Attendees at a Leongatha meeting on South Gippsland Shire Council’s proposed local laws marched to the town’s council office on Wednesday to drive home their categorical rejection of the proposed laws.
That followed a vote on the subject at the town’s former laser tag centre, with almost all in attendance voting to take that course of action.
“We totally reject what they’re putting forward,” Trevor Gray of Leongatha told the Sentinel-Times after the meeting.
He was among those who later gathered survey forms to put forward their views to council on the draft version of its General Local Law 2024 document.
The council office was full of those doing so.
Trevor added that the timeframe allowed for community members to provide feedback was inadequate, although council extended the period by a week.
At the commencement of the latest meeting, a follow-up to a previous gathering six days earlier, the chair of both meetings and president of the South Gippsland Action Group, David Amor, stressed the proposed local laws would impact all ratepayers including large and small scale farmers and those living in towns.
David expressed his appreciation of Cr Scott Rae raising his concerns about the potential negative impact of some of the proposed laws on those in the local agriculture sector, with Cr Rae doing so at council’s October public meeting and urging community members to have their say on the issue.
A council spokesperson said it is expected upwards of 300 people will take that opportunity by the time submissions close today, November 9.
During the meeting, questions were raised on who the architect of the General Local Law 2024 draft document was and what research was done to prepare it.
“Council wants us to chase our tails looking for all the reasons we don’t want this,” Liz of Fish Creek said, arguing council should provide evidence of research that informed the contents of the draft document.
That was a sentiment that seemed to be largely agreed with.
Following a community engagement process run by South Gippsland Shire Council and a consultant over a month-long period from May to June this year, that consultant prepared an Engagement Report for council that helped inform the draft version of the General Local Law 2024 document.
A total of 261 community members were engaged through an online survey and surveys conducted at seven pop-up sites across the Shire, with further feedback gathered through community meetings and written submissions.
Asked whether he felt attendees speaking at Wednesday’s meeting stuck to the topic of current proposed local laws in South Gippsland Shire, David conceded that the floor was thrown open to anybody wishing to speak and that people were able to talk about a broad range of concerns.
There was no detailed discussion of specific local laws.
David was delighted with the turnout for the meeting.
“We had 89 people sign the clipboards at the front of the building, which was absolutely fantastic,” he said, adding those details have been provided to council to highlight community concerns.
While council has conceded improvements are needed regarding the wording of some proposed local laws, other concerns expressed by some are incorrect.
A council spokesperson refuted suggestions that council will require people to apply for permits for such things as giving lemons to a neighbour or selling goods on eBay, with some community members arguing proposed laws will require permits for such activities without specifying where that is stated.