03 December, 2020
A little bit of housekeeping now that the page is reaching lots of people – there was over 3,000 views on the post about the extension of the ‘consultation’ period. Keep sharing it around the interwebs.
This page, and the web site, has been created by me, with input from people around our area, to help people try to understand what the proposal means, without any skimming over hidden bits. While it does not have all the information, we really do hope that it helps people understand the more significant impacts that the Strategy could have on our future uses and abilities to live on our land. Most of the information is on the web page. Facebook isn’t the best for long winded posts... a little bit ironic considering this one... (sorry...)
We have spent many, many days and nights combing through the Strategy, its’ associated documents, legislation, Parliament speeches, Bills, studies, other councils’ documents (it goes on and on and...) – pretty much everything we can find. We’ve been emailing and calling everyone we can think of for their support, guidance and information. A lot of this hasn’t been made public as they would like to remain in the background and support from afar. If that is their wishes, we will uphold those.
What I’d ask from all of you, is that we, collectively, remain focused on submissions. This has been a recommended course of action from many people ‘in the know’ about how these processes work. Just because we have a reprieve doesn’t mean we should sit idol until 30 January. Everyone needs to make sure they have their say, even if that is just something simple. Get your families in on it, too; anyone that has an interest in you, your land and the future.
If by good fortune Council decide to remove the Strategy from public exhibition, we may have missed our chance to have input into their next steps and the next draft. We don’t want to see that happen.
We need to make sure we are seen as a collective and cohesive group of people who are not happy with the current process.
We need to acknowledge that Council staff have followed their directives (from whomever they came) and they aren’t personally responsible for where we are right now; nor are our Councillors.
In the Council Meeting on 15 October, Council provided the Councillors with mountains of papers (over 2100 pages) to read through, absorb and then make a call on whether they were ok to present to the public. Could you have done that in just a few days, a week, or month? I know I didn’t... I’m still finding parts even though I’ve read the documents multiple times.
We need to keep in mind that there are people who are happy with the proposed changes. Some who don’t mind if their zoning or minimum lot sizes change, and some who have been fighting to see it changed and its now partially in this proposal. These people need our support, too. For the ones who have already been fighting, its been a long fight and they finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Any ‘in-fighting’, name calling, disrespect, etc should be saved for your own personal page. I know everyone is frustrated; I am, too. But we aren’t alone in this process. Other LGA’s have gone through it, and they have come out the other side. Some, a little worse for wear, but they got there. They did it by staying together, supporting each other, making sure their neighbours knew about the information and helping.
We will get there, too.
As always, if you have any questions about what we doing, concerns about the process, or you feel like we could be doing more, or just want to rant and need an ear, please message me. I’m happy to chat.
If there’s anything you’d like to see on here, or on the web page (keep checking in – more has been added recently), please let me know.
Good night, all
Nicole