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Festival of light dawns There will be heartfelt prayers and classical Bollywood dancing at the West Seniors Association Incorporated Diwali celebrations. The group’s president Amman Naidu said the focus this year was highlighting the importance of celebrating with the community. “Diwali is like a festival of lights,” Mr Naidu said. “It’s very important to our community because we’ve been doing it all of our life … so we’re trying to involve the general community too. “We want to make it very multicultural, it’s not only for one community.” A pundit will inform attendees about the religious significance of the festival and make a community prayer, before food is served and residents can participate in traditional dancing. The celebration will be held at the Laverton Community Hub on October 15, from 2pm-5pm. Bookings essential. Details: www.westseniors.org.au Savitri Naidei, Saras Chand and Manor Pillai preparing to celebrate Diwali.
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Hill has ‘nothing to hide’ during a heated council meeting on Tuesday, September 27 after Cr Josh Gilligan publicly named Cr Hill in a notice of motion alleging “serious misconduct“. In an “unusual move”, Cr Hill subsequently raised her own motion and voted to have chief executive Stephen Wall provide her fellow councillors with the “full allegations“ against her. In documents seen by Star Weekly, Mr Wall wrote to the local government minister in July seeking advice about the behaviour of some councillors, although no specific councillors were named. “A number of employees at council have raised concerns about their dealings with some of the Wyndham City councillors, and specifically some poor interactions that have occurred,” Mr Wall wrote.
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Mr Wall also commissioned a report that “collected the perceptions of several staff and their dealings with councillors”. “The matters raised in the report include aggressive and combative arguments over the phone, councillors seeking to direct employees, councillors swearing at employees, and consistent and persistent interactions about matters without councillors being accepting of the proposed resolution or officer advice,” Mr Wall wrote. In response Local Government Minister Melissa Horne said she took the allegations seriously and asked council to make a commitment to staff safety and outline actions it would take to address staff concerns. A councillor briefing session was held in August where those in attendance agreed to a “reset” and committed to “genuinely take part
in a new unified direction”. Speaking at the September 27 council meeting, Cr Gilligan said Cr Hill’s “noble” move would allow the matter to be referred to a Councillor Conduct Panel. Cr Hegedich supported the “unusual move” by Cr Hill and, along with Crs Sahana Ramesh, Peter Maynard and Jennie Barrera, denied being named in the report. Cr Marcel Mahfoud is currently overseas and did not attend the meeting, but told Star Weekly he was also denied being mentioned in the report. Cr Heather Marcus admitted she was one of the councillors named, prompting Cr Barrera to thank Cr Marcus for her honesty. “I think it’s a really brave thing to do, to face up to these kinds of things, it’s a shame others are not prepared to do that,” Cr Barrera said.
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The Wyndham councillor who called for the details surrounding allegations of “serious misconduct” against her to be released to the council is adamant she has nothing to hide. Deputy mayor Jasmine Hill told Star Weekly that she welcomed and thanked council staff for their feedback, but would wait until she received the details of the allegations against before making further comment. “I have nothing to hide, that is why I proposed an alternative motion for the allegations to [be] released to council,” she said. “Despite unproven accusations, I will continue to strengthen my governing role in council. “I am responsible to the people who elected me. I will continue to serve the community to the best of my ability and I am confident that I will not let people down.” The allegations against Cr Hill came to light