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november
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october
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october news |
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Local councillor fails to attend Read Cr Klisaris' explanation for his absence |
Around 70 people came to our public meeting on October 17th. We invited the City of Monash Mayor Geoff Lake and the councillor for the Warrigal Ward, Paul Klisaris. Geoff sent apologies (he was overseas) but Paul Klisaris neither replied to our invitation nor attended the meeting. The meeting passed a motion that a letter be sent to Paul Klisaris expressing the meeting's disgust at his absence and lack of support. |
| Education Department “observer” | An Education Department represenative attended the meeting but he offered no information or clarification of the Department's current position on the issue. Ken Jenkin, a local resident asked him if the Department had officially offered the land to the City of Monash and if so what was their response. He replied that he did not know details but thought that it had been offered. The Department Representative appeared to be taking lots of notes! |
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Hong Lim says “hang in there”
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Hong Lim, the Member for Clayton, arrived half way through the meeting (he was delayed in Parliament) and stressed the community should be pressuring the City of Monash to buy the land from the State Government. He claimed our campaign has his full support. He reported that he'd had a meeting with Simon Crean (Federal Member for the area) and the City of Monash but did not give details of these meetings. Photo left: Hong Lim addresses the meeting. Dot Jenkin (left) and Gail Plozza from the Federation Park Committe look on. |
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Where does the buck stop??
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key point of discussion was whether the onus is on the City of Monash
to purchase the land or whether the State Government has the moral
obligation and responsibility to ensure it remains as public land.
Local resident Ron Millett suggested a joint arrangement in which the State Government retains ownership of the land; the City of Monash funds ongoing maintenance and the Oakleigh South Primary School takes on a caretaker/surveillance role. In a strongly-worded address to Hong Lim, Ron Millett claimed the State Government are “awash with money” and have no need to sell off the land. He and others pointed out that the Education Department already stand to gain a lot of money from the impending sale of the primary school's old site in Beryl Avenue - a further loss of green space in our area. The meeting passed a motion to arrange a joint meeting between state and local governement representatives and our committe with the aim of discussing possible solutions for saving the land. |
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| Frankston land sell-out |
During October local Frankston papers reported on a situation similar to ours, where the oval from the former Karingal High School was used by local residents and cricket clubs. It seems that the land was re-zoned and sold by the Education Department to private developers without adequate community consultation. Local Greens candidate Henry Kelsall wrote in a letter to Frankston Hastings Leader (Sept 23rd) that “ Mrs Delahunty ...signed the rezoning papers over council's head”. In his letter Mr Kelsall claimed: “ The decision makes a pathetic joke of the Greener Cities Strategy signed by Premier Bracks and Sheryl Garbutt and promoted as Labor's vision for healthier cities....It totally contradicts their claims of consulting with and working for the people...Initial blame must rest with both Frankston Council and the State Government, who bickered over price...Both sides...failed to consult with the community or inform them as to the state of affairs.” |
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