s Ramsar wetlands for the purpose of building and shipping infrastructure Frankston Times
in January 2014 who, due to inadequate records, was unable to properly identify the source and destination of large sums of money. At the time of the administrator’s appointment the land council had not held an annual general meeting for 10 years and there had been one directors’ meeting in five years. A news release issued by the ORIC in July 2014 announcing the end of the special administration said there had been “woeful record keeping, financial irregularities, non-payment of tax and possible insolvency—a number of former members were in fierce denial of any governance problems at the corporation”. “If ever a corporation required external assistance to get back on track it was the Bunurong Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation),” Indigenous Corporations registrar Anthony Beven said. “It is disappointing that some people sought to undermine the special administrator, rather than working constructively with him for the betterment of the corporation.” The news release went on to state that from the outset of their appointment the special administrator and registrar “took the position that poor governance, accountability and transparency would no longer be tolerated at the Bunurong Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation)”. “The corporation is now strong again and well run. Bunurong people who have long been excluded from having a say in the running of their corporation have been warmly welcomed back to the corporation.”
AUTHOR Lucas Banks, second from left, with Pawsome Stories judges Sally Rippin, Cameron Macintosh and Melissa Keil. Picture: Supplied
Student’s Pawsome win KUNYUNG Primary School student Lucas Banks has won the fiction grade 3-4 category in this year’s RSPCA Victoria’s Pawsome Stories competition. The nine-year-old’s winning entry told the story of how his border collie Cooper saved the world by being generous and offering to share a bone. It was a lesson that brought colour and life back to a world where people had stopped sharing and being kind and considerate to each other. The annual competition is open to primary school students across Victoria and aims to recognise future authors and build awareness of animal welfare. This year students submitted a onepage story under the headings The day my pet saved the world (fiction) and Why caring for animals is important (Non-fiction). Judges this year were authors Melissa Keil, Cameron Macintosh and Sally Rippin. RSPCA CEO Dr Liz Walker said there were around 400 entries. Winners received a selection of Dymocks vouchers, trophies, toys and a unique animal education experience. The list of winners for the 2023 competition and information about the judges can be found at: rspcavic. org/pawsome-stories/
Letters - 300 words maximum and including full name, address and contact number - can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au
Sign remains
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directors had been “vacated”. Financial risk management and governance expert in the financial services sector, Kevin Leighton, has been appointed interim CEO. "I'm looking forward to taking on this interim CEO role and getting to know the remarkable team at Bunurong Land Council," Leighton said. “Professionals” to be appointed next month (November) to a corporation advisory group will, at the end of the special administration, be invited to become non-executive directors on a new board. Applicants to the “not designated/ identified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander appointments” will be expected to have “professional backgrounds in finance, legal, business or other disciplines”. The Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC) is the Traditional Owner organisation and registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) representing the Bunurong people of the south-eastern Kulin Nation on the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port and part of south-west Gippsland. The latest intervention in the affairs of the Bunurong Land Council comes eight years after the Federal Court in Melbourne fined and disqualified from managing an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander corporations for a set number of years four former directors of the Bunurong Land Council. The fines ranged from $25,000 to $5000 and the managing bans ranged from seven years to three. The April 2015 case followed the appointment of a special administrator
31 October 2023
for a Bass Strait wind farm (“Time is tight for terminal comment” The News 18/10/23). Because such a project clearly has the potential to significantly impact a “matter of national environmental significance”, it should undergo an assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. However, this is little consolation. In handing down his findings in 2020, Professor Graeme Samuel found the EPBC Act to be “ineffective” and “not fit to address current or future environmental challenges.” He made 38 recommendations. Sadly, three years later, these are still to be enacted. The Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek must ensure that there is a moratorium on the Bass Strait wind farm proposal until the strengthened Act has been passed by parliament. Only then can we be confident that Australia’s new renewable energy projects will be assessed against appropriate standards. Ray Peck, Hawthorn
Limits needed While the country is in the mood for belting up the disadvantaged (Voice for Indigenous), I thought I would get stuck into the hoard of motorised wheelchairs on Main Street, Mornington. The size of some of these vehicles on footpaths is extraordinary. No pedestrian is safe, and don’t get me started on the dog tails protruding onto the pavement at alfresco dining areas. The RSPCA should be involved. There should be a Mornington Peninsula Shire limit for the maximum vehicle size on footpaths, or for the pilot of same. While some need a mobility chair, the size is the issue, and the assumed right-of-way attitude. People on cruise liners get by with a fold-up trike. A stable footpath should be easy compared to a moving deck. Similarly true is the growing trend for some to use them as a shopping vehicle. You see them pull up outside their choice of shop or cafe and leap off to grab a table like an Olympian. No parking problems here; just leave it at the door on the footpath.
Size limitations and displayed disability stickers should be the minimum requirement for mobility aid use on shared footpaths. John Dusting, Mornington
All Australians could have the same precious experience if only they would engage with opportunities like this. Maureen Donelly, Mornington
Lease is not title
Watch the Swiss
It was with a considerable amount of derision that I noted the 17 October issue of The News did not include the usual Letters column. Frankly, I was not at all surprised given the overt favouring you displayed in the past few weeks to contributors writing in support of the Yes vote. The pleasing result was boosted for me when I read that the majority of Flinders electorate had voted No (“Peninsula in step with national No” The News 17/10/23). Now that the dust has settled and some ugly truths have emerged, both past and present, maybe some of these soy latte drinkers might understand how their boat shed and bathing boxes on Mornington Peninsula Shire-controlled foreshores are safe for the moment. A licence to occupy is not a lease and these foreshores, along with Pt Nepean National Park, remain unalienated Crown land and exposed to native title claims. Don’t laugh. It has already happened in Sydney and Redland Bay, near Brisbane, with residents now faced with a battle over something that they never contemplated in their most wild imaginations. Barry J Rumpf, McCrae
Please, no more: the referendum is over. No more bitterness, no more calling other intellects stupid, racist or ignorant because they reasoned the matter contrary to your opinion. The Australian people have spoken. This is democracy. However, our democracy is just electing one democratic dictatorship or another (“Down of parties” Letters 24/10/23). We elect a major party with all of its ideology, agendas and obligations. This is not true democracy. Switzerland has a routine, simple referendum four fixed times a year, on matters of national or local significance, or policy, or law; mostly by postal vote timed over 10 days, with usually a number of yes or no questions to be answered each time. Just a routine part of life. A citizen or group can bring forth a question by conducting a petition and getting the minimum required signatures. A question could also be asked to rescind a particular law. Yes, I know things are different here, there would be terrible resistance to such a proposal by certain elements, and there are a lot of things that can’t be put directly to the people, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to have some semblance of Swiss style democracy as described, in Australia, directly encouraging governments to obey the will of the people? Federal, state and local. We could then truly say that we are a democracy. Of course, we’d probably need a referendum to force the governments to introduce this democracy in the first place. Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington
Referendum education As a new post-referendum era dawns in our country’s relations with its First Peoples, I would like to thank Willum Warrain and Nairm Marr Djambana Aboriginal associations, the Bunurong Land Council, and other local First Nations organisations and businesses like Our Songlines, Cooee Cafe, Baluk Arts and Living Culture, for enriching my life. You have allowed me to learn from your ancient cultural knowledge, wisdom and values through your openness and generosity.
