Let's not make more mistakes, by overlooking past mistakes .

 First
We can't do much once our reps get in,  but we can stop them getting in,  or  back in 

Second  
While we still have opportunity to choose political leaders,  lets laugh and cry over what they represent about US . 
At different times,  and with the waning and waxing of country  fortunes we get different types of leaders
What types of leaders do we want ?
Whether its Trump or Adhern ,Morrison ,Coker or Hart , let's  remember first that most of the people who chose them ( the popular lot ) probably chose them because ( at many times in history )
many of  those elected 

1. play dance and perform to impress the majority  
   
2. probably made themselves popular  by playing up to good impressions and making promises they probably can't keep - even when good intentions  are involved
3. told us  they were going to do things they probably cannot do ;
4. didn't realise that they themselves  were possibly playing puppets to,  if not their own purposes other people's,  power of their party and its prejudices and even popularity itself 
5. can't remind the crowd  that they both  cultivated the idea of living in dream land and therefore ,  they could be expected to be some of the worst people at trying to steer the ship ;to spend our savings on roads rubbish and really worthwhile new on ground works ---which are all hard work   
6. may well claim they are not responsible : "were not there :,"don't remember"   , "not my job " Some  excuses may even be true " half asleep"  "were snowed by sir H"
   
   While the above drivers are normal , they are not always thankfully the case , We can have leaders who know what they are doing and actually know why they want to serve others and how to get things done ( very important) 
   Such good leaders know they need to control Sir Humphrey . The above leaders are often controlled by sitrhumphrey the press or the changing impressions that go them there in the first place  
    2, 
   Lastly  How to get things done 
     Lets make this review real . 
   Lets make it LOCAL and review just a few ongoing severe planning MISTAKES  that have occurred under the long watch of long serving Counsellors ;
   (  Libby Coker at Surfcoast and Stephen  Hart at Colac Otway)  .
   
   To make it easy for you ,
   ask them why they didn't properly plan the use of public land , public interest and proper use of local resources in each case . 
   
   You may like to ask them why they're not party or responsible  to these longstanding unnecessary and obscene sores on the landscape   Still current and you can read about them via Otwaysonline.blogspot.com 
   
   
7. SURFCOAST  ( Coker )    houses evacuated below dam in East Torquay in October 2020  
   general congestion - no expansion of public spaces ;sale of public land which could have been used . 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

COLAC OTWAY   ( Stephen Hart has been on Council for four terms 16years and claims to represent the coast in particular  ) Just a few examples of many 
1. Failure to protect  or even develop  a plan to protect the beach ridge system in Apollo Bay north  ( see earlier  post ) 
 2. Failure to insist on a workable tourist site at the OTWAY FLY area  while it was still easy and plans were actually  in place  ( planning stages ) 
3. Failure to direct Great Ocean Green development in a sustainable direction.

How long does it take some people to work out what's wrong . The erosion of the beach at Apollo Bay and the way to control it

LAST WEEK
The Colac herald reported that people were at great risk of being run over as they tried to walk along the Great Ocean Road in the sections shown on the attached photos ,( South of Marriners lookout Road)  
 

20 YEARS OF INCOMPETENCE 
The Council look like getting more reports and being party to more suspect works  when the integration of the existing reports is the immediate thing needed to make progress with effective erosion control, beach dune restoration  and long term safe access . 
 
The process I want to see more of is  called sustainability. Sustainability requires integration not more hallucination . Its mo wonder the State Government via GORCA are now determined to tell our Colac Otway Council what we already know, that is "  they don't know what they are doing" .
After two decades of meddling and empire building ( The State  haven't given up on the former ) the State are finally going to reinstate me , well at least someone with some of my qualifications in  geomorphology .
I would rather our Council did a proper job so we would reduce the empire building( and the corruption risk that goes with it ), the growing fly in fly out cultures.  and actually have some money to fix the walks .  fat chance unless we work better together. 

OUR BEACHES RUINED -- unnecessarily 
Long standing members of this  Council were advised many times about land use control ,runoff storage and dispersal to protect the beach ridge system  as best as is possible under the conditions of reduced sand supply from the south  .
 Clearly not enough planning has been done with access and drainage pressures  to reduce the erosion of the beach dune system.  More attention to longitudinal and lateral grade maintaining measures are needed to ensure beach blown sand accumulates back in the foredune and dune.  Significant changes to access and parking are also needed( more of it placed into the swale were expected) 
While little can be done to replenish sand supply from the south ( since the harbour was built and the Barham bed load transfer is currently low , changes to pipe, surface drainage and water storage are still needed to help the dune stay more intact . Swales should be left for such a time as this . 

THE TOTAL ECOSYSTEM
A least one building and quite a lot of fill (eg along  the Joyce street crossing  area has to be removed from the swale so this can happen, More public access and use of the swale  ( say for parking and storm water storage) should have occurred decades ago.
The retention of beach is dependant on aggradation of sand in the dune system  .Clearly not enough has been done to limit pipe and drainage and access  impact.  Complex integration  advice was given to  Council members,  not only at on onsite meetings , but with various subdivisions and drainage plans. one of which is shown .

The State Subdivision Act provisions require all  Councils to take a very significant  percentage of the profit . from subdivisions and USE it to acquire more public land . where is it people ? 
  .We may never find out where that money went, but we expect the new Council to take back control of the swale and do the required works there 
Ignoring the requirement for proper beach ridge protection, the Colac Otway Shire Council have allowed buildings and works on the swale  .


Clearly Council to date have failed in their duty of care  because they,  like so many others before them, have seen only one,  or perhaps two, problems - the beach and the erosion,  and what some see as solutions (  More  like distractions - more reports from consultants ) 
We can all see the natural sea erosion which occurs from time to time . What is less obvious is the rebuilding of beach and dune by wind blown sand  and the normal transfer of sand  along the coast in the tidal zone . Instead of integrated planning and study we have streams of new ideas that ignore  the quiet extensive defaltion that goes on hour by hour across 50 metres of intertidal exposure when we are not there . Groins would not be expected to help here because there is little lateral transfer of sand in section shown : the subtle  wind processes are the key   

To protect something you need to protect the whole ecosystem, By not considering  the whole system Council  have thrown rock into what  is and should be a predominantly sand system and made it worse. The pipes are not only far bigger than they need to be,  the inverts and flood outlets are not even designed . 
Colac Otway Shire Council have turned a lovely sandy beach into a rocky one. 

 

THE BEACH RIDGE SYSTEM    

Clearly Council have yet to come to grips with the processes of sand movement which are only addressed by works which deal with a variety of natural erosion and accumulation processes from the beach  foredune dune to the swale. Storm runoff  was naturally designed to be accommodated in the swale area greatly reducing the huge pipe systems placed by flat earth engineers. 


Compromises  While the redevelopment of the swale is the key to much of the restoration,   recent   new building ,old low buildings  filling of swale, road , parking  and cutting of the dune(  and allowing erosion - tracks and car parks shown ) have yet to be addressed in the context of  restoring a  functioning beach ridge system. Letter refer to areas of concern 












Some of THE DETAIL on this post has been removed,  If you are not convinced that your Council has failed to take sound advice  from the above detail,  I am happy to receive genuine question s   ( Features like the swale acquisition and restoration   , the extra buildings on the swale  to be removed , carparking, safer and stable access routes  are not all shown partly because various planning matters have yet to be  properly integrated.  20 consultancies of experts in various fields doesn't guarantee a sound sustainable and workable outcome .  COT Council have yet to acknowledge the need for more swale, land drainage control and access changes . Sketches show some of the works still to be properly considered .

OTHER  NATURAL SAND SUPPLY CONSTRAINTS   
The protection of the swale is always necessary for periods when there is insufficient sand supply from the river .




We can't do much to restore the sand supply connection ( see discussion on Facebook  Otway Community News re Barham river ) and transfer south,  now that the harbour is built.  . The rock barrier for the harbour tends to drive the sand into the deep  sea ( presumably a big loss ) but  the restoration of the dune and no compromises in the swale ( as have been arranged south of the river mouth in the case of the Barham  ) are necessary,  possible and must be done first . .. 

 

Absence of Councillors hypocritical

A good rollout and a good idea of who the candidates were; a credit to Colac DCC . People listening to discussion on OCRFM would realise what a wide range of comments were made, making the evening a really worthwhile way of thinking about who to vote for . I can only wonder why considering Brian Crooks and other Councillors concern to improve local government and accountability ( the talk on many lips) why most Councillors were not there . Maybe they think nothing will happen here while Labor is in power . The absence of Labor suggests they believe less in the effectiveness of a good old democratic discussion in, like last night , and more in their right to rule . I hope Polwarth sends the message that its not going to be taken for granted - certainly this was the feeling at this excellent candidates meeting.
Don't forget the free train trip today - Thanks to David O'Brien - putting all the TALK about extar trains on the real line between Colac and Geelong.

Choosing the next CEO

Do the Councillors really know what they are doing ? Years ago Councils employed a qualified engineer because most of that rates went into roads, rubbish and real estate management . Fine .

State government too want Shires to do more of the things they were doing . How effective has been the transfer and what amazing person could manage all the new roles and ideas of "how best to do things "  .

So what qualifications should CEO of a shire have?
  After all , thinking you know is one thing , but having a track record of effective proven cultural  support for sound and efficient decision-making is another  .I hope Cnr's Crook Delahunty ,Woodcroft ,Hart ,Smith  and Buchanan think about that and tell us some essentials of what they think
Mr Small  will be remembered as one who , gave COT the reputation for one of the most unacceptable planning decisions in the State (Hill top house and illegal subdivision  near Red rock ) .Full documentation at here
Mr Small ,and his executive team, will also be remembered by us who have directly involved especially  , when he came back for a second go , not as one who made decisions, like supporting publicly  the house on the hill , but as one who increased the paper trail and helped close down the Otways to industry with reams and reams of Snow .   The only real test for  truly sustainable decisions is time;  and clearly many of our decsion makers won't be here to see the test of time.  

What to do about the Councils bad reputation ?

Simply admit it has one --would be a start.

We know the executives performance pay is linked to their evaluations,  so there is little reason for a change in perception on the executives part .  But you blokes ?
Something seems to be wrong with senior executives  assessment  method  when over 400 people turn up a public meeting and focus on the executive .  
We know  Mr Small left last time after VCAT severely criticized him and his team for allowing a house (and a non conforming 3 lot subdivision) be built on a prominent ridgeline less than I kilometre and adjacent to Red Rock. http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2004/1485.html
Mr Brian Crook invited him back , but on what basis and with what performance guarantees ? When will Mr Small  leave us this time,  and at what cost ?

Whose really running the show at Rae street ? Is it the lawyers or rule makers who constantly threaten some called serious rule breakers in  our community .Will blaming the outsiders work when so many can see the accountability problems are NOT being dealt with internally . Mayor speaks for so many who perhaps  she should ask to speak for themselves- that might clear the air a bit .

Why does Mayor Mrs Russell  not  seem to accept that accountability from those highly paid "public servants" who stand behind is her responsibility - especially before they jump ship after a few year of well paid private service ?

After extensive consultation we are not told the truth

Recieved Barwon Water's letter telling us that after "extensive consultation" they will be doing what they like with our water . I accept that they are going to take some of our water and give to Geelong,  but do they have to pretend that we are the ones that benefit from the new pipeline?

What disrespect and dishonesty !. The document is full or errors and is highly misleading . Its complete rubbish as our end is the one with security of supply .

Where are our representatives to hold these manipulators of the truth to account?. Where are the representatives to hold these manipulators of the truth to treat us with respect .If The government  can blatantly lie about why they are spending our money,  why have Parliament if no members ASK QUESTIONS  , get up and say so .
Maybe we will have to wait till the next election for someone to say the Liberals are too afraid to do the job wE elected them to do - stand up for the truth down in how and what our money is spent on down here in Polwarth.

Indi and Cathy McGowan our inspiration

Watch out all those who claim to operate "in our interest" . Those of us who have gladly held the responsibility of office as public servants know that today ...right now... in our country there are many who either can't or won't talk about it in their patch . Its tragic and it must stop

• Sometimes its because their parties are paranoid and have been pandering too long to the marginals and sometimes its because "they think they know" when "out into the country they go ",.
• Sometimes its because they have gone into a job they thought was easy but have found they are have been sharing ignorance and arrogance about something that takes real cooperation -and don't want to admit it
• Sometimes its because they are a wonderful young person interested in public issues but overcome by the crap upstairs . 
• Sometimes its because they are being bullied by their CEO and his team (in some sort of ongoing "Kennett curse" of business knows best rubbish ? ) 
• You and I haven't got time for all the reasons 

. All we want our leaders to do is represent us --and that what Cathy has stood up to do . Lets hope our Sarah does the same in Corangamite.

Media watch out.  All this is a surprise to you because you are showing the same ignorance and arrogance of some of those who would jump into our busy and highly productive world and lead us - be sure you too can be as productive...... before you start .......trying to find us partners ( Farmer wants a wife but needs a slave )
Council Execs watch out - if you are listening to State bureaus out of paper chase control , you too are not listening to us .Jeff Kennett and his careless Liberal mates  thought they were clever sacking public servants but little did he know he created and enormous shortage and set the scene for an era of depression and degradation in local government like no other .dumb stuff and dangerous bureau stuff . Lets hope the new Liberals show more respect for the words written in the floor of parliament Watch out Liberal leaders Heaven does not come from ust adopting business principles in every household in the country .Heaven doesn't just arrive when you sell things .
Respect the unique eco environment of Agriculture . We make stuff and because we use the environment to do it ,it means both city and country need to CARE MORE for the careless use of monotheistic economic policy in our patch . No more retail therapy dummies - its not diverse , its not sensitive , its quickfix and doesn't model real resilience ( and stop using that word until you know how it works)
Respect the needs of young people . Our young people WANT and deserve more than asset stripping  . They want and deserve  a sustainable culture of rest recreation and high productivity  ( our patch) . A career in helping farmers understand the environment not another trucked army with mere shovels or Cmas and Departments of Worry and Ignorance that just write  codes about things they don't understand and haven't put into practice . Stop the rot Greg Hunt !

If you are going to tell us what to do - know how things work or just sit and learn for a while longer 

Indi you are the countries inspiration and McGowans deserve full accreditation !