Put “Taj Mahal” precinct on hold

The proposal to build a $30 million library, cultural centre, restaurant, staff facility and centre adjacent to the present West Gippsland Arts Centre and park in Warragul is totally unfunded at this time.

The project manager informed ratepayers (at a Baw Baw Shire Citizens and Ratepayers meeting last week) that aside from hoping to get state and federal grants amounting to approximately $15 million, the balance would be in the form of borrowings guaranteed by ratepayers. The source of the loans could be from State Treasury at a lower interest rate than commercial terms.

We were told by the infrastructure director, that he thought the current rental on the library in Victoria Street is $175,000.

When one considers borrowing $10 million at say an interest rate of five per cent that could amount to repayments of $500,000 per annum.

Therefore, the extra funding to be found each year would amount to $325,000. On top of that would be the on-costs for extra staff as the proposed building is about five times the size of the present library.

I personally think this project should be put on hold, certainly until we see what the national economy is going to do. We could do the build for less at a later date.

Quite aside from all that, we are in desperate need of funds to attend to our current infrastructure inadequacies such as a bypass for Drouin, roundabouts, and traffic solutions for Warragul North Primary School, better road maintenance and repair methods, more outdoor staff to better maintain 600 hectares of open space throughout the shire.

We need to invest in cadetships for young country people to staff our inadequately staffed planning departments, often staffed by people who come from Melbourne and other municipalities and leave after a short time.

We need to employ people who have a social investment in regional Australia.

Career climbers are too temporary.

Some planning applications have not been looked at and responded to after 90 days from lodgement.

Grandiose schemes have always been popular with local government bureaucrats.

A completed “Taj Mahal” looks good on a CV when applying for the next job in another municipality.

You and I are left with the bill, and the roads aren’t any better.

Ian Honey, Warragul

Why waste money?

I am relieved for our community that Labor has matched the Liberal Party’s commitment to a new West Gippsland Hospital.

However, I am disappointed with Christine Maxfield, previous Labor candidate, for her misinformation, in the Gazette (11/10/22).

Christine claims the Liberal Party’s commitment is conditional on federal funding. This is not factual – it is not conditional.

Liberal Party leader Matthew Guy announced $200 million should be funded by the Federal Government to cover costs of aged care and training which are federal responsibilities but if the Federal Government reneged the Victorian Liberals will cover all costs.

Wayne Farnham, Liberal candidate for Narracan, stated on WIN News last week “we do not want to waste Victorian taxpayer’s dollars therefore if the Federal Government is responsible for part of the build they become the first port of call but if they do not come to the party we will build it alone”.

Why would you pay, when you do not need to? Assuming you understand fiscal management the division of responsibilities between government levels, this makes sense, right?

The Liberal Party is funding the new hospital by scrapping the Suburban Rail Loop but the Labor Party has not provided a source of funding.

At the 2018 election Labor promised new hospitals for Geelong, Melton and 10 community hospitals. None have been built. Will West Gippsland experience the same disappointment after Daniel Andrews’ very sudden and reactionary funding announcement?

The irony of Christine Maxfield’s political posturing is that during the last election, as the former Labor candidate for Narracan, she did not advocate for a new hospital and even appeared to oppose it.

I do agree with Christine on one thing, healthcare is an important issue in our community and that’s why I will support the party that has had our hospital on its agenda for years, not days.

Sara Prendergast, Warragul

Support local voices

Recently in The Gazette we saw an interesting piece of freelance public relations from ex-WGAC manager Rob Robson that had me quite bewildered. The notion leading companies are continuing to struggle to perform postCOVID is somewhat ridiculous and I can’t say I’m buying these excuses given the level of events and tours offered elsewhere by many of these key organisations.

I recently attended an open day at Gippsland Performing Arts Centre in Traralgon and the quality and range of shows being presented in this new venue has been very impressive overall.

A marked improvement of the quality and scale of productions at the WGAC was a key element in the justification of the $14 million redevelopment, and yet here we are, sliding swiftly backwards.

The available BBSC annual financial reports show a clear pattern whereby Baw Baw ratepayers have consistently subsidised the venue at a cost of around $1 million per year.

Bums on seats is an obvious consideration for professional theatres and of course it would be detrimental to the overall success of the WGAC if booking popular acts across a diverse range of genres and art forms wasn’t a primary focus and a means to minimise the hefty cost to the community.

Having said that, the community’s ability to see themselves reflected on a stage they pay for is supposed to be a key element of how WGAC measures success. Access and support are privileges regularly afforded to a narrow selection of producers and performers, and I am at a loss as to why other local performers are excluded from the same level of support, especially given they are also ratepayers and as such have just as much of a claim to the resources of the WGAC as anyone else.

Is it really too much to ask that the level of professional and financial support creatives in the community are offered is distributed equally and without bias? The few thousand dollars it would cost to host the Wesley Players, or indeed any other local performance groups with minimal production requirements, is a relatively small expense and one that purchases some much needed social capital.

It is obvious the venue is not booked every day of the week and so I would suggest that council and WGAC management could offer at least one free day per month to local performers without it being a huge financial burden.

I believe many members of the community would happily agree to subsidise and attend free or low cost concerts with local artists despite a minor loss in ticket revenue as it would objectively make very little difference to the overall subsidy we are expected to contribute regardless.

750 appreciative locals enjoying an unrestricted view of the stage in a state of the art venue designed to acoustically support and enhance our local voices and instruments shouldn’t even be a discussion frankly.

It is disappointing and concerning to see someone in a key role who pushed for the $14 million dollar redevelopment is now offering excuses for a continuation of the often questionable level of shows offered previously.

Jeremy Fowlie, Warragul

Don’t get scammed

Frank Carleton, (“Election Bribery” Gazette 11/10) - the calls offering free electric hot water systems are not on behalf of the Victorian State Government.

They are not a pre election bribe either. They are a well scripted scam.

I have contacted the government to raise concerns about the volume of calls I was receiving and the pushy attitude of the people on the other end.

Turns out the government is not contacting people to make these offers and they were very concerned to hear scammers were reporting that they were acting on behalf of the government. If you get any further calls, may I suggest you do your homework and be very careful you don’t get scammed.

Joanna Ash-Griffiths, Drouin

Plan for panels waste

In the article, “Updated focus on Environment” (Gazette 11/1) Baw Baw Shire wants to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030. Diverting waste should not be misunderstood as reducing waste. When you divert waste, you’re just kicking the can up the road.

Recycling pollutes like any other industry and should not be seen as a magic solution to senseless waste and planned obsolescence.

A serious waste problem that’s just around the corner is used solar panels. Solar panels are non bio-degradable and contain toxic materials like lead, cadmium and antimony that will pollute our ground water if they go to landfill.

Recycling solar panels is energy intensive. The cost of recycling them is about 10 times what the recovered products are worth and the glass often cannot be recycled as float glass due to contamination. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in 2016 estimated there was about 250,000 metric tonnes of solar panel waste in the world at the end of that year, and that this amount could reach 78 million metric tonnes by 2050.

What is the Baw Baw Shire doing about the disposal of used or damaged solar panels? And will our ground water be safe to use by 2050?

Marc Schellekens

Amazing production

I would like to congratulate Off The Leash Theatre for an audacious and world class production of American Idiot.The singing, choreography and music were all amazing and the story line is so relevant to youth today.

I was blown away by the incredibly high standard of this production and the tribute paid to the music of Green Day. Thank you to all involved for an amazing experience in our local venue which shone once again.

Donna D’Arcy, Warragul