THE appalling mishandling of the Wonthaggi North East Precinct provides yet more evidence of a dysfunctional, unprofessional, inept, and uncaring culture of entitlement at Bass Coast Shire Council.
The secrecy and authoritarianism, the head-in-the-sand, nothing to see here attitude ingrained in too many supposed ‘leaders’ at Council has been known to some council watchers for many years.
While the current CEO and Councillors might attempt to wash their hands of the problem and blame it on the VPA, that won’t wash with thinking community members.
If this Council wishes to be honest and transparent (yeah I know, that’s a very big ‘if’) then it must come clean and explain to the community why in 2016 it did not make the community and developers aware of the red flags outlined in GHD’s report to Council.
This saga again shows that our elected representatives, past and present, are not so bright as they might like to presume and portray themselves to be.
For example, former Mayor Jordan Crugnale reportedly claims she never read the GHD report, and she doesn’t recall receiving any briefing about potential contamination. What? You must be joking surely!
But fortunately, Jordan is also reported as saying that it is her view that “the property owners shouldn’t foot the bill.”
Well let’s all hope that, while Jordan is enjoying a very well paid cruisy stint on a comfy padded bench as our local MP, she makes her view a reality rather than simply a throw away political platitude by ensuring that Jacinta and the rest of the bunch at Spring Street ‘foot the bill’ for any and all environmental assessment and remediation costs resulting from their governments retrospective action.
Kevin Griffin
