Hill End fights for school site
It will be up to community opinions as to whether Baw Baw Shire publicly supports marriage equality, according to mayor Joe Gauci.
Bass Coast Council took the bold lead last week to carry a motion declaring council’s support for “marriage equality irrespective of gender identity.”
Bass Coast will write to federal and state ministers advising of council’s position.
But there is no similar motion on the agenda just yet for Baw Baw. Cr Gauci admitted there had been informal discussion amongst councillors but nothing formal.
The mayor said his personal view was he fully supported marriage equality.
However, he said, if council was to carry a similar motion as Bass Coast, he would like to know the community’s opinions and level of support.
“This is not a policy decision, it’s a statement of support. All we can do is advocate for it but we have to know that everybody supports it.
“If my nine councillors said it was the opinion of the nine independent councillors that’s fine, but to say it’s the view of all of Baw Baw Shire is not fair on the community,” he said.
Baw Baw Shire councillor Jessica O’Donnell said she was a strong advocate of marriage equality and welcomed Bass Coast’s decision last week.
Cr O’Donnell attended a reception at Government House last Monday to recognise the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Earlier this year, both Cr O’Donnell and Cr Michael Leaney represented council at the Pride March in Melbourne.
Cr O’Donnell said she was a strong advocate and strong ally of the LGBTIQ community.
She attended the Government House reception with CFA Pride’s Russell Wright and spoke with Governor Linda Dessau about issues affecting the LGBTIQ community in the Baw Baw Shire and rural and remote areas.
Cr O’Donnell said it was an opportunity to talk to the governor about community thoughts and support services that do and don’t exist in rural areas.
“I am very passionate about it myself,” she said.
Cr O’Donnell said she was just one councillor and could not speak on the views of other councillors in discussing a motion similar to Bass Coast.
“I can’t comment on other councillors but I believe anything we can do to be more inclusive and supportive of the whole community would be great.
“The more awareness we can get out there the better,” she said.
Cr Gauci said he was not convinced a plebiscite was the right way to determine the community’s views on whether council should involve itself in the issue.
“I don’t feel comfortable making a statement of support saying Baw Baw Shire supports marriage equality if that’s not the views of the community,” he said.
The mayor said he would be keen to talk to Bass Coast about its processes in consulting community views and then it would be up to councillors how to proceed.
The Hill End community has resolved to fight the rezoning and potential sale of the former Hill End Primary School.
More than 70 people from the town and its surrounds met at the school site last week to express their shared outrage at plans by the Treasury and Finance Department to rezone the community facility from public use to rural living, to allow the land to be sold.
The planned rezoning comes after the department deemed the site surplus to its needs.
Last week’s community meeting was called by Hill End Community Inc (HECI), the group that has maintained the site for the past 10 years since the school’s closure.
The meeting was attended by Baw Baw Shire councillors Peter Kostos and Darren Wallace, and chaired by former councillor David Balfour.
HECI president Chris Williams said the decision to fight the rezoning was passionate and unanimous.
“We are outraged the government could even consider selling this important community asset,” Ms Williams said.
“The Hill End Primary School site is the hub of community life in the town and has been since the school closed.
“It hosts a quarterly community market, the annual Tanjil Valley Art Show, an annual alpaca camp attended by 40 youth from across the state, community movie nights, and is used as the meeting place for a range of community and social groups.
“To sell it would be devastating for the town and surrounding community.”
Ms Williams said HECI had strong support from council to fight the move and the best outcome would be for ownership of the site to be transferred to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, which could then lease it back to HECI to maintain.
“HECI will now make a submission to the Government Land Standing Advisory Committee to prevent the rezoning of the site and the removal of a heritage overlay that protects the former Fumina South Primary School building located on the same site which dates back to
1900,” Ms Williams said.
“Our representatives will also attend an information session held by the advisory committee in Trafalgar this Tuesday night to present our case.”
Ms Williams said HECI encouraged people to make their objections to the planned rezoning known by contacting local members of parliament.
“We may be a small community, but we’re a vocal one and we will certainly be making our objections loudly,” Ms Williams said.
The Government Land Standing Advisory Committee meeting will be held at Trafalgar Business Centre, Council Chambers tonight at 6.30pm