SISTERS BEACH CAMPING FAILS TO PITCH, PLANNING MEETING RECAP & OLDINA RESERVE IDEAS (DECEMBER 2020)

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December 2020

DECEMBER 2020

PUBLIC PLANNING MEETNG RECAP The Public Planning meeting held last month at the Wynyard RSL, attracted substantial community support and interest to hear, discuss, and agree to statements that were sent to the State Minister for Planning, Roger Jaensch (who was not present at the meeting). Councillors Bradley, Bramich, & Edwards attended, but only Cr. Fairbrother and Cr. Courtney spoke at the meeting.

Mayor Walsh, Deputy Mayor Duniam and Cr. Hyland were absent. Here are highlights from the evenings’ speakers: Sophie Underwood (PMAT) “If you have a title of land, it will have a zoning. It will be general residential and for example they can have a code over it. Codes are things like it might be bushfire prone, or it might have a scenic protection

code. Codes are things that can officers on all of these issues, apply to all different zones – that’s don’t give it to me, because I have the core of the statewide scheme. lost all of my free will. It is a tricky one. You have to put faith in the Residential standards and your Council officer, but at the same right to have a say are being time, you have your own moral diminished. beliefs.

We want to be able to have a say about where we live. Important to have a balance between: being able to comment on and appeal developments, and builders being too tied to rules. It needs to be balanced between developers and the community.”

… Most people’s greatest asset is their home.

Ken Dorsey (BCC)

… When do you have a voice? If signing petitions, making representations and you come to us (Council) and we ignore you, what’s the point?

“We are told in Council, we have to vote with the Council. If I am just there as a ‘Yes’ man, I don’t want to be. That’s not why I was elected to Council, just to agree with what someone has told me to think. If I have to vote with the Council

… If we think something is going into our area that endangers our home (valuation), I think you have rights and your voice should be heard.

We read petitions and we empathise, but we’re not listening because we’re not doing anything about it – and that is worse.”

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Craig Garland “They want to put the biggest windfarm in the Southern Hemisphere on (Robbins Island). We’ve got the largest migratory shore bird habitat in the state in Robbins passage – 10,000 migratory shorebirds come here to do their thing. There are 10 other places like it in the state, yet the largest one is not.

The impact on the forestry, farms, and tourism vistas – this would have to be one of the classic examples of lack of planning, and a lack of community input.

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That is totally unacceptable.

Community and Councils must have firsthand knowledge of what’s coming into our areas.

Planning is super important. It is everything. It is our lifestyle, its community.

What we have right now – there is no sense of community with the people that are running the state and there is no honesty. When you don’t have honesty, you don’t have trust. If you don’t have trust, you don’t have the consent of the community and you cannot live like this. You’ll see fracture, fracture, fracture, and we’ll become more and more divided.”

… There wasn’t one fisherman in this state that had involvement with (the salmon farms’) growth plan. And they still can’t tell me who specifically did that growth plan? The Salmon Farm Council had no part in it. Here we have a couple of examples of lack of planning, lack of community input and a lack of understanding of the values associated with these areas.

Darren Fairbrother (WWC)

It gets back to money.

Unfortunately for us, we live in one of the most beautiful, scenic, rich, vibrant places on the planet and when you are in something like that, you’re in a minority, then people want a part of it. Then they throw these grand plans with total exclusion from the community. We found out about the Salmon growth plan on the evening news.

I’ll just flag now, the opportunity is coming for you to have a say on much of what is being discussed tonight.

“Council are nearly at the stage where we advertise our local provision schedule (LPS) – it is with the planning commission at the moment. Once Council receives that back, it will be put out for public comment.

There are some nonnegotiables items such as the structure of the planning scheme. It sounds as though there are some deficiencies been identified on the way

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through, which may need more work on, but they’re outside of the purview of the ordinary person. … It is quite clearly defined in legislation what the functions of a planning authority are.

It says within the Land Use and Planning Approvals Act that – Council as a planning authority has the same functions as an ordinary Council.

If we look under the legislation for what is the function of our Council, there the same for a planning authority as they are for a Councillor. … Planning reform has been going since the year 2000. We are in the 20th year of planning reform. How do we know when we get to where we want to be?

People involved in the planning process are suffering from planning fatigue. It seems to be one thing after another. I’m sure when we get out state planning scheme up and running, the state policies will need a review. One thing after another after another.

It is frustrating.”

John Beswick (CCC) – “Darren’s raised about how we deal with planning issues.

As a Councillor, it’s frustrating, we’d like to make 2

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decisions differently, but our hands are tied behind our back in a lot of cases. So, don’t think your local Councillor is not thinking about your reasoning for why you might not want a decision.

forget that because it can work against you as well.”

Andrea Courtney (WWC)

“There’s a 2019 Coastal Erosion Report and the If you’ve got a block of land and planning scheme you want to do something to your that they’re block of land, you also don’t want reviewing right the next door neighbour to be now on a doing too much negative comment to your local council because they statewide basis is still being done can. In the end, everybody has got on a 2012 Coastal Erosion Report.

It doesn’t matter where you sit a right to be able to do within the politically, we all know that that standards, what they want to water is going to come in. We within their piece of land. Don’t know that that water is going to

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inundate the shores, and we need the most up to date information to be able to sit as Councillors and make planning decisions. It is hard for us to make planning decisions when the State isn’t telling us, when it comes out every couple of years and it gives us limited information. I am really grateful that Nick got really angry at us because we’re all here to have this conversation because there was a lack of communication between us and you, and us and the state government over the planning scheme.”

*For even more of what the main speakers had to say, please see pages 18-26.

What was the outcome?

Organiser, Nick Higgins called meeting attendees to vote on a range of statements to be sent in a letter to the State Government: An open letter to The Minister for Planning, Roger Jaensch and the Shadow Minister for Planning, Anita Dow Dear Minister, On Friday the 20th November 2020, a public meeting was held at the Wynyard RSL. There were 76 participants including six main speakers – Anita Dow MP, Councillor Ken Dorsey, Councillor Darren Fairbrother, Craig Garland, Sophie Underwood (PMAT) and Councillor John Beswick.

The meeting focused on concerns regarding the Standards for Residential Development in the General Residential Zone (RDGRZ). It was encouraging that so many people attended on a Friday evening for such a supposedly dry subject. The attendance and participation demonstrated the strength of public opinion and the many concerns that people have regarding the need for community participation on this issue.

It was found that many people are dissatisfied with several aspects of the Interim Planning Scheme that will soon be enshrined in the state-wide Tasmanian Planning Scheme. A major failure of the Scheme is the limited right of appeal to decisions taken by Councils’ planning departments. This specifically concerns the threshold between a development application being an acceptable solution and a discretionary decision by Councillors. The

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December 2020

meeting expressed this as a sense of a loss of agency along with the loss of democratic representation by their elected officials.

I would like to take this opportunity to pass on to you the points raised, and the feelings expressed: * The meeting calls on the Minister for Planning and local member for Braddon, Roger Jaensch, to listen and respond to community concerns regarding the RDGRZ. The meeting stated that the current standards have led to confusion and anxiety in our communities. * The meeting recognises that the Tasmanian Planning Commission, Local Government Association of Tasmania, and the Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal have also raised concerns regarding the standards for the RDGRZ. * The meeting requests that the Minister instructs the Tasmanian Planning Commission to urgently undertake a review to improve the residential standards of the RDGRZ in order to better reflect community expectations with regard to, but not confined to: overshadowing; loss of privacy; solar access; height; private open space; site coverage; and access to appeal. * The meeting calls on the Waratah Wynyard Council to ensure that the Local Provisions Schedule, as it applies to the Tasmanian Planning Scheme, holds public information sessions to inform the public about the impending changes and their meaning. * The meeting acknowledges that the Major Projects legislation, through amendments to the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993, has now passed both houses. However, the meeting calls on the Minister and the Shadow Minister for Planning, Anita Dow, to insert rights of appeal into the Major Projects legislation.

In addition to the formal points raised above, there was deep concern regarding the perception that the balance in the Planning Scheme is distinctly on the side of the developer, with little or no recourse to appeal applications that the community feels are not beneficial.

After the presentations, questions were invited. During this part of the meeting, it was noted with some consternation that the Tasmanian Planning Scheme had not been updated with the latest information. For example, the most up to date coastal erosion and inundation reports have not been made available despite several requests by Council to the State Government. Without the latest information it has to be questioned how the community can have confidence in the standards applied by the Tasmanian Planning Scheme.

It is further noted that the meeting was highly disappointed by the way the Government had failed to hold public meetings regarding the Major Projects legislation owing to COVID-19. This resulted in little public awareness of the passage of the bill let alone the ability to comment or oppose it. It was also regrettable that the Opposition proposed, but later abandoned, essential amendments that would have addressed major concerns within the bill.

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December 2020

An overwhelming sentiment from the meeting was that Tasmania is endowed with many assets, notably its environmental capital. However, the increasing influence of developers and their successful applications is destroying many of these assets. It is considered that the balance in planning approvals has swung too far in favour of the developer. The meeting also concluded that the Planning Scheme is allowing rights to developers that are not balanced by the rights to oppose them by the public.

A major conclusion is that community is becoming increasingly aware of the valuable environment in which they live. They believe that ‘progress’ can still occur without the destruction of the natural environment. Access to undeveloped open spaces, even in an urban environment, are considered essential to the physical and mental health of our diverse communities.

Developments that restrict access to light and air are not only injurious to existing home owners but to all those who enjoy the space.

Lastly, the community feels strongly that their elected representatives are not able to adequately represent them, and that those who have the financial resources and influence are dominant. It is strongly hoped that adequate planning safeguards are approved on a bipartisan basis so that we can maintain the necessary confidence in our elected representatives. It is also expected that any failure to do so will become a key point in voters’ considerations at the next election.

SISTERS BEACH FREEDOM CAMPING FAILS TO PITCH At the November Council meeting, Councillors discussed the report which highlighted the grand total of zero applications to provide a public camping service in Sisters Beach. Council says it is exploring other options, such as the Myalla Recreation Ground (Council land), according to Tracey Bradley, Council’s Director of Community & Engagement.

What did Councillors say? See 41.40 to 53.00 of the November Council Meeting Video

Cr. Mary Duniam “While we have undertaken a project of endeavouring to get

EOI’s, I am not sure we should rely on volunteers to undertake management of this particular caravan site. Maybe the Sisters Beach community association (if Sisters Beach is the chosen spot) might be interested. I do need to emphasize that it is not a money making exercise for council. It simply isn't. It is the opportunity for volunteers if you like or group sorry to undertake the management of this park. If we are much clearer in the intent of what we trying to do or what the opportunities are then we may get some more expression of interest.”

Cr. Darren Fairbrother “I would like to move an amendment to the motion and that is the deletion of the word and the inclusion of post 2022 elections. (Amendment seconded).

The amendment is designed because I think this Council’s had a crack at camping in the municipality and to be blunt, it's been a real balls up. We had we had a good arrangement of Boat Harbour Beach and we went and canned that and sent them all down to Sisters Beach and then we went and done expression of interest to see whether we could 5

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get something up. We put it up and it failed and here we are. I think it needs a new fresh set of eyes from a new fresh set of councillors to move to move the issue forward. I moved the amendment because I don't believe the motion precludes anybody with an interest coming forward and expressing their interest between now and 2022. I just think that for the Council to go down that track early in 2022 - to me going (is) through the same process I guess which we've just gone through. 2022 is just around the corner, not too far away I actually like the concept promoted from the public gallery about thinking outside the square about how if Council’s interested in this type of thing, we should think differently about delivering the service to the community. I think that type of thinking is what we need around the council table to not just go through the motion of doing what we’ve just done but looking for outside the square to find a solution to something which I'm sure that there is an appetite within the community for. I think we seen that at Boat Harbour Beach, that the community definitely said and they voted with their feet - I like doing this at this location. The trouble was that it wasn't regulated. We even done a survey of the residents of Boat Harbour Beach and Ill remind you all, that by a majority, they said ‘Yep, we think that is good for the location if Council regulated it’. We then went and canned it, send it

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December 2020

off to Sisters Beach and as I say ended up where we are now.

was probably a little bit of a problem there and given 12 months going to 2022 that's going (Please support it to) put it off to give us a little bit more of an until the new Council can give idea whether the business is going some consideration of an to be something that somebody important issue. We’ve got plenty can make money off at a later of other business to attend to date and it gives us opportunity to between now and if somebody identify name is Bradley looking at comes forward with a new concept a community centre so it give us let's have a look at that and move the opportunity to look at where forward then.” that placement going to be and how that's going to impact on the Cr. Andrea Courtney Caravan park down there.”

“I'm gunna support Darren's motion ‘cause I think that he knows he said it doesn't preclude somebody else coming forward if they want to come forward and show interest in it so that’s and opportunity that’s still there so they can still contact Ms. Bradley and you know if they want to go ahead and do it, they can.

I think you're right - I think that news eyes will be probably very good with this project considering what goes on around table when we touch on that subject.

It also I think gives us a clear year of post-COVID. So we're probably going to have our international borders and our state borders a lot more free flowing by then and I think in all fairness to Ms. Bradley, that was the biggest hurdle, I think that was a bit of hurdle for us because we just didn't have any interest in tourism we didn't have enough tourists around it so it was a risky venture for somebody to take on right now so I think that

Cr. Maureen Bradley “I disagree with the Darren / Cr. Fairbrother and Councillor Andrea Courtney. I think we've been there with Boat Harbour Beach and I don't think it's a majority of people that do want the Caravan Park down there. The people that I spoke to don't want it down there perhaps if we could have some 6

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sort of a plan or a business plan or something to tell people how to run a Caravan park might encourage more people to apply to come forward and say that will run the Caravan park. At the moment I don't think anybody knows how to run it we just need somebody to say how we want it run, now it's up to you to do it. I disagree with Cr. Fairbrother

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about taking it back down to Boat Harbour especially if we're going to do the Boat Harbour Foreshore Plan - it doesn't take in the Caravan Park.”

Cr. Kevin Hyland – “I am prepared to support pushing out the date and Council Courtney touched on it, I really think given what's happened in the last 24 hours

(Adelaide / Restrictions). … Give it a spell. If someone wants to take up the opportunity, we can deal with it.”

Councillors voted 7-1 to delay any further EOI processes for camping at Sisters Beach until after the 2022 Local Government elections.

SISTERS BEACH FREEDOM CAMPING DIS-CON-TENT From the Editor: The Freedom camping expressions of interest process for Sisters Beach was designed to fail. The requirements placed on potential applicants were too excessive to run a small public camping area in Sisters Beach – the risk of establishing the requisite infrastructure vs. the usual community response to change would have frightened anyone who thought it was a good idea, away.

If Council wants to reflect the community wishes, then it needs to lead the way, not outsource it to contractors. In my submission during the public

consultation phase, there were recommendations around the idea of volunteer hosts managing potential public camping spaces over the peak camping season.

This would enable it to be Council managed, rather than privately managed. The EOI process was a predictable failure, because there is not really a business model that can support such a small scale camping operation with a guaranteed annual return.

It would be a public good operated in a public space, with the view of covering costs, rather than making a profit.

FREE JIGSAW PUZZLE: CAN YOU PIECE TOGETHER A SOLUTION TO COUNCIL’S FAILED ATTEMPTS TO MANAGE PUBLIC CAMPING?

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December 2020

MOUNTAIN BIKING IN WARWYN? From the Editor Council recently began exploring the possibility of creating purpose built mountain bike trails in the municipality.

Waratah-Wynyard has great potential for purpose built mountain bike riding trails.

Yes the Wynyard BMX track is good, and yes we await the coastal cycling pathway, but there are no barriers to MTB trail building in the area.

Neighbouring areas such as Latrobe, Ulverstone, Penguin, the West Coast, and now Burnie all realise the benefits of Mountain biking to the community – Council hardly needs reminding.

So where?

Elevation drops (descents) and moderate inclines are key.

The Cradle Coast Mountain Bike Park at Penguin, for example, has a number of tracks with jumps, mostly on a flat or relatively low descents (10-20m), and then a number of bush trails with elevation ranging from 130/140m to 90m, so a drop of 40-50m, the trails being interspersed. This doesn’t include the new tracks on the dial range, which have greater descents. For the average or beginner mountain biker, this park is differentiated enough across a range of skill levels that make it reasonably difficult unless you are advanced or professional.

Source: Yayimages

https://www.trailforks.com/ region/tasmania-3793/ West coast tracks – i.e around Zeehan – 50m to 150m descents ~ Derby tracks – many trails ranging in difficulty between 1m and 390m descents ~ Maydena tracks – max 800m descent, general trail descent less than less than 500m ~ Prospect/Trevallyn – 40-70m descents ~ Railton – 100m descents ~ Warrawe (Latrobe) - 100m descents ~ Kelcey Tier – 100m descents ~ Waratah – 12.3km long Magnet Mine Rd to Waratah Road – 490m descent/290m Climb But, where in Warwyn?

The following list of places in Wynyard & surrounds has locations where both the start and finish are accessible by road, showing the starting and finishing elevations.

West Takone/Takone: Campbell Range Nth/Sth (580m) to Takone (290m) or Arthur/Hellyer River (170m) – 250m+ descent Oonah/Takone: Mt Leslie / Scolyers Hill (540m) to Takone (290m) – 250m+ descent

Preolenna/Jessie Gorge: Maweena Hill (484m)/Pruana Hill (454m) to Thunders Flat (90m) – 350m+ descent Sisters Hills/ Sisters Beach: – 200m+ descent Oldina: Nursery Road (100m) to Blackfish Creek (30m) – 70m descent According to an Inglis Media source, a land holder in Yolla is building mountain bike trails on disused farm land, and is seeking support from Council. This would tie in with possible future public reserve land MTB trails in the Takone/West Takone/ Oonah vicinity – with Yolla being a community that is on existing tourism routes and would benefit immensely from such investment.

It would tie in the WynyardWaratah and Somerset-Waratah connection by prioritising the Murchison Hwy / Mt. Hicks Road as destination links. It would also enable a boost to future ‘Tarkine Tourism’ access through Parawee, West Takone, and Meunna.

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December 2020

OLDINA RESERVE: GM HAS LIMITED HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING During the November council meeting, public questions were asked of the Council’s consideration of the Oldina Reserve Picnic Area, with the General Manager’s (insert – Shane Crawford) responses provided below.

Public question: Has Council ever been invited by Sustainable Timber Tasmania or Forestry Tasmania in the past to take over the management of the Oldina Forest Reserve Picnic Area?

General Manager, Shane Crawford’s response: “I am not exactly sure of the history of the Oldina Reserve and the Council and the discussions that have taken place in the past, By way of status update, we have initialized discussions with Sustainable Timbers a couple of months ago now in relation to the future of the reserve. We’re interested in their plans and what they’d like to do and agreed to work with them on both a short term and long term vision for the site at this point in time we haven’t had a lot of progress – we’ve been waiting on Sustainable Timbers to designated the appropriate resource to that task, but that’s certainly what we intend to do.

Others will be able to provide a little more history, I know there has been a number of discussions, historically, with Council and Sustainable Timbers over that Site but I would need to investigate further to give you a precise answer to your question.”

Waratah-Wynyard Council General Manager since 2017

Public question: Are you aware of the costs of the maintenance / management of the reserve to get it back to a standard where it can be reopened to the public for recreational use again?

General Manager, Shane Crawford’s response: “The simple answer is, No. There’s not a current cost around existing maintenance around upkeep or upgrade of the facilities. I know there’s been discussions again historically, again nothing that has been tallied in recent times – that would hopefully be part of the ongoing discussions with Sustainable Timbers moving forward.”

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COUNCIL COSTS OLDINA RESERVE RESTORATION

The Council document above reveals that costing was done in May 2016 to estimate the immediate and projected costs of up to 5 years for Council to manage and maintain the Oldina Reserve Picnic area and access.

(Mr. GM, is that a Recent or Historical costing?) Capital renewal and rehabilitation was close to $600,000, with annual maintenance projected to be $75,000. The timing of this estimate is important. In 2016, Forestry Tasmania announced it would undergo a rebranding and re-structure in 2017, following

years of financial underperformance and the straw that broke the camel’s back – the Lapoinya forest protests, which were factors in the resignation of three Forestry Tasmania board members, including chair Bob Annells on January 20, 2016, followed by the resignation on February 17, 2016 of the Minister for Resources at the time, Paul Harris. Forestry Tasmania (FT) announced on October 26, 2016 it would become Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) in the new financial year.

Did FT contact Council, inviting them to manage the Oldina Reserve Picnic Area? It seems as if the costing was done after being prompted – why else would Council do this if FT was not thinking about reluinquishing their management responsibilities?

After years of ‘vandalising’, why did FT suddenly decide that this was the year to let go of its community assets? Why did Council decide not to take on board the responsibility for the benefit of the community?

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By March 2017, the final advertising notices were placed in the reserve for the removal of the last remaining out of service toilet & structure, and by April 2017, Nursery Road & Blackfish Creek Road were ‘barricaded’ meaning vehicle access was barred. Of course this didn’t stop 4WD enthusiasts or motorbikers making new tracks and vehicle access, transforming the space into a recreational vehicle paradise. The bitter irony here is that the culture of destruction has actually been increased as a result of FT/STT’s decision to limit access to the reserve, while the majority of the community who

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played no part in degrading the space, suffer the consequences whilst the careless few get rewarded with another place to shit all over, something they could have done anywhere across the thousands of hectares of private or public plantation estate, within this municipality alone.

Why start a turf war on a picnic ground? What is the ultimate end to which they are working towards? What can be gained?

What are their demands? Are they suffering – and if so – what can be done to bring about healing and change the culture towards

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shared community spaces that are becoming few and far between?

The solution to restoring the Oldina Reserve must address these cultural aspects and rise to the challenge of creating an inclusive space, one that every community member can take pride in, where the needs of the community are prioritised.

Note: In the December Council Agenda, the General Manager recently met with Sustainable Timber Tasmania to progress discussions around a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ for the Oldina Reserve, but despite questions has not made public the details of these discussions with STT and various community stakeholders.

Source: Community photos call out, thank you!

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OLDINA: COMMUNITY RESEARCH Following the study (March 2020) of views and reactions to the Boat Harbour Beach foreshore camping ban (which can be accessed through here https://issuu.com/inglismedia/do s/community_perceptions_of_the _boat_harbour_beach_fo), it

became obvious to the researcher that an alternative camping site was the best course of action for the community to pursue, given that there was a majority of Councillors against foreshore camping (at the time – August 2019). As part of the community

research, some data was collected around community views of the Oldina Reserve picnic area, and informed a series of research recommendations for the community and Council to explore, specifically recommendation #3.

The report recommendations and conclusion has been republished with permission here for the benefit of readers Recommendations *Recommend asking Boat Harbour Beach (BHB) residents – Do you support regulated foreshore camping in BHB? *Recommend asking all community members (survey sample of Waratah-Wynyard) – Where do you recommend Council regulated freedom camping within the municipality? *Recommending exploring Oldina Picnic Area reclamation for regulated freedom camping, with public amenities reinstalled, and explore community partnerships for the management of this space.

Benefits include:

Not residential; Not Boat Harbour Beach or Sisters Beach or Wynyard (remove provision for Showgrounds RV Camping); Satisfy community Desire for reuse; Appease disappointment about vandalism, weeds, illegal rubbish disposal (by managing these issues appropriately); Currently has limited uses due to limited access and limited infrastructure; Solution to mitigate further vandalism, illegal rubbish disposal; Providing greater access to public spaces within the municipality, a win for community and council; Paid camping to offset reserve management expenses; Exploration (council or privately initiated) of other tourism, artistic, and/or recreational experiences in the area, including, but not limited to (below):

a. Cable Hang Gliding (www.cablehanggliding.com.au – Trevallyn) b. Zip lines / Tree Top adventures (www.hollybankadventures.com.au - Underwood) c. Adventure Park & Nature Playground(s) d. Art trails & Open air exhibitions e. Mountain Bike Trails (formal) f. Luge / long board sealed trails g. Single-Day and Multi-Day events & festivals – Camping, activities, Base station for: i. Cross Country Horse Riding trails ii. Ultra-marathon Running trails iii. MTB Trails (and Races) iv. Enduro motocross courses through the plantation reserve v. Country music musters vi. Oldina Music and Arts Festival (OMA Fest) vii. Other (various – as inspired) 12

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Additional Research: Views about Oldina Picnic Area There also appears to be some appetite for the Oldina Picnic Area to be accessible to the public, better managed, and amenities provided.

As a follow on from the physical survey in Wynyard, a separate question was asked in regards to usage and perceptions of the Oldina Picnic Reserve.

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The results are summarised in the figures below, showing the reactions to the Oldina Picnic Area closure, with 79% of respondents AGAINST Forestry Tasmania’s decision to close the road to the Oldina Picnic Area and remove on-site amenities. It is important to note that of those respondents, some had actually never been to the Oldina Picnic Area, despite being a resident in the municipality.

OLDINA PICNIC AREA CLOSURE (38) 11%

11%

YES TO CLOSING OLDINA PICNIC AREA TO PUBLIC (4) NO TO CLOSURE OF OLDINA PICNIC AREA TO PUBLIC (30) UNSURE (4)

79%

OLDINA VISITOR (45)

38% VISITOR TO OLDINA (28) NEVER VISITED OLDINA (17) 62%

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VISITATION FREQUENCY TO OLDINA (27) 11%

33% 19%

LESS THAN YEARLY, 1x year or less (9) LESS THAN MONTHLY, 2x yearly+ (10) LESS THAN WEEKLY, 1x month+ (5) WEEKLY+ (3)

37%

For some of those who had been to Oldina (and c) Nostalgic community members (who pine for the could remember their visitation frequency), over 60% days of old[ina]); of visitors would do so more than once each year, d) Self-sufficient travelers to the Waratah-Wynyard with around 30% going at least monthly. municipality (who just want a convenient base from From the conversations, it was clear that Oldina was which to sight see the beautiful region, and will travel a well-used space, a well-loved space, and that there as far as they need just to avoid inconvenience and is disappointment about the decay of management overpricing); and and the loss of amenity at the Oldina Picnic Area. e) A pressured Council (who has upset a lot of The frequency of use information would warrant people, provided minimal solutions, and have not further research, but the size and location of Oldina acted with community backing). makes it a prime location for multiple uses, as Taking over the management of Oldina will initially outlined above, one being – a regulated freedom be financially cumbersome, but opportunities are camping area with appropriate amenities. available to mitigate and minimise risk and cost This is a win-win-win-win-win situation for: through community involvement / community working bees / and outsourcing camping a) BHB residents who supported and lobbied Council management to volunteer hosts or community for the camping ban (meaning freedom camping members willing to oversee the space. won’t come back to BHB in a hurry); Given the potential loss of the Wynyard Caravan b) Frustrated community members (BHB residents Park, following a successful development application who enjoyed the atmosphere of tourists and general for conversion to dwellings, the community of community members who used BHB foreshore to Wynyard needs to consider how it portrays itself in camp, but know that an alternative has since been terms of atmosphere for all tourism markets, provided); including freedom campers.

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Providing enough capacity to service self-sufficient tourists, will mean that council can remove the provision of self-contained camping at the Wynyard showgrounds. By locating a council managed freedom camping site outside of the town boundary, yet within reasonable driving distance of the Highway, and an urban centre, this enables competitive neutrality, community satisfaction, and consideration for expectant tourists – who will be more likely to spend greater time in the region if they perceive that they are welcomed with open arms.

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In this scenario, the community can then be confident in the Council’s role and responsibility to provide infrastructure that complements and supports existing tourism services within the municipality, and thereby undertaking profile-raising as a tourism destination to accommodate all travelers, regardless of the type of accommodation they select during their journey.

Oldina Aerial View Source: LIST Map

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December 2020

WARWYNNIE To conseal or reveal?

Wynnie is a former Navy Seal turned whistleblower following extradition from the municipality in the early 2000s. Wynnie is currently in hiding, but still being hunted down by ASIO, ASIS, AFP, TASPOL, CIA, FBI, NSA, INTERPOL, SAS, SES, GPS, KGB, ABC, CBA, ANZ, & WWC, and has risked life and liberty to send us the wynileaks cables below. Full access to the private cables (at zero cost), can be granted by sending an email to inglis10media@gmail.com Do you have some gossip or insider information about the operations of Council? We’d love to hear it. Send us an Email to inglis10media@gmail.com and we will add your insights!

Plans to scrutinise scheme November 23, 2020 | (Source: Advocate News) Claudia Williams The push to advocate for changes to the planning scheme has gained traction in the Waratah-Wynyard municipality with public support for an open letter to the council and MPs to address concerns.

A meeting organised by Wynyard resident Nick Higgins on Friday night attracted about 70 attendees.

"There seems to be a general feeling of a loss of agency, representation and a deep sense that the pendulum is weighed in favour of the property developers and not the residents," he said.

"We all have our local planning schemes, but what we need to do is ensure that the review of the local planning scheme is managed in an open, transparent and consultative way.

"We are looking to review the standards and the threshold between discretionary and accepted standards. "(We aim to) construct an open letter that sets these requests and concerns out and that will be addressed to councils, councillors and state MPs." Councillor Darren Fairbrother attended the meeting and said it was "really great to see the community voting with their feet to find out more."

"Planning is a continual learning process and it is good from my point of view that the community is motivated to know more," he said.

The municipality is currently operating under the Waratah-Wynyard Interim Planning Scheme 2013 with the last step of the Tasmanian Statewide

Planning Scheme, being the local provisional schedules, to be advertised within the next year.

"The timing of this meeting couldn't be better because there are planning changes underway," Cr Fairbrother said.

Mr Higgins said they would call on the council to hold an information session to inform the public of changes to the scheme.

Cr Fairbrother said the council intended to advertise its settlement strategy, which aims to set a direction for the development of the towns and villages of the municipality and consider if the zoning boundaries within towns are correct, at its December meeting.

Source: https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/7022755/push-to-voice-planning-concerns-gains-traction/

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December 2020

Community uneasy over planning decisions November 23, 2020 | (Source: Advocate News) Editorial Signs of the possible effects of the new state-wide planning scheme are already rippling through the community and creating angst.

A good-sized crowd attended a meeting in Wynyard on Friday to discuss how people could find out more about planning decisions being made in their community.

residents just didn't know what was going on, why decisions were being made without the chance for public comment, and what rules the council was following.

It's fair to say the distinction between discretionary and approved planning decisions does require a thorough knowledge of the planning standards.

When projects meet all the standards in the planning scheme, they don't need to be advertised and the council doesn't have to ask for comments.

without comment. The only place the public can track those decisions down is in council agendas and minutes.

Regardless of that process, many in the community feel that their members of parliament are swinging the pendulum in favour of big developers.

That unease was voiced when the government proposed its major projects bill, which passed into law in late October this year.

Responding to queries about the perceived potential for favouritism, Planning Minister Roger Jaensch said there would be opportunities for the public to see the process and have their say.

It's only those projects that don't meet the rules for some reason or another such as being over the maximum building height, or being too close to a boundary, for EMAIL example, that the It doesn't matter what the politicians INGLIS MEDIA NETWORK ONLY council has to ask for comment.

With citizens determined to shed light tell the public about all the ways they on planning and wrestle more can influence planning decisions, the Send us an email for access decision-making power back into the community feels left out.

So where a project design meets all community, the government may need the rules, the council can approve it to keep on its toes.

Those at the meeting said many At the heart of their concerns was a complaint about the lack of transparency.

QUESTIONS ON THE FLY Fairbrother is destroying the competition, racking up an additional 5 questions in the November Council meeting, with Duniam, the closest rival

LADDER Fairbrother Duniam Bramich Courtney Bradley Edwards Hyland Walsh

Q’s asked in November meeting +5 0 +1 +1 0 0 0 0

Q’s asked in ‘20/21 24 10 5 5 2 2 1 0

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Council Watch

December 2020

Planning Meeting continued…

Sophie Underwood (PMAT) If you have a title of land, it will have a zoning. It will be general residential and for example they can have a code over it. Codes are things like it might be bushfire prone, or it might have a scenic protection code. Codes are things that can apply to all different zones – that’s the core of the statewide scheme.”

No Aboriginal heritage code, no storm water code, and no waste water management code.

PMAT was formed because of a range of issues, and has 14 founding concerns about what the

statewide scheme means more Tasmania. (See more https://www.planningmatterstas.o rg.au/) Residential standards and your right to have a say are being diminished.

Every single title in your municipality is about to effectively be re zoned, and we are trying to encourage the community to engage in that process.

Professor of Planning from RMIT Melbourne -

We want to be able to have a say about where we live. Important to have a balance between being able to comment and appeal developments, and builders been too tied to rules. It needs to be balanced between developers and the community.

“The state’s greatest economic strengths are the amenity and heritage of its natural and built environments. Destroy these, and the state has no future.”

government and the opposition and we’d be very pleased to work locally with this group on that. My office is in Burnie, I am one of your local members, and I do have a background in local government. I have been involved in planning before in role with the Burnie City Council for many years. I

understand that the planning system isn’t perfect and there is a need for change, particulary in the way in which we communicate change within the system, and there is a lot of change at the moment with the introduction of the new scheme in Tasmania. I encourage you to contact me.

Council is made up of representatives from across the community. You vote us in.

To get a consensus in a Council isn’t all that easy. You have 9 people with varying degrees of education, varying degrees of

That is why the planning system is so important.

Anita Dow (Labor MP) I spoke to Nick, who is convening this meeting, earlier today, and I have committed to working with him and others post this meeting around the points that you reach and the consensus you reach and the things you want to take forward from this meeting, and putting motions to the state

Ken Dorsey (BCC) I have properties in both municipalities.

The planning scheme is intended to represent everyone.

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where they are in their life, of financial status and beliefs.

You have people on the far left or right, I don’t know which one is either – that are all socially minded on the hand, then considerable capitalists on the other.

The problem I have with the planning scheme lately is: when does your voice count?

We are told in Council, we have to vote with the Council.

If I am just there as a ‘Yes’ man, I don’t want to be.

That’s not why I was elected to Council, just to agree with what someone has told me to think.

If I have to vote with the Council officers on all of these issues, don’t give it to me, because I have lost all of my free will.

It is a tricky one. You have to put faith in the Council officer, but at the same time, you have your own moral beliefs.

Example: There is a Drug and Alcohol Centre that is going up the top of West Mooreville Road. I would say 95% of people in that neighbourhood signed a petition

Council Watch

to say they didn’t want it there. I empathise with them. Actually I just sold my house that was up in that area and I believe that if I had have known about that at the time or the people that purchased my house had have known about it, I would have lost value. I don’t think it is because of any reason, it’s a perception. Most people’s greatest asset is their home.

It might have cost me $100,000. I don’t really know. I am just glad I sold it before hand. Now I feel guilty because I sold it to people who may be losing value on the property they purchased from me.

If we think something is going into our area that endangers our home (valuation), I think you have rights and your voice should be heard.

We also have a court house that is moving into a neighbourhood. Is that right? Well it meets the provisions of the planning scheme.

When do you have a voice? If signing petitions, making representations and you come to us (Council) and we ignore you, what’s the point?

December 2020

If your voice doesn’t count, stop sending me petitions. We’re not listening.

We read petitions and we empathise, but we’re not listening because we’re not doing anything about it – and that is worse.

Just to upset the Wynyard Councillors here. If we merge, we have more voice. We would be a stronger Council and we would have more voice.

WWC Cr. Andrea Courtney: That’s not true Ken! Dorsey: yes it is! We would get rid of all of these organisations that say they represent us. It is true.

Courtney: How? Host Nick Higgins: No no no! Not yet, not this one! Stick to the point!

Dorsey: I just did that for fun (laughing) Higgins: That’s naughty (laughing) Dorsey: I just couldn’t pass that up, because actually I believe in it.

When does your voice count and how can you make it count?

We are put in a very awkward situation.

Craig Garland I will talk about problem where there is little or no planning, other than an agenda by a small amount.

If you look into the Robbins Island Wind Farm project, Aboriginal impacts – the eight tribes of the northwest – that’s where they converged every October. They’re

all gone. They want to put the biggest windfarm in the Southern Hemisphere on that site. We’ve got the largest migratory shore bird habitat in the state in Robbins 19

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passage – 10,000 migratory shorebirds come here to do their thing. There are 10 other places like it in the state, yet the largest one is not. The impact on the forestry, farms, and tourism vistas – this would have to be one of the classic examples of lack of planning, and a lack of community input.

Then you look at the Salmon farms. There wasn’t one fisherman in this state that had involvement with that growth plan.

And they still can’t tell me who specifically did that growth plan?

The Salmon Farm Council had no part in it. Here we have a couple of examples of lack of planning, lack of community input and a lack of understanding of the values associated with these areas.

It gets back to money.

Unfortunately for us, we live in one of the most beautiful, scenic, rich, vibrant places on the planet and when you are in something like that, you’re in a minority, then people want a part of it. Then they throw these grand plans with total exclusion from the community.

We found out about the Salmon growth plan on the evening news.

That is totally unacceptable.

Community and Councils must have firsthand knowledge of what’s coming into our areas.

It is vitally important, because it divides us.

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Ken was talking about your home or your property as a major asset.

I’ve got an extended property. The oceans, the bush, this whole area – I’ve spent my whole life here.

That is my property. That’s how I see it.

And when its impacted by these people doing grand plans without community consent, without any input from us, without any skin in the game – we have to be really really up and about, about this.

I don’t think I’ve lived in a time where I’ve seen more idiotic projects …

Planning is super important. It is everything. It is our lifestyle, its community.

Advice from an old Football coach (when CG running as a political candidate) : ‘It’s all about sense of community and raw honesty.’

What we have right now – there is no sense of community with the people that are running the state and there is no honesty.

When you don’t have honesty, you don’t have trust. If you don’t have trust, you don’t have the consent of the community and you cannot live like this.

You’ll see fracture, fracture, fracture, and we’ll become more and more divided.

The only ones that benefit from this are the two (political) parties.

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AS long as we’re divided, they prosper. It’s coming to a time where people have to stand up and make a big call.

I hold a lot of faith in the Braddon electorate, because we’re the biggest swingers in the Country, we get sick of one lot, and we throw the other one in.

Now we are approaching a time where we throw both those lots out, and we send a loud message, not only to the political system in this state, but in Australia in general.

We’re a staunch community, we always have been, we’ve always helped each other, we’ve come from adversity, we’ve had pandemics, depressions, two world wars, and we’ve come out of that period - we created community through that sense of ‘we had to work together’ to survive, to eat to get our families fed.

And now we’ve sort of gone away from that. We have to come back together Planning is the catalyst for that.

That is the starting point. I would ask you all to give it serious thought and let everybody know we have to think in the best interest of us and this place, because if we don’t, we are going to lose a lot of things that are very special and that don’t exist anywhere in the world.

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December 2020

Darren Fairbrother (WWC) If Council organised a planning forum, the floors would be bare, except for a few Councillors, I’m sure.

I can’t emphasize enough how important planning is.

People only get concerned or enthused about planning when planning negatively impacts us.

That’s when we get people knocking on doors and saying ‘hey, what about me?’

Can I bring to your attention and expression my appreciation to the Planning Matters Alliance. For those of you that don’t know, - a few years ago in Boat Harbour Beach, there was a developer that wanted to develop the foreshore down at the beach. And at the time there were a concerned group of locals who got together expressing their community pride that Craig just spoke about.

Council are nearly at the stage where we advertise our local provision schedule (LPS) – it is with the planning commission at the moment. Once Council receives that back, it will be put out for public comment.

I’ll just flag now, the opportunity is coming for you to have a say on much of what is being discussed tonight.

There are some non-negotiables items such as the structure of the planning scheme. It sounds as though there are some deficiencies been identified on the way through, which may need more work on, but they’re outside of the purview of the ordinary person.

We need to knock on their doors (elected members) if we’ve got serious concerns about those type of things.

Planning Matters Alliance at the time gave them support to challenge the developer in the Resource Management Planning and Appeals Tribunal and they got a consent agreement.

Can I offer some degree of reassurance to those who live in the Waratah-Wynyard municipality – we don’t do planning at Waratah-Wynyard like they do in Burnie.

What that meant for the local Boat Harbour community is that the developer decided to not pursue the crown land, which is publicly owned, and as Craig eloquently said, our place – it’s what all Tasmanians own, is still in our hands.

I’d say that most of us Councillors know what we’re about and we know why we are there.

It is quite clearly defined in legislation what the functions of a planning authority are.

It says within the Land Use and Planning Approvals Act that – Council as a planning authority has the same functions as an ordinary Council.

If we look under the legislation for what is the function of our Council, there the same for a planning authority as they are for a Councillor.

Cr. Dorsey, I am sure your staff will point that out to you at your next meeting.

As per usual, if you come and ask the Waratah-Wynyard Councillors, we can give you advice on how to run good governance within local government.

For those of you that don’t know, Cr. Dorsey quite often comes to our Council meetings to pick up tips on ‘what I can do in my community’. He’s welcome and I know that he comes across and gets a few good ideas and races back to Burnie and says – aye what about this one – so Ken, quite happy to give you a few tips when you want to unblock me from Facebook.

Planning to me is the equivalent of putting the square peg in the round hole. It’s not an exact science.

You can have two planners on the one issue, and they can vary in their points of view.

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Planning reform has been going review into this system, and we since the year 2000. We are in the are know where near there 20th year of planning reform (completion).

How do we know when we get to where we want to be?

It’s only a guess as to how much as been spent to date.

People involved in the planning process are suffering from planning fatigue. It seems to be one thing after another. I’m sure when we get out state planning scheme up and running, the state policies will need a review. One thing after another after another.

It is frustrating.

Like Burnie, we have a diverse group of members, we bring a number of different skills and backgrounds to the role, and I believe we as a Council, when it comes to the planning authority role do to it better than the majority of Councils within the state.

In the 13th year of planning (2013), we were up to 13 million dollars, when I stopped counting.

That’s only the state government

As a group of people, we’ve run applications ourselves and we have a good understanding of the process.

December 2020

We’re not perfect at it, we don’t understand all of it, but we know where to go to get the information we need to make decent sorts of decisions. I’m sure there are some here that would like to have the argument that we don’t, but I understand that.

I would take the opportunity to remind you to watch Council’s Facebook page, read… I was going to say, read Inglis Media, or the local paper and keep your eye out for when the Local provisions are going to be advertised and put out for public comment. If you’ve got some concerns, knock on the door of your local Councillor and if you’ve got some concerns, make a submission to Council.

John Beswick (CCC) – Tonight I come along as much as a Councillor is not thinking about builder. I’ve been a builder for your reasoning for why you might perhaps too long. not want a decision I’ve seen all the changes. Two years ago, I was elected to the Central Coast Council.

I’m not going to bang on about Ken Dorsey, but the human headline is the human headline.

Darren’s raised about how we deal with planning issues. As a Councillor, its frustrating, we’d like to make decisions differently, but our hands are tied behind our back in a lot of cases. So, don’t think your local

We had a recent case where we did vote against what the planners wanted, it went to RMPAT and we got rolled.

That wasn’t the right decision that what we saw, who were the neighbours in this case, but it’s a real kick in the stomach to us, where we try and make what we think is the right decision.

It’s not an exact science. …

(Planning) has got to be reasonably prescriptive so that in the end there’s not too much grey area. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be changes in some of the spaces, but think about it yourself.

If you’ve got a block of land and you want to do something to your block of land, you also don’t want the next door neighbour to be doing too much negative comment to your local council because they can. In the end, everybody has got a right to be able to do within the standards, what they want to within their piece of land. Don’t 22

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forget that because it can work against you as well.

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December 2020

planning scheme every few years, so with the statewide planning scheme, if its done statewide, we’ve got a community of 550,000 people – we don’t need 29 planning schemes.

So in the end, to the community, the cost is saved by statewide planning scheme.

A lot of didn’t understand the planning scheme. This started because Nick got really really angry at us. And said ‘You didn’t give us a say in that planning decision.’ And we couldn’t.

There’s a 2019 Coastal Erosion Report and the planning scheme that they’re reviewing right now on a statewide basis is still being done on a 2012 Coastal Erosion Report.

When Darren Fairbrother sits down and looks at the planning scheme and what comes back to us as Councillors, that we’ve got to review, and then send back to the state, back to us and send it back to them.

It doesn’t matter where you sit politically, we all know that that water is going to come in. We know that that water is going to inundate the shores, and we need the most up to date information to be able to sit as Councillors and make planning decisions.

I am hoping that from tonight that we can put forward some really good motions to the state government. I don’t know how many of you read the Advocate, but we’ve just found out that we’ve got the most secretive government in Australia – 750% higher rate of rejection of right to information requests. So if we seek information and even as Councillors the state is 750% more likely to reject the right to information, it is very hard for us to do our job when we’ve got a very secretive government.

Cost – the statewide planning scheme will save every Council.

Every Council was doing there

Andrea Courtney (WWC)

It’s been going on for years.

There’s no man on the coast that sits down along the coast and looks at it like this bloke does.

When we all have a go at Darren for the planning scheme and say ‘You should be doing more, you should be saying more’ – we’re trying our very best.

I’ve gone really hard in Council meetings and I’ve got the backing from the other Councillors that we’ve tried to get the Coastal Erosion Report.

It is hard for us to make planning decisions when the State isn’t telling us, when it comes out every couple of years and it gives us limited information.

I am really grateful that Nick got really angry at us because we’re all here to have this conversation because there was a lack of communication between us and you, and us and the state government over the planning scheme.

I hope that this leads to changes in the planning legislation and all I can say to you guys is keep talking, keep being angry, and tell us and we’ll tell you, we need to take that to the state. We’ll try and help you as much as we possibly can.

Please understand that there are Councillors on this Council that are doing their very best to get this right.

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Council Watch

December 2020

Community questions and public forum: Public Question - Dave Reid, Oldina:

parliament house or government house, I don’t care.

If you’ve got all these ‘you beaut’, high expertise people in planning, sitting amongst your Council, why can’t they or why won’t they use their expertise on the current problem down there on the foreshore?

Tell me about the problem and I will help, because I’ve got a fairly astute little mind that niggles away all the time and there are avenues as the Minister suggested the other day, some of those avenues should be taken up. LGAT process is part of that.

I am really concerned, in Australia We don’t know what you’ve done and Tasmania about the erosion out there, because you won’t tell of democratic principles pertaining us. to the 3 tiers of government, and while we’ve been here today, it’s is Cr. Darren Fairbrother: Erosion a bloody good example of what’s issue – Erosion on foreshore, going on while where asleep.

Council has been asking incessantly, particularly Cr. Cr. Darren Fairborther : Foreshore Courtney, for a number of months – erosion? now for the most updated plan, policy, drawings, whatever you Dave Reid: It could be with would like – on coastal erosion, it could be with inundation, it could be with height inundation. Current inundation information is not part of Council’s problems, it could be with whatever, but we don’t know! You current scheme, which came into effect in 2012. The Current won’t tell us, your Manager won’t Hazard mapping on the LIST tell us, no Councillor will tell us, the minister won’t tell us. Where’s (which was available in 2013) isn’t as part of plans, but will be in the democracy? It’s a damned the new one. disgrace, and you have to stand up for us, whether you demonstrate down outside

In terms of the development you allude to - Council has a number

of ways in which they assess developments. Developments come in in a number of different ways. Council puts its statistics in its monthly report on permitted applications, on discretionary applications that are approved by Council staff.

Discretionary applications are applications that don’t comply with the scheme that are advertised, we put it out for public representation. They are only ever approved if there is no representation made. If there is a representation made, it comes to the Councillors. Then there are permitted applications that comply with what’s called the acceptable solutions planning scheme – Council staff have the authority to go and approve those permitted applications that comply with the scheme as well as discretionary applications that don’t get a representation.

They don’t come to Council(lors), Council staff has the authorization to approve those applications, and I believe that the application that you refer to is one of those.

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Council Watch

Public Question – Peter Lawrence, Wynyard

December 2020

Sophie Underwood

natural assets code because it doesn’t apply in certain zonings. Ask Council - what do they plan to do with those blocks, are they crown land, are they private, what can you do within Wynyard to manage biodiversity.

Depends on the land tenure – if they’re private or public. The natural assets code could apply, but there are problems with the

Potential action is to “identify what those values are, but I can put you into contact with those that are proactive.”

We have patches of biodiversity in town, how can we go about preserving those?

Public Question – Anon (Summarised) We deserve to get the seafood, beef, lamb, whatever, at a lower price, instead of paying more, cheaper in Melbourne, why can’t we buy it at a reasonable price?

Craig Garland - We used to have a very vibrant small local based fishery right along the North west coast. Small-mesh fisherman. In the 1990s, they started relocating seals from salmon farms. That went on for 30 years. We tried to stop them. Right now, my focus is getting recognition of those small mesh fishermen, and using the old-age demographic within that sector to get some young people out here and providing the fish, in the rivers, in the local communities like it used to be. We have quite a lot of encouraging things going on in our fisheries, we’ve got emerging fisheries with our King George Whiting, we’ve

got our Snapper which are near everywhere now, we’ve got King fisheries, we’ve seen a whole shift and change in oceanic and inshore waters along this coast.

But right now, there’s no focus on a plan, so to speak, to get access to the community to the fish that they own. It has been difficult and part of the reason why I stood in 3 elections in 18 months because of the threat to those fish stocks that are on the threshold now of … well King George whiting are here breeding now, we’ve got our own genetic stock, we’ve had two or three good year classes of recruits coming through and we’re right on cusp now of looking at that fishery to determine the best way to manage that for the community and also the fisherman concerned.

There is quite a bit of work that we can do – the fish are there, the fishermen are there, we’ve got an

old demographic, we’ve got kids standing on the street corners with nothing to do. My fishery would be one of the easiest, small cost entry level fisheries if we were to focus and do a plan and develop a policy on getting people access to the fish that they own.

Everything’s positive, but it has been held in limbo due to lack of recognition, due to the ignorance of the problems caused to us because of seal relocations.

People thought they all swam back to Hobart – most of them did, but the fact that they dropped them hear right in the middle of our spawning season from August right through to November, directly on to those onshore spawning seagrass areas.

We can do that, the fish are there, we’ve got the people there to do the job, the old demographic to take advantage of as they go so.

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Council Watch

Public Statement, Anon (For Darren) I know your frustration. 16 or so years ago I was told by (someone in Council) that I would never ever build on my block. At the time, maybe 10 years ago, it slowly changed. For me, what I went through, I can see your frustrations as Council because it’s all this bullshit for 16 years.

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I said to his wife, that he’s so technical that I can’t understand him, but I know how hard he works.

For people to say, ‘you don’t have a go’, you definitely have a go, and I know your frustration.

Public Question - Katherine Jones, Somerset I live in Somerset. Waratah is a very sexy little town and Somerset falls in the shadow of Waratah constantly. Being a ‘Somersecian’ we are concerned because we have no heart.

We really don’t have a community centre, we don’t have anything near it actually. …

I am part of a group that tries and pushes for community concerns in Somerset.

We’ve been pushing (for a community centre) along with the agreement with the Uniting Church, it’s a wonderful facility, three years ago, Councillor Walsh and others with him, walked through the amenity and said ‘Make it happen’. Three years later, it

hasn’t happened. We are just desperate for it to get under way so we can get out teeth into something.

We’re told that’s a planning issue. Three years later?

The Uniting Church has complied with every requirement that the Council has asked for to make it happen and still, there’s hiccups with parking and all this sort of thing. That’s not a large thing, surely, to overcome? Why is it three years? Can you just say, how can we help facilitate this project? (question taken on notice by Cr. Fairbrother.)

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Council Watch

PURGE THE URGE TO MERGE

Letters to the Editor More & better!

I couldn't help but be disappointed with the (planning) meeting - not a new experience in Tas. I attended as a Circular Head ratepayer and observer with the only skin in the game being accountability and democracy.

The overall idea of the meeting was good and the pressure on Council needs to be maintained. So many topics were avoided. Craig Garland stood out, as did the Burnie councillor (Ken Dorsey) and Dave Reid there was an awful lot of padding from the others.

Why was Council secrecy not pursued further? Why was the secrecy re the potential prison site not mentioned? More meetings such as this please, now that the ground has been set.

Mike Buky Do you like to write? We accept articles and letters to the editor.

Send your submission to inglis10media@gmail.com If writing isn’t your creative medium, we are also happy to promote art of all kinds.

December 2020

Editorial At the public meeting, there was a battle between Ken Dorsey and local Waratah-Wynyard Councillors (during and after), which for those following, is a bit of a distraction that has become both politicised and trivialised simultaneously – and it masquerades as some important conversation. It is highly doubtful that any of the Councillors can move past their personal differences or entrenched views (FOR or AGAINST) of council merging/combined services and that it unlikely for any discussion whether private, public, or online to actually achieve any outcome.

culturally, politically, historically, and psychologically – crossing the Cam River is a symbolic act and confirms our identity.

Truth be told, Wynyard needs Somerset residents’ rates to meet their expectations in Council operations, and surrendering part or all of Somerset would be a slippery slope to a shot in the foot for the Wynyard district. So in a merger scenario it is all or nothing, unless of course Wynyard took over more responsibilities in Circular Head, such as Rocky Cape, Montumana, Detention & Hellyer – with the goal of enhancing resource sharing with Circular Head, and boosting population growth through various Merging would need to be initiated schemes in the region, including

by Waratah-Wynyard Council and creating bigger settlements, new will never get up as long as Burnie settlements, or enhancing the City Council considers it a good opportunities for dwellings in idea. The direction of WaratahRural resource zones – where Wynyard, its culture, its people, its current restrictions on building outlooks on the world, often exist new houses can often be in spite of Burnie – but it will insurmountable. always be a hard sell for Burnie to convince anyone West of the Cam Waratah could be given the option River to form genuine political to join the Burnie City Council, unity. Despite the rhetoric on where Burnie could take over the money saved, the idea of responsibilities south of Parawee independence and autonomy (including Corinna, Guildford, (even if illusory) is enough for any Surrey Hills, Luina, Bulgobac, ‘Warwynnian’ to baulk at the idea Savage River - running the of being associated with the boundary from Hellyer River [West governance of the Burnie City Downs to] Wandle River to Council. We acknowledge our Pyramid Hill along the southern economic interdependency on the border of the Savage River NP) Burnie region, but socially, and to the Kentish Council/West 27

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Coast Council borders.

Economically and socially, Waratah has an increasing connection with the Burnie region, with young people zoned to Ridgley Primary School and Parklands High School. Residents in Waratah work in Waratah, along the West Coast, at Cradle Mountain, and in the Burnie area.

There may be some that work in the Yolla area, but this would be very limited. Any Waratah residents that work in the

Council Watch

Somerset/Wynyard area, economically speaking, it is quicker to travel via Ridgley/East Cam than through the Hellyer Gorge, further highlighting the likely economic choices that the Waratah community makes. The benefits for Waratah would need to outweigh the real and perceived disadvantages, and would need to take into account the past merger of Waratah and Wynyard (1993) and reflections gleaned over the past two decades around how that

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original amalgamation has served the municipality.

Political boundaries could be amended so that Burnie City Council has greater rural responsibilities, and lift some of the burden of the responsibilities of financially constrained Councils – including the Waratah-Wynyard Council, Circular Head Council, and West Coast Council.

Community Conversations

PLANNING DISCUSSION TRIGGERS ONLINE TIRADE

Source: Wynyard Tasmania Noticeboard https://www.facebook.com/groups/257350651291321/permalink/1264586257234417/

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Susan Robertson Urban issues: Smaller block sizes, higher buildings built closer to fences, and multi-unit developments in all residential areas are allowed. Neighbourhood amenity and character, privacy and sunlight into your backyard and home are not adequately protected and your rights to challenge inappropriate developments are very limited.

Come to the Wynyard RSL on Friday 20th Nov at 6pm to hear and take part in changing the planning laws Anne Christine Chess .. but if we all want to live in single family houses with big gardens and land around them, we have to intrude more and more into natural areas, displacing plants and animals.

Roland Ashworth-Eck Susan Robertson can you please provide detail around the photographs you have posted. These do not meet the current Tasmanian planning scheme regulations so would have required council approval and 90 day public consultation Trent Aitken Roland Ashworth-Eck, no, they dont need any consultation, Wynyard council just passed a town house development with zero public consultation. Just ask Darren Fairbrother . or Andrea Courtney , Zero Public consultation !!!!!

Council Watch

Andrea Courtney That's a dam lie.

It didn't come to council. And you know that. I wear it if i'm wrong.

But i loathe liars. Be honest, instead of just malicious.

Brett Donoghue Trent Aitken you are full of Shiite. You know the council did not pass it .It never came to them it was withdrawn.

Then redone to meet state legislation and if it meets state legislation there is nothing the council can do. So it met Liberal party state legislation and that is the truth. And you know that Trent Aitken Brett Donoghue , Andrea Courtney, did it go to council, yes, were the people advised by the council it was withdrawn, yes, was it then put back thru council, yes, are council the planing body for Wynyard, yes...

I rest my case đ&#x;‘¨âš–.

Roland Ashworth-Eck Trent Aitken That has nothing to do with the pictures posted Andrea Courtney And it's still a lie.

It met Liberal state planning guidelines. So it was withdrawn BEFORE it even came to council.

So was passed under Liberal planning laws, and had NOTHING to do with Councillors. Which is what you were clearly inferring, by tagging two Cr's. But facts aren't really relevant when you have an axe to grind hey? đ&#x;™„

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Brett Donoghue Trent Aitken if it meets state legislation and it did then the councillors can do nothing. It is then passed by the council and the councillors get no say. So don't try and blame the councillors they had to abide by the rules set out by the state government. The Boy from Burnie trying to stir things up...

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney , I don't have an axe to grind, the people of wynyard do and I noticed you still didnt even offer not 1 suggestion as to why we need councilors if they only tick boxes đ&#x;¤ˇâ™‚ď¸?

Andrea Courtney If you don't have an axe to grind. Don't call Cr Fairbrother and I out over planning issues you know full well we have no say in, on a post like this then.

It's just malicious. The Wynyard people don't need you to speak on their behalf. Which is why we're meeting with our community, organised by a community member, to discuss planning matters. They can speak for themselves champ. If you have a problem with planning laws in your electorate. Talk to your Crs, and your mate Gutwein. đ&#x;™Œ

Rob Duggan Trent Aitken, do you pay rates in the WWC region?

Susan Robertson Trent Aitken It easy to see what happen, go in youtube and watch the meetings at council for yourself. Planning 29

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has become so complicated that most of us have no idea what is right or wrong. Please don't attack the councillors. Are you a developer?

Trent Aitken Susan Robertson, I asked a question đ&#x;¤Śâ™‚ď¸?

Susan Robertson Brett Donoghue I am not from Burnie, but I do want to bring this to everyone's attention, before we look like the gold coast

Council Watch

about people in a region you have no vested interest in, correct me if I’m wrong.

Brett Donoghue Susan Robertson Ohh agree with you we don't want to look like that. Everyone should get to the meeting Trent Aitken Rob Duggan , what exactly is the accusation / issue ?

Andrea Courtney No. You made a dishonest allegation about two Crs. Then changed tact when you were called on it. Everyone can read this thread and see that for themselves.

Roland Ashworth-Eck Rob Duggan The pictures above are NOT of townhouses. I am still waiting for a response about those images and what the complaint is. I am well aware of the Tasmanian planning scheme having built garages on two properties in the past few years

Trent Aitken Andrea, what exactly was that, screen dump it and msg me, I'm happy to post it on my page

Rob Duggan Roland Ashworth-Eck where did I say they were? That was a screen dump from a comment Trent Aitken made

Rob Duggan Seems you have a short memory, it was only 2 hours ago đ&#x;¤Śđ&#x;?ťâ™‚ď¸?đ&#x;¤ˇâ™‚ď¸?

Rob Duggan Trent Aitken already told you that, this is obviously why you cannot conjure enough votes to gain a position on your own council, you don’t comprehend real well đ&#x;¤ˇâ™‚ď¸?.

Roland Ashworth-Eck , no, they dont need any consultation, Wynyard council just passed a town house development with zero public consultation. Just ask Darren Fairbrother . or Andrea Courtney , Zero Public consultation !!!!!

Trent Aitken Rob Duggan , so what's the issue ?

Rob Duggan Trent Aitken I Have no issue, you’re the one making unsubstantiated accusations

You have blatantly called out 2 elected members of the WWC, again of which you have no vested interest in, on various posts on this and other forums, of which you neglect to substantiate with facts Roland Ashworth-Eck Rob Duggan You need to re-read your reply to me and re-read my original question.

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Brett Donoghue Susan Robertson I know councillor Courtney does not like these developments but councillors hands are tied thanks to the state Liberal government.

Councillor Courtney also ask for the coastal erosion report wich is reported to be from 2019.instead the council must use a report that is a decade or so old .Maybe Trent Aitken could ask Premier Gutwin about it at the LNP fund raiser he bragged about getting tickets to on his page Andrea Courtney And when you're asking Gutwein to release the latest coastal erosion report Trent.

So we can make informed decisions. Could you also ask him about getting the state growth government department to fix the Highways in our area. Start with Burnie.. work westward. And while you're asking about stuff for Waratah Wynyard. Could you also ask about the Coastal Path, the half a million we're short on the All Ability Playground, and to help out with the Waratah Dam? That'd be great. If they want to spend big on infrastructure, then maybe he could contact my GM and change some no's into yes's. Let us all know how you go with that. đ&#x;‘?

Susan Robertson Roland Ashworth-Eck The people who have had sheds built in there neighbours back yards, do not want me to print their names or addresses. I suggest that you take a drive around new buildings that have been built in the last two 30

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Council Watch

years and one that is being built as I write. Yes, they have been told they can grow tree's or vines to cover up the wall.

and listen, ask questions, this matters to all of Tasmania, if not all of Australia. Which is what we are.

Roland Ashworth-Eck Susan Robertson Are you saying those sheds have been built illegally?

Roland Ashworth-Eck Susan Robertson Thanks for letting me know. I have worked out the meeting is about changing the current planning laws to prevent buildings being built too close to neighbouring boundaries.

Susan Robertson Roland do you want to live next to these sheds, the first thing you see when you walk out of your back yard. Do you think this illegal, but since they are there do you think that it is morally right. Two of these people could have built there sheds directly behind there houses instead of the legal distant from there back fences, and the legal height as there land is higher than there neighbour's. Yes they are legal, under the present planning laws. Again is this what you would like this as your view

Trent Aitken Susan Robertson, it should be a good meeting, I might come over for a look. đ&#x;‘?

Nick Scolyer Admin any chance of getting Trent Aitken removed from this community noticeboard? on a few recent posts all he seems to be doing is causing arguments between himself and 2 councilors that he seems to have an issue with. Even though most people would know he is a boy from Burnie and actually has no vested interest in the Waratah Wynyard community!!

Andrea Courtney The planning meeting is not about changing current laws. None of us can do that. It's about understanding the rules and roles. And communicating with our community members about it. And to discuss matters of concern.

Only the Liberal government can change state planning laws. You need to understand why Nick has called the meeting Susan. Inviting antagonisers, and non residents is counter productive. Stating the meeting is to change laws is not realistic. Is makes it hard for open, constructive conversation between our community and the Cr's. Perhaps you should see if Nick wants that kind of meeting before putting it on here.

Trent Aitken Nick Scolyer, I'd be happy to remove myself đ&#x;‘?

Brett Donoghue Trent Aitken well do it

Susan Robertson Nick Scolyer or Trent Aitken don't remove yourselves, come to the meeting

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney, Councillor Dorsey is speaking at the meeting, he's a councilorđ&#x;¤”,

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Labors Anita Dow also, Both from Burnie , this isnt all about just wynyard đ&#x;¤Ż......

Trent Aitken Brett Donoghue, go to the meeting or leave the page ?

Andrea Courtney When the organiser, Nick, flagged it. It was our community and having a constructive conversation between community and Crs. If Burnie Crs, pollies, and antagonisers are going to run the show for point scoring. I now understand why other Crs have declined to attend.

Nicholas Higgins I’m not sure if this is replying to the right person.

Whoever said you’ve worked out the purpose of the meeting...

Then you have worked it out wrong. The meeting is about getting the threshold that decides whether a DA is discretionary or an acceptable solution.

ONLY if it’s discretionary does the community have an opportunity to oppose it. The threshold is obviously not working in the best interest of the community.

The caravan park development of 29 x 8.3 3 storey townhouses is a symptom of the failure. NOT the objective of the meeting. We can’t change the approval, but we can, AND MUST, try to change the way the decisions are made, WHO makes them and what those criteria are.

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December 2020

If you’re here just for a fight about a specific development, this is NOT the forum for you.

this page...calling Darren and I out.. on matters you know full well we have no control over.

Brett Donoghue Trent Aitken the page..like you said last night

Elle Fraser Hicks Ex Gold Coast.....

I HEAR You...!!!đ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Ž

Brad Hyland Tuck em upđ&#x;˜†

Andrea Courtney Those submissions, to change planning laws, need to be directed to the Liberal state government. I understood this was to be about working together to do just that.

That doesn't appear to be the objective here anymore. It now appears that two boys from Burnie are taking the opportunity to use this as a platform to garner attention and support for their own agendas. So I'm just not sure that this hasn't become a missed opportunity now. Which is reallh disappointing.

Lee-Anne Fitzallen Do you need a planning permit for a double garage in town?

Elle Fraser Hicks EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND MEETING for Answers.....đ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Žđ&#x;˜Ž

Roland Ashworth-Eck Lee-Anne Fitzallen You can have a 6m x 6m garage constructed by a registered builder in town as long as it meets the Tasmanian planning code, which council officers can confirm for you if you ask. It then does not require a permit. I followed this exact process six months ago.

Roland Ashworth-Eck Elle Fraser Hicks To what? A shed?

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney, I don't have a agenda, Vote 1 Ken Dorsey might do. I'm just an average joe đ&#x;¤Śâ™‚ď¸?

Andrea Courtney If you didn't have an agenda. You wouldn't be on

If it helps, gutter height no more than 2.4m within 1.5m of a boundary fence.

Maximum total wall length of all buildings no more than 9m if within 1.5m of boundary fence. It was why I was asking specifically about the pictures posted.

Brendon Crispin What about 29 X 3story units plonked on your front yard ffs...where is surfers paradise now!!

Elle Fraser Hicks Roland Ashworth-Eck ???? To the Wynyard RSL for Meeting or are you on some other tangent...???

Brett Donoghue Trent Aitken you said you were leaving LAST NIGHT now you are commenting this morning .

What's the go telling Wynyard residents to give it a rest, they are more entitled to speak on the WYNYARD notice board than BOY from Burnie

COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO: ‘General Manager’s Wages Surge’ Source: Wynyard Tasmania Noticeboard https://www.facebook.com/groups/257350651291321/permalink/1261122287580814/ Inglis Media In your experience, do you think the Waratah-Wynyard Council provides good value for it's ratepayers?

Should the GM & Council staff receive more or less for their work?

and $40k extra overall in remuneration for 2019/2020 financial year - ISSUU.COM

Waratah-Wynyard General Manager gets $13k Salary boost, 32

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Council Watch

Elle Fraser Hicks This'll be Interesting....???

The Boy from Burn The Boy from Burnie Overview Resources & Tools Home Posts Events Videos Frances Ryan Some perspective Photo The Boy from Burnie 6 Nov. would assist. What do similar roles at 6:48 pm 5 Minute Friday in similar jurisdiction pay?

Episode 2... Brooklyn Primary, Frances Ryan Matt Jones two very Caravans Wivenhoe Cemetery, Wynyard Petitions, cost of water dissimilar roles.

CREATE POST' Brett Drinkwater In my experience Sam Garrett Trent Aitken it might and dealings, all WWC council just be perspective mate because staff do an amazing job, rarely you come across like that often, receive bouquets for the great work they do for our communities but I'm sure your a great guy too. and always dealing professionally Darren Fairbrother Trent Aitken with complaints. What is your perhaps you can put it to beef? https://www.facebook.com/inglis.

Maxwell Mahoney In this climate i think a large pay cut is in order.

The council cant afford them at the Trent Aitken Councilor Fairbrother is rude and Arrogant đ&#x;˜Ą Inglis Media Hi Trent, If you have would like to put this into more detail, send us an email or a message and we can help get your story out. This article is in regards to Council staff and cost to the rate payer. Elected members are voted on every 4 years. Feel free to make comment about the report.

Trent Aitken Inglis Media , ok.... As a paid councilor of wynyard, councilor Fairbrother comes across as Rude and Arrogant.

Maybe you should watch my post where he gets a mention, as a local this will be right up your alley.

media.wynyard/ and in the public domain the assertion you made to me so others can make up there own mind with all the facts rather than you resorting to your character assassination from behind your computer screen......

Trent Aitken Darren, my own public domain is 7 times bigger than inglis media. That makes no

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W/W GM is a good man, but do we need 2 doing the same job 15 k's apart?

Inglis Media Author Are you suggesting ousting Simon Overland already? *(edit: in favour of a BCC-WWC merger) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim on_Overland Ken Dorsey no Darren Fairbrother another cheap shot ken dorsey.....you had your chance to share general managers and then you made your recent appointment ken .......costing how much......please tell us all about his rate of pay so we can compare.....the two boys from burnie are good enough reason on there own not to merge anything.....same sort of stuff just a different day.......if you are not happy ken just resign.....

senseđ&#x;¤Ż.

Trent Aitken Inglis Media , you might have a point here, I've met your GM, he's a lovely Man đ&#x;˜Ž.

Carol Anderson Trent Aitken - For the Boy from Burnie you like to meddle in other municipalities business !

Lara O'Neill As a resident of the Waratah Wynyard Council municipality, I'd rather NOT merge with the burnie municipality

Trent Aitken Carol, a rising tide lifts many a ship , glad to see you have heard of me, I hope you left

Trent Aitken I dont blame ya đ&#x;¤Ł.

Your new parks awesome.

a like đ&#x;˜˜ Ken Dorsey Maybe it is time to look at merging Councils and reduce cost by a quarter of a million for just one employee? The

Kathryn Hawley Ken Dorsey NO way should Wynyard merge with burnie, you'd just put parking meters everywhere ( like you did at the burnie airport) and sit back and do nothing. Wynyard is much better as it is.

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Ken Dorsey Darren Fairbrother if Wynyard were ever interested everything can be sorted. Right now it is a one sided conversation.

You need to come to the party and then we collectively make decisions that benefit the ratepayers.

Ken Dorsey Kathryn Hawley no intention of putting parking meters anywhere - especially Wynyard. The airport is an P/L company that makes decision. We own shares but the Directors are independent. Maybe Wynyard should purchase shares in the airport?

Ken Dorsey Lara O'Neill too bad collectively we could do so much more at a lesser cost.

Darren Fairbrother Ken Dorsey that line was used with sewage and water as well......

Kathryn Hawley Ken Dorsey Wynyard is fine without Burnie.đ&#x;˜ Maybe Burnie should merge with Devonport, they seem pretty well organised,could help Burnie council out with all it complaints rate payers seem to have in Burnie. đ&#x;˜ Lara O'Neill Ken Dorsey happy to keep our rates low, neat gardens and roadways, free parking, a council that cares about their municipalitys image.

Lara O'Neill Trent Aitken plus our roadkill actually gets picked up within a week đ&#x;™„

Council Watch

Trent Aitken Lara O'Neill , and your main street sparkles đ&#x;¤Š Dean N Danni Applebee Ken Dorsey Trent Aitken this conversation seems like a big old footy rivalry doesn’t it. Who are the better ones that can accomplish more & get the winning points đ&#x;˜‚đ&#x;˜‚đ&#x;˜‚

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Corey Walker-Speers Compare it with similar sized organisations and I reckon the GMs would be paid less than in the private sector. I don’t think there’s much to be trimmed at Council from my perspective, but they should always be looking at ways to share resources where it makes sense to do so. The GM has been shared before and it didn’t work.

Trent Aitken Dean N Danni Applebee , Burnie needs a Big kick Rita Edwards Noooooo way all the best goes to Strahan up the Bumđ&#x;˜?.

I think Kens bit of banter is good

Liz Hammond No definitely not

for everyone đ&#x;˜Ž

Trent Aitken Inglis Media, I asked councilor Fairbrother these 2 P.S. I'm a Big Fan of Robbyđ&#x;¤Š questions, he's upset about them, now its in the public domain, for Dean N Danni Applebee Trent Aitken yes I agree, Burnie needs to public comment? I cant see why wake up to a lot they do, street anyone would be offended đ&#x;™‚ image, etc & imagine having a --if Darren Fairbrother or anyone kids park here in Burnie like they else that's elected to a council are doing in Wynyard, we are would like to answer this, then im envious at the moment, it’s like a all ears.... People are sick of Being good old Carlton vs Collingwood ignored what's the point of the rivalry at the moment đ&#x;˜‚đ&#x;˜‚ public having an opinion?, Hi Darren I'm hoping to to get your Trent Aitken Dean N Danni opinion on this Applebee , it's fantastic, we hate Devonport too đ&#x;¤Ł I was told, you voted against free Dean N Danni Applebee Trent Aitken yes exactly they are shocking aren’t they đ&#x;¤Łđ&#x;¤Ł Ken Dorsey Lara O'Neill no one mentioned raising your rates, introducing parking charges, changing your lifestyle or the look of the municipality. Everything is on the table - just need willing parties to talk.

camping and are now setting up your own caravan park, is this true?

Inglis Media He didn't vote to ban freedom camping in Boat Harbour Beach. That was Mayor Walsh, and Councillors Duniam, Courtney, Edwards, House. Yes he has a holiday park in Boat Harbour Beach. The saga is complex. You can read the back story to the 34

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BHB camping ban here. https://issuu.com/inglismedia/do s/community_perceptions_of_the _boat_harbour_beach_fo Community Perceptions of the 2019 Boat Harbour Beach foreshore camping ban Darren Fairbrother Inglis Media thank you for recording and your post ....clearly others arent interested in the facts to the matter.... rather than it seems they are more interested in raising there profile by sensationalizing matters and making untrue denigrating statements as a means to elevate themselves or there cause...so sad for others that live in the location......

Trent Aitken Darren Fairbrother , I rest my caseđ&#x;‘¨âš–. for someone to lift their profile, they would have to target someone that is more popular than them , I would think that your NOT the ideal person to target then heyđ&#x;¤Łđ&#x;¤Ł and that would be why you still didnt answer the original Question.

Trent Aitken Inglis, if you want a different angle, go and talk to the people that signed the petition to stop the townhouses, maybe ask how they were treated ? đ&#x;˜?

Andrea Courtney That's a false equivalence though. Councillors had no say at all in the townhouses. None. It met planning legislation. Only comes to Council if it's discretionary.

Council Watch

Krystyna Moyle Darren Fairbrother it sounded like a question to me.

Just easier to answer it I'd say.

Andrea Courtney It was answered though. Darren didn't vote against camping at Boat Harbour. And as Inglis media have responded, it was in a public meeting, and a matter of public record. So the targeting isn't really justifiable? I may not always agree with Darren, but fair is fair, he is very responsive to ratepayer emails and questions. And this is on public record. So not sure what actual goal is here?

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney , the original Question was, whats the point of people signing a petition that goes to the council, you actually agreed with me at the time, for some reason you have become flip floppy on the issue đ&#x;¤ˇâ™‚ď¸?.

Andrea Courtney What? It was about council wages.

Then it was about a camping question, that Inglis Media corrected the record on, as a matter of publuc record, then it was ignoring a petition, which i explained, we he had no legal authority to action under planning laws.

I'm not flip floppy on anything.

Perhaps be clear on what you're issue is here hey? Just felt to me you were going Darren without due cause. If it's within councils purview, Darren or myself will take

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it council. What's the actual issue here?

Trent Aitken Andrea, Fairbrother wanted it asked in public as he was offended. .

Ok, I will start at the start.

Andrea, what is the point of the people of wynyard signing a petition to stop a project or raise their concerns?

Andrea Courtney There is excellent merit in petitions. It gives voice to stakeholders.

Your example here is a poor one for the purpose of the debate on the importance of petitions though, as Crs have absolutely no say when developments meet the planning legislation. So perhaps address the law you don't agree with instead of blaming Crs for having no voice in it either.

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney , what's the point of councilors then ?

Andrea Courtney Because they don't have a say when someone obeys state planning laws? Are you for real?

Trent Aitken Andrea Courtney, just asking for examples PollynTom Rose On Deep Creek Rd we get nothing for our rates oh the sides of the road get sprayed and grader comes up just before rates are due big deal

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Lj Ilsley PollynTom Rose totally agree with you. The road and rubbish is a disgrace.

Kourtnee Lee Gardam PollynTom Rose and the drains that don’t drain properly.... causing people’s land to flood needs to be lined with larger rocks and dig deeper PollynTom Rose Kourtnee Lee Gardam our culverts are blocked don’t reckon they’ve ever been cleaned out ChrisSue Hawkins Not here in Waratah they don't!!!

Sally Cann ChrisSue Hawkins never have thats why its called Waratah - Wynyard council makes it sound important Elaine Parry How can they justify getting that much money? Is this why they have started charging charities to have stalls at Wynyard market. Have to scrap the bottom of the barrel to give these guys big money.

I work hard volunteering pay for extra fuel & power to raise funds for cancer council of Tasmania, but it seems Wynyard Council wants me to volunteer & give up my money to raise funds for them as well. To sit on a bit of grass that they can't even mow on market week đ&#x;˜ Dean N Danni Applebee Elaine Parry omg that is shocking, charities should not have to pay at all.

Council Watch

Elaine Parry Dean N Danni Applebee I totally agree. I have never had a business take money from a charity . Just greed.

Dean N Danni Applebee Elaine Parry exactly it is just pure greed & totally uncalled for. They should be supporting not taking away from the charities that are trying to help the community.

Elaine Parry Dean N Danni Applebee I haven't been to last couple of markets as I refuse to give the Wynyard council money that is raised for cancer services.

The site that I used to use is sitting there empty đ&#x;˜ Dean N Danni Applebee Elaine Parry I don’t blame you at all, they should be supporting & helping raise awareness for it instead of trying to gain a profit out of it.

Trent Aitken read all the comments how shocking is this.

They should be supporting & donating the site instead of trying to profit off it.

Jude Purton Elaine Parry That is really shocking! Can't justify that at all Trent Aitken Elaine Parry , when did they want you to start paying stall fees? How much is it?

Elaine Parry Trent Aitken 5th October. The cost is $16 which I know doesn't sound a lot, but once you start paying there is nothing stopping them from raising the fee. fundraising is hard work, so why should the Wynyard

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council want to take it away from a service that touches everyone life.

Darren Fairbrother Elaine Parry might be an idea to write to the Council asking for a refund or exemption explaining your circumstances......it appears as though all stallholders are charged same/similar with limited scope for admin to vary prices....

Elaine Parry Darren Fairbrother I know all stalls are charged the same. The difference is others are doing it for their own pockets which is fair enough , not raising money for charity. I found it a joke that the R.S L had a stall there with their gazebo written on it " proudly sponsored by the Waratah Wynyard Council " the funny bit is you donated the gazebo but charge them to put it up . Guess that's one way to recoup your money.

John Jones Elaine Parry which cancer charity is it you want to raise money for?

Elaine Parry John Jones Cancer Council of Tasmania .I always do the biggest morning tea for them & do the market to add to it I also have done a couple of sausage sizzles at Bunnings.

Bunnings are amazing they supply bbq , gas & gazebo at no charge David Gray I think they should be paid in accordance with other 36

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states But we have to many small council areas 29 I believe Should be no more than 6 That way we would have a standard state wide development is a big problem We need the tourist dollars so we need to accommodate and give people a comfortable stay Kathryn Hawley I dont think any council managers should be getting pay rises. They get paid enough for what they do.

Sally Purton Due to the COVID virus there will be enough taken from the average person to help get the country out of debt, I don’t think pay rises are something that should even be considered. As ratepayers we are paying enough now!

Judy Charles There’s an old saying ‘Pay peanuts, get monkeys’ most folks posting would want to or look for a job that pays what you’re worth. The only cause to complain is when it out-ways what is being paid elsewhere.

ChrisSue Hawkins Judy Charles whilst I agree that our general manager is a very good human being and does listen but the planning etc. of the council is so slow , wouldn't get a job in private enterprise. I would assume that the heads honcho would be subject to KPI,s short term and long term goals , most private and

Council Watch

government agencies have bonus rewards to employees if they save money in due diligence in their job, now All that said renumaration should be totally scrutinized .

Ken Dorsey I appreciate the comments - thank you. We are talking - that is a start.

Trent Aitken Jesus, your GM gets $260,000 dollarsđ&#x;¤Żđ&#x;¤Ż. Thank Christ Burnie's GM is a Celebrity if he's on that much đ&#x;˜?

December 2020

the industry. Testament to his worth is in the projects around town and the confidence and buzz in our towns - despite the difficult period we have just come through and the good shape council is in. retention of his services is desirable and renumeration needs to be reflective of his duties and his personal qualities and skill. wwc management team are possibly the leanest in the state in terms of numbers and the overall cost to ratepayers. please compare......

Karen Smith Sharon Ebdon what do you think? Rates going up Ian Berry I find it hard to justify increasing his pay by $40K when most people are having to get by with very little increase over the last few years Darren Fairbrother wwc has a successful history of providing opportunity to acting managers to the position of general manager (there has been 3). the last wwc gm is now gm of the largest council in tas and was enticed away from wwc by renumeration that wwc could not match. another former gm has been gm of the larger councils in tas and still well regarded in the industry and still resides in town. the current gm is of the same mold as the two above and in the state we as a council punch above our weight in

Source: Inglis Media Facebook Kirk Pinner I was once told by a local government manager that staff should expect and accept lower wages as its a privilege to work for the community Jude Purton What an appalling waste of money when normal folk are struggling. Don’t think they work that hard or have huge responsibility to justify such high wages. Rates don’t provide value for money. Amalgamation is the only route to better council productivity Faye Plant Jude Purton I tend to agree!

Jude Purton I think amalgamation with Circular Head council would be the best option for our region.

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