councilors Council officers Glen Eira
residents and community members viewing
our meeting this evening I'd like to
welcome you to the 17th of October 2023
ordinary meeting of Council few items I'd
like to mention just before we begin
this evening first is a reminder to
councilors Council officers and members
of the public that mobile phones are to
be switched off or placed on silent for
the duration of the meeting our meetings
are being live streamed here for the
community if a technical problem is
encountered during the meeting
which prevents Council from live
streaming the meeting will be adjourned
for 10 minutes if the meeting cannot be
resumed within 30 minutes the meeting
will be adjourned and reconvened on
Wednesday the 18th of October at 7:30
p.m. council is not responsible for any
data use as his charges or technical
issues that members of the public may
experience in accessing council's live
stream or recording of meetings a copy
of each live stream meeting will be
placed on council's website the day
after the
meeting Glen Eira City Council
acknowledges the people of the Kulin
Nation as the traditional owners and
custodians and we pay our respects to
their elders past present and emerging
we acknowledge and uphold their
continued relationship to land and
waterways and Council extends its
respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples item two is
apologies I don't believe there are any
apologies
okay councilors there is a
requirement for disclosure of conflicts
of interest two items listed for
consideration on the agenda or any item
that is considered at this meeting in
accordance with Section 130 in Brackets
2 of The Local Government Act 2020 in
rule 60 in Brackets 3 of the Glen Eira
Council governance rules council is
anyone declaring a conflict in any item
tonight there are none
councilors I'll move the procedural motion
of what is to happen if the live stream
fails I'll be moving that do I have a
second for that motion councilor
Zmood all those in
favour motion is carried
unanimously at this stage of the meeting
I'd now like to commence with public
participation and before I do it's uh
rude of me not to mention and
acknowledge um ex counselor and ex
mayor of City of Glen Eira councilor Jamie Himes
in the gallery and we welcome you
to the
meeting
um do we have any um Community
participation yes Mr Mayor we've got um
nine community members who have
registered to speak this evening um the
first Community member is Jamie Stafford
Jamie would you like to come forward
just come in the little microphone and
you'll see there's a button on the
microphone if you just press that
that'll turn the light on yeah you're
live is good yep beautiful uh so my name
is Jamie Stafford I'm a resident of
Murrumbeena I have a daughter whose name is
Violet she attends the Murrumbeena Early
Learning Center which is a part of the
current preliminary decision to close
the council run ELC in Glen Eira uh my
questions around the obviously the
engagement of the community in that
decision um a lot of the reasons given
in the report and also mentioned in the
media around the reasons why the centres
will be closed um have centered around a
lot of aesthetic reasons and not things
that really matter to the people that
use the service so for example uh
something that was mentioned about these
uh Council providers not providing meals
complimentary and nappies complimentary uh
we actually view those things mostly as
a positive because it allows us to
control things like allergies and food
aversion a lot easier with our children
and speaks to the decision to use these
council run services about quality of
care and the development of our children
within a really positive Early Education
environment and my question is were
these factors considered in making this
preliminary decision were they factoring
in and base around the development of
children within Early Education um or
were they made for other reasons thank
you sure do answer that Mr
Saunders thank you Mr Stafford for your
question and through you Mr Mayor um
council's preliminary decision to exit
its child care services was not based on
the quality that we provide we know our
three centres maintain exceeding
national standards and we have very
dedicated staff that look after the
children um the one of the primary
reasons uh was to do with the small size
of the facilities and the small rooms um
that are within those facilities uh
national quality uh guidelines require
certain child staff ratios and certain
amount of area for the number of
children our centres are small um less
than 45 places and because of that they
are just not economically viable to run
because they don't achieve the economies
of scale most new facilities are
somewhere between 100 and 140 places um
and they achieve better economies of a
scale and are therefore viable so with
regard to nappies and food we do
understand that families do value the
services the council provide um when we
do have tours from new families many of
them do ask um uh do we provide food and
nappies and uh that seems to be an
expectation um for some people that are
uh looking for prospective effective Child
Care Centres thank you thank you next
question thank
you thanks Jamie our next question Mr
Mayor from or next submitter Mr ? Ryan
? Ryan would you like to come forward
thanks yeah just push the button and
just leave it
on um my question is about the cost
referred to in the release services
report it's in two parts um firstly i'
like to thank the councilors um
especially the mayor for being really
engaged on what is a a very important
issue to the community as you can see
tonight um it took us all by great
surprise um a lot of shock and um a lot
of fear in the community about what next
year looks like for us um in terms of
the cost um in the report released in
August 2023 by Mard Investment Group it
was found that nationally elc's as an
investment proposition are yielding an
average of 5.11 per annum the competition
for child care investments by both
private and institutional investors has
intensified following successive
announcements from both federal and
state governments each committing to
long-term financial support for the
child care sector it is now clear that
child care has become integrated into
government infrastructure spending and
essential an essential plank in any
platform for GDP growth the situation in
Glen Eira for reasons I seem quite
mysterious is absolutely different what
are the three main costs um that are
driving the apparent annual loss
detailed in the Services report we're
not asking for the figures um although
we would like to see them at some point
right now I'd just like to know what the
three main costs are um and the second
part of the question is have the
councils been presented with a detailed
financial model showing the expenses to
explore um the main differences between
? Australian market and how their
costs in childcare are compared to how
Glen Eira's costs are for childcare thank you
thank you for your question Mr
Sanders thank you Mr Beer for your
question uh firstly with regard to the
uh key cost driver for our centres um it
is actually staff salary so um the
revenue that is generated through our
centres is about $3.7 million a year and
our expenses are $4.3 million a year 79%
of that expenditure is actually on staff
salaries and um as I explained earlier
the National Quality guidelines requires
certain staff um child ratios and
certain amount of children to be enabl
to be accommodated within a particular
room based on the size of that room our
costs Staffing costs are higher because
we cannot achieve the economies of scale
from uh the other larger centres enjoy
that are generally between 100
and2 places uh councilors did receive um
detailed analysis of our costings
including revenue of each Center um
expenses of each Center indirect and
direct costs which includes um rent
cleaning uh materials energy water and
and other
expenses thank you can I find out with
the other two main cost
are
there was just the list was just
provided I think there was about four or
three or four on so just just for
clarity our expenses are $4.3 million
each year 79% are attribut expenses are
attributed to staff salaries 2% to
materials 2% to energy water and other
expenses and 177% for indirect costs
like rent and cleaning thank thank you
and how how does that Benchmark against
sry this is not a uh a conversation
we're having you're asking a question
I've got other people waiting if you
have got to if you do want to come
forward and ask a question and you
already have a question in place which
we'll be answering later um it's it's
makes sense just to wait and let us
answer the questions you've submitted
but for those who haven't um the next uh
question is coming from our next
question uh submitter Mr Mar is from
Anna Clark Anna would you like to come
forward please
thank you um my question is about the
making of the preliminary decision um
just as background I'm a mother of three
I have an 8-week old baby a 7-year-old
and a three-year-old and they're all
either have been at Mara Early Learning
Center or will go at some point um what
I want my question I guess to be
answered and to be satisfied of I know
it's been put to a few councilors over
the last week is this making of a
preliminary decision that feels like it
is an actual decision and now we're
asking the community what do you think
even though this is what we're going to
do and we've already got an end date and
a close date so I just I don't
understand and looking at the local
government act any process of this
preliminary decision and maybe it it
would be helpful if you could explain to
everybody here as well and online is is
the process of a preliminary decision
under the Local Government Act and how
that's come about and then how it's then
being said that we're consultating and
wanting to know Community views but
you've already got this thing looming
over the heads of everybody saying but
if we then close it it's going to happen
now it feels to me like it's it's really
presumptuous
sure thank you Mr Clark for your
question the Local Government Act
requires the chief executive officer to
consult with staff prior to a major
change in local government as part of
that process um
uh the consultation usually requires a
preliminary decision consultation with
staff and then a final decision in the
interest of good governance and
transparency Council has adopted these
principles as part of the
decision-making process to afford
families impacted families broader
community and the staff to participate
in a consultation process to inform the
final decision making these these
processes are common across local
government that are their
services thank you so it's not in the
Local Government Act that it says the
making of preliminary decision is that
correct no it is required for staff
Council has made the decision apply the
same principles to afford the community
and impacted families with the same
rights to actually input into the
council decisionmaking process um all
feedback that Council receives will be
genuinely considered prior to a final
decision being made towards the end of
the year thank you and next submitter Mr
Mayor is Megan ly Megan are you in the
audience thank
you hi my name is Megan ly just a by way
of introduction I'm a mother of two my
eldest son has been through Mara Early
Learning Center and my youngest is
currently
attending um and I address this question
to all the
councilors with regard to the
preliminary decision to close Glenn
Ira's three Early Learning centres only
three options were provided in the
discussion paper to close keep open or
merge no mention was made of looking at
other Alternatives or looking to other
councils such as city of Yara and city
of Port philli where Cancer Run centres
were invested into and kept open the
benefit of the whole
Community pursuant to the section 9
subsection 2f of the Local Government
Act 2020 Council has an overarching
obligation to seek collaboration with
other councils and governments and
statutory bodies can you tell us the
exact process and the collaboration
Council sought in exploring all options
for the three Early Learning
centres thank you Miss ly for your
question and through you Mr mayor
council service review um of its Early
Learning centres investigated three
options you're quite correct um the
review reflects the operations of the
three centres the local Child Care
sector circumstances of the glenara
community and considerations such as the
impact on early years reform the three
uh options considered as you say were
exit
consolidation
um exit consol
idation uh or keep the same uh the city
of Port Philip and Yara Council are not
relevant comparisons because unlike
glenara city council the port Philip
city council do not actually operate
child care services that are provided
from their Council owned buildings ARA
city council manages a number of child
care centres and we're we're aware of
that including a child and family Hub
which is a s similar to the option that
was actually considered by our
councilors to consolidate
the city of Port Philip has committed
$18 million as part of the buildings
block funding partnership with the
Victorian government um and the
Victorian government has committed $12
million to the project council's
long-term financial plan is no budget
provision for major building Investments
at this time um so the consolidation
option was not a preferred option of
council I hope that answers your
question thank you thank
you just before you do CEO um
within our local laws and meeting
procedures we do allocate 15 minutes for
public participation we're going to have
to go over that
so anyone coming forward if you can make
your questions as quick as you possibly
can because we do have another 38 public
questions to get through this
evening next speaker please um and next
um speaker is Katarina Flack
Katarina hello hi come
forward
I'd like a response from some of the
councilors tonight with all due respect
um especially some of the female
counselers I'm a mother of two daughters
I have a 4-year-old at Marina ERC and
she we were expecting her to complete
her four-year-old Kinder program next
year under the wonderful and exceptional
care and guidance of Ruka I also have
this 14-month old baby here Sophia who I
placed in child care 1 month ago so that
I could return to my wonderful workplace
that
accommodates women with children I am a
lawyer my background is that I received
a fantastic public education throughout
my entire school years I went to a
wonderful kindergarten and Childcare
Center because my parents had me very
young and I am the first person to
receive three degrees in my family I
went to mcrob my sister and I both very
successful because of the public school
system and the public education that was
offered to us us so my firm has now
accommodated me so that I can provide
for my family as well while I am also
the main carer for my children along
with my husband Ryan who's here
tonight and I placed Sophia into child
care only 3 weeks ago and she's got the
exact same car as that sopia had because
I went to every single Center in Marina
corfield Ormond Bentley in my area in
our Council and I was disgusted with
some of the private centres that you are
suggesting are economically viable and I
was disgusted with the level of care
that was provided in those centres the
children were a mess and unwell the
carers were disgusting and I and I think
that's because they're paid so lowly and
they they're 21y olds who are trying to
run Child Care centres and look after
our precious children now I have a
four-year-old here tonight Isabelle who
is clever she can write her own name she
can write her parents named her
grandparents names she is so smart and
do you know why not because of just my
background but because of the wonderful
carers at Marina ELC so I really want
you to know that the level of care and
education that is provided at your child
care centres is exceptional and those
centres have allowed me to return to
work and to pay our rates and to build a
home in our wonderful local area and to
contribute to society because my husband
and I are dedicated to raising our
children and showing them what
hardworking parents are just like my
parents showed me so here is my
question to the best of my knowledge
your educator Workforce is all women who
will then be forced to take on positions
on Lower pay with lower workplace rights
with the decision to close elcs
statistically it's mothers and women
just like me who will also feel the
brunt of this who likely now need to
sacrifice their work and careers to take
over primary care if you close these
centres I will lose my job okay I will
not have a job next year and we will
probably have to sell our home and move
out of the
area Okay so that I can take over
primary care for my children because
that's what makes sense this is going to
directly this is going directly against
the Commonwealth government's policy to
help close the gender wage Gap it's also
going against Victoria's gender equality
policies that are all coming out
everywhere I don't understand why you're
doing this to us women when where in
your reports do the impacts of this
decision address the inequitable
outcomes that will be felt primarily by
women and have the councilors requested
this information be provided does any
counselor intend to request this
information to be provided is that your
question yes is any Council request and
did you consider it did you consider us
women maybe you just had to
speak um councilors you
can councilors you you can answer this
question if you like you can refer this
question to officers and we
can provide a response at a later stage
Council
Zinger um thank you for your passionate
question
and I thank you for the
information um I don't recall that this
issue was raised in any of our
discussions thank Youk you any other
councilor
thanopoulos uh that's true what
councilor Zinger said about it not being
raised however uh having served on
Council especially with councilor Delah
huny through the whole of last term that
issue was brought to my attention and
it's very much um something that is in
my mind when making considerations on
this subject thank you Tony any other
question Council want to
respond any other
women I'll run the meeting counselor
pacue thank you very much for your um
very passionate speech and I I can
understand how you're feeling um it may
not have been raised but it's certainly
something I thought about and still do
think about
and as long as much as it's impacting
you it's impacting women everywhere
across the country is the um if I can
say the need for the federal government
which is responsible for child care to
step up and do better than it than it is
I mean you've outlined what the issues
are very clearly and the difficult
position councils are put in who don't
have the resources and the federal
government which does have have the
resources and should be paying all child
care workers as well as ours are paid
and providing child Qui care facilities
everywhere as good as they are here but
so if I can if I can just add it's not a
question it's just a comment you're in
this wonderful position where you your
Council has three wonderful child care
centres that does provide something
different and unique and raises the
market value of our entire local area
and the houses and people move to this
area because they want these childcare
centres Believe It or Not contrary to
what you've said your reports so you can
seek Federal funding you you have other
avenues to Source funding to keep these
wonderful centres open the statistics
show that a good Early Education for
these children sets them up for life so
why are you getting rid of it I'm sorry
that was a question thank you next next
speaker I'm sorry but we're running out
of time and there we have time we're
here with our children we've committed
to this to being here I'm sorry but we
need the next figure to come
forward Alan Ormond Alan
he's
hi thank you uh I'm Alan I'm from the
marina um the area and I've got a sound
in Marina Early Learning Center uh first
I strongly disagree that the center
should be closed for this one as the
it's like running a company it's the
service that we provide attract us so
I'm running a company as I have the
service that losing money but I won't
cut my service to get Revenue I won't
blame my service for Revenue so I will
find revenues anywhere else beside this
service so what I do is the ladies and
gentlemen before me has made their point
made my point clear so what I'm saying
is um given the current situation that
the center is actually closing down so
um the decisions which will be unfair
for all the kids because they are
innocent they have no fault we pay our
taxes we pay the rates to everyone and
um um it will be unfair for all the kids
as the kids were facing the problem of
lack of Educators because they know they
are going to move to another job or they
know they're going to like lose their
job after like closing down the center
so we will have no point working here so
my child Brian has a scratch from his
face to his neck last week and the
educator called us and say they don't
know nothing happened they don't know
what's going on there so that's the
problem the lack of
care uh uh for this and uh the educator
makes is really hard for the current
stage um we've waited a long time to get
in the current Center and all of us
needs time and uh um effort to find new
centres I inquired a few in mbina in
Carnegie in corfield in Omen in Bley and
they all said they have a long waiting
list so my question is I know someone
has the two kids someone has even three
it will be much more difficult for them
to find the new center new cares so will
the council provide help and support to
find the same level exceeding level of
of the center or the center that we want
to go into will the council provide help
and Aid thank you for your question
Mr thank you Mr Alman for your question
and through you Mr Mayor um council's
made a preliminary decision at this
stage um should it make a final decision
to exit its Child Care centres um our
staff will certainly work with um
families on an individual basis and a
caseby case basis to help find them um
Alternative Care
um within one of the other uh 58 child
care centres that operate across glenara
so we will be there to support you
should Council make that final decision
yeah just like K said the Cent like all
the other centres are crap the centres
up thank thank you for question the
center is for this one is exceeding and
it's excellent so we took a long time
all the family took a long time to join
this place so that's why we want to stay
here and we it's never going to be a
like short time you can't get a new
center in like 2 weeks or even look we
we really do acknowledge and we thank
you and we thank everyone for the the
really wonderful criticism and the and
the the praise of our centres but the
decision still has not been made and it
decision will not be made until you'll
hear about that on around 12 yes so we
it's been made and it will it give us
enough time okay to do this we have to
react sure right we we need at least
like a year to react to find new cares
that's the problem they're facing we
understand it thank you for your
question all right thank
you and um
our next subar Mr Mayor is Jane Kake
Jane I think you're here somewhere there
you
are it off there you go that was
probably the best idea um as a former
pres uh parent of and a parent client of
Glenn Early Learning centres I'm really
disappointed to be standing here tonight
again defending services in glenara we
have a fabulous Suite of services that
the community is incredibly proud of and
loves dearly and we seem to have to
routinely come out and defend them and I
was fearful that this would happen um
and I am really devastated tonight for
the parents here because my worst
nightmare as parent of a young child was
that I would have to defend the services
that they uh that that my child was
using because actually um this is a
really serious issue each of these
people's livelihoods is dependent on
your early learning
services having a stable secure supply
of early learning spaces in the
community is essential for employees to
be able to go back to
employment and it is women that are
going going to be primarily impacted by
this um each of the in fact the ideal
conditions to be able to return to work
is for there to be a surplus of of
Supply because without that you do not
have the flexibility I will not go
through I promise I won't bore you with
the details of what I had to do to get
secure at child care to get back to work
but there were multiple centres Family
Daycare and a lot of changes involved
over several years there is a greater
Supply now but that is the conditions
that parents need um and to be honest uh
if there isn't uh A diversity of
providers then there will be insecurity
in the
sector so the burden of this crisis
falls principally on women in the our
community statistically they will be the
primary carers and they will be more
likely to exercise um
an option to withdraw from the workplace
which is not really an option but that's
what it'll come down to because that you
can't do much with kids when they don't
have care and when they have care that
you're unhappy with it falls on other
family members and they will most likely
be women um but it also primarily
impacts on the women who are providing
these Services you have a fantastic
Workforce they are vocationally com
committed you can get qualified
childcare workers you can get
experienced Early Learning Educators you
can but you really get the whole package
with that vocational commitment outside
of local government because you have the
wages and conditions to draw them in
your service provision lifts the market
and lifts the standard and quality
within the the availability my question
to councilors tonight are um is are you
aware of the disproportionate impact of
withdraw drawing from early learning and
have you fully examined what that impact
means to your community and will you
take a close examination of this as I
believe you are obligated to under the
gender equality act
sure um our next speaker Mr Mayor is um
Yosi gotle Yosi would you like to come
forward
please
Jane I thought you walked
away no I thought when you walked away
that you you'd had enough sorry happy to
answer your question but I thought when
you when you turned and walked away
sorry now we can answer it to you okay
big you Pastor s thank you m Carle for
your question through you Mr Mayor um
certainly with respect to our Educators
and the quality of care we are very
proud of of the quality of care that we
provide to families um in terms of
council one of the key considerations of
council was the significant growth in
local child care that has occurred um
since 2010 the number of places have
doubled and actually increased by about
44% since 2019 so we know there are
about 5,700 child care places in Glenn
ir and as we outlined in the discussion
paper uh based on population forecast
and uh current demand we know that that
number of child care centres will meet
current demand and future demand um in
respect to the impacts of women in the
workforce I think you've heard tonight
councilors have expressed their concern
and acknowledge that particular issue
and we'll take it into consideration and
I'm sure we'll follow up with officers
following tonight thank you thank
you
Yosi second time
lucky just getting my
notes um it's actually y see gold far
but um thank you for allowing me to
speak I'm here as a makinon resident but
also as a Jewish Community leader in my
capacity as president of Zas in Victoria
based up the road I'm here to
um to say what I'm sure no counselor is
surprised by what I'm going to say is
that our the Jewish community of Gara
Jewish community of the world is shocked
these
weeks in response to the terrible um
tragedies that that we've seen in in
Israel um the murdering the massacring
of thousands of Israelis over 1,000
Israelis thousands wounded almost 200
being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza
is is is shocking and for many people in
the community um they have a direct
connection either with someone that is
has either been killed or injured or
being held captive or someone that knows
someone
who who does and there is probably not
one Jewish person who is not deeply
deeply affected by
this I'm not here to make statements but
what I'm here to do is to express my
gratitude to the mayor to the councilors
to Rebecca the CEO and the team for all
the Magnificent support the council has
extended to the Jewish community over
the past few weeks well past week and a
half I suppose in addition to the
general support the council does provide
to the community on an ongoing always a
welcome basis I think the um
um you've allowed your your support in
helping us facilitate particularly the
rally at corfield Park last Friday
evening was um instrumental in helping
bring our community together at this
time and I thank you for that you're
lighting up the council building in blue
and white and the hanging of Israeli
Flags out the front is a symbol that I
think will resonate with many Jewish
residents for many many years to come
I've always thought symbols matter and
um earlier in this year I think
councilor M remember you being there
when I when I spoke at uh our annual
event with the premier then Premier and
other members of parliament about the uh
Peace Garden that we dedicated some
months ago and talked then about how
symbols matter and I think the efforts
of council done the Practical assistance
and the symbolic assistance has been
very very welcome by the Jewish
community and I thank you and your
officers for your support I also
understand that tonight the councilors
will be considering a condolence motion
to express his solidarity with the state
of Israel and the Jewish people and on
behalf of the Jewish Community I say
thank you as well to the councilors for
your support of our community at this
time you're very
welcome and our final submitter this
evening uh Mr May
Sunol so would you like to come forward
please
do I press this if it's red it's already
on
sue for those in the gallery who don't
know me my name is Susan Nolly um I have
been a resident of Glenn Ira for 50
years and I've run twice as coun uh to
want I wanted to be a counselor um I
have a passion for my community I have a
passion for Australia and I have never
draped an Australian flag around my
shoulders before but I I wear it with
such
Pride not as well as Kathy Freeman but I
wear it in honor of the citizens of
Australia all of
us I have such respect for everybody in
my community Jewish indigenous
Israeli I'm sorry I've I've repeated
myself people of Palestinian and and
Muslim backgrounds it makes no
difference to me if you know me you know
I speak absolute truth I have two
questions tonight but in in difference
and in in respect to the people with
respect to the people who have come here
tonight talking about their
children there's nothing more important
in life than watching a child grow
someone you've nurtured someone you've
you've allowed an outside person into
your family's
life with the expectation that they're
going to give that child the same love
and care that you do for the gentleman
who spoke of the child who came home
with a scratch I've heard it before for
the people who spoke of the Excellence
in child care that Glenn Ira offers I've
heard it before my children are in their
40s one will turn 40 I I should say the
others 44 when I was a young mother I
was privileged to be able to use the not
Council run but it was a home care if
the mayor could indulge me and tell me
what it's called um within the council
it's still in home care I I think Family
Day Care is their family day care I I
wish that there were more mothers who
would good kind loving people
with clean homes with safe areas for
children to play um I wish that you
would all consider Family
Daycare I really do now I I am going to
give the one question that I think is
more important than Stray Cats it would
be disrespectful of me to to talk about
that but I am here to talk about an
intersection that I'm sure many parents
drive through through on their way to
the the various Glenn Ira daycare
centres it's and as you'll know I'm not
reading I'm I'm not making this up as I
go but I'm passionate about it um last
time I presented my question I received
written gobbley
gr because I had heard it all
before Nim road and marinaa road is an
intersection that is I would
say equally bad if not worse than it was
before the level crossing removal the
cars along Nim road traveling towards
huale regularly Bank
up maybe 50 60 cars half the distance
between Marina Road and Kang Road I've
watched
them why doesn't Council purchase the
building that has recently been collided
Ed with and widen that intersection that
things will only get worse you are
creating Mayhem and if you can buy a
house for a little potted public path uh
Park which very very few people actually
see a news why can't you buy don't you
interrupt me I am wearing this because
you threw me out at a council meeting
and I take great exception why can't
Council buy a building and widen Nim
Road we'll answer that question now
thank you Mrs Nolly Mr
wood thank you Miss noie and through you
mayor um the land is privately owned
Council has no um ability in this
circumstance to purchase that land have
you made an offer
no no we haven't thank you for your
question thank
you
that yes
I believe they're uh
right I'm three M that's a that's a
state road the state roads so you have
every right to indulge yourself and
offer that owner uh the right to sell
Council council is that completes um
public participation I'll now move a
procedural motion that Council now
changes the order of business and brings
forward item
104.5 written public question to council
to be heard at this stage of the meeting
councilor smooth as you seconded that
didn't you um all those in
favor all those in
favor that motion is carried unanimously
we're now into public um written public
question CEO thank thank you Mr Mayor
our first question is um from Neil
Freeman Freeman of corfield um Can
Council please explain why they do not
keeps stock of the free 100 daily use
visitor permits on the pr premises of
town hall either at the inquiry's desk
or within the traffic department office
um and Mr Freeman has a number of
observations in terms of how it would be
more efficient um for both Council and
for the community should council do that
and Mr wood has um will
respond thank you and through you may um
thank you for your comments and
suggestions at the moment we do stop the
booklets at the town Hall but there is a
process involved to check that people
are eligible to receive them we can also
issue one-off visitor permits to deal
with emergency or unplanned situations
you'll be pleased to know that from
September we will move be moving to an
electronic system to speed up approvals
and enable C customers to allocate
visitor per permits online from a
digital coupon book by simply nominating
the registration number of the vehicle
and the DAT it will be issued there will
no longer be a physical visitor parking
permit to display on the vehicle thank
you
now Mr Man now we'll move into the
questions that have been received for
this evening's um meeting because Mr
Freeman was received for last um council
meeting CE before you do yes
um council's local laws and council's
meeting procedure if your name is called
out and you're not in the gallery we
will not be reading out your question
but your question will be answered and
sent to you so if you're in the gallery
we will read your question and the
answer so sorry what excuse
me sorry they must our local law doesn't
allow for that it must be they must be
here depending on the amount of question
we've got 38 and we've still got a
council meeting up we have to get
through tonight so if they're in the
gallery we'll answer them if they're not
in the gallery we will respond CEO and
and they will get their response within
the next 24 hours so they will get it
promptly um is is Dallas O'Brien of
Bentley
here no is Evelyn gansky of Bentley
here is Hayden LaVine LaVine yes Hayden
um it Hayden's question is it's been
nearly a year since Council decided not
to pursue plans for bike Lanes on Incan
Road at that meeting several councilor
said we should instead focus on creating
safe B bike infrastructure around
schools that we should get the kids
starting to ride what process has count
what progress has Council made in
improving safety for children traveling
to school and Mr wood will
respond and through you mayor and thank
you Hayden for your question our
upgrades and improvements to cycling
infrastructure are Guided by our cycling
action plan most recently this has
included traffic harming measures and
improved signage to the Ros toown rail
trail making this route safer for
cyclists including children we also run
programs to improve safety for children
traveling to school so that kids uh feel
safe walking or riding to school a
recent example is the active paths
program which was undertaken with three
Local Schools including Mar banner
corfield and Bentley West primary
schools the program improves the
experience for students who walk a ride
to school by identifying co-planning and
mapping safe and direct routes to school
colorful fullbath decals are being
installed along the routs to help guide
students safely to their schools we're
looking forward to working with the
refresh strategic transport advisory
committee to accelerate some of our work
in this area thank you thank you Mr wood
um is Callum Diamond Smith here this
evening Eric tienstra
no Jeremy CAU yes Jeremy come forward
please oh no sorry I'll read your
question sorry my error sorry Jeremy um
for councilors with children that
attended an ELC how long did the process
take for you and your family to find an
ELC to consider decide that a specific
ELC was appropriate for your
circumstances apply for that ELC and
then wait to either receive or not
receive the position for your child to
attend an ELC now um individual
councilors may wish to um respond but
I'll also ask Mr Saunders to provide um
some context to this question Mr
Saunders will you start
please thank you Mr K for your question
um without presuming to speak
on behalf of any councilors here tonight
um counselor is confident there's
sufficient supply of childcare places to
meet current and future demand as I've
previously outlined our centres account
for just 2% of the
5,731 child care places in the
municipality which means there's choice
and capacity at this point only a
preliminary decision has been made and
if a final decision to close the centres
has made as I've outlined previously we
will help and assist families to find Al
Alternative Care the best suits their
individual needs thank you and before I
move on I'll just invite any counselor
councilor ethos oblas yeah I think it
would be fair to say that councils are
also seeking further information about
that about what type of quality of care
there is available out there and how
much information those private centres
are willing to share will be potentially
limited but we are trying to find out
about that
information thank you Council
smood uh thank you Mr Mayor I I'll try
and be brief um I have four children um
who've all been in child care so that I
could go back to work um with our oldest
I do remember going and looking for
child care and that was back in the days
where there were far few places
available uh and I remember going into
the first place and coming home and
crying and calling my husband and saying
I can't go back to work I it took a
couple of visits to a couple of
different places um to find somewhere
that I actually felt safe and
comfortable leaving her um so I I really
do understand the concerns because we've
actually got to feel like we can leave
them in care and and I should I don't
have family members that could help
looking after them so it was that or
nothing um for me and then I went
through that each with each subsequent
Tri trying to find a place um my
children my four children actually went
to three different Child Care centres um
just because of the changes um and I
know that there are very big differences
now between what's available in the
private world what I experienced in the
private world for my first two is a bit
more like what council is um my youngest
went to a council CH Center that's no
longer there on Kong Road in Elston Wick
um which was an amazing happy time for
her and i' she'd cry every day when I
dropped her off so I hand brought that
duty to my partner um but she never
wanted to leave when I picked her up so
that'd be half an hour of trying to
persuade her that we did need to go home
it's really important to families and I
think we do understand that and we will
as councilor said be be asking some more
questions thank you thank you thank you
councilor's mood um Mr Cod has a second
question Council cited the
stand sorry there's no opportunity for
participation at this point in the
meeting I'm sorry sir question next
question um Council cited the standard
of its elc's as a reason to exit the
provision of those service Services if
the standards do not meet Community
expectations how will Council be
enforcing those high standards if at all
including the revoking of council
endorsed permits issued to private elc's
that do not meet those same standards
and um Mr Saunders will
respond thank you Mr codo for your
question and through you Mr Mayor the
Commonwealth government is responsible
for assessing quality of all Child Care
centres Council does not play a role in
monitoring or enforcing the standards of
child care centres Council small Early
Learning centres buildings are no longer
fit for purpose because they prevent
Council from achieving the economies of
scale required to operate financially
viable centres and services this is
primarily due to the small room sizes
and the child education R ratios
required by the Commonwealth
government's National Quality framework
Council issues planning permits for
private child care centres in accordance
with relevant legislation which is
separate to council's role as a child
care service provider thank you
our next question of is Amo hunt in the
gallery hi am great um so am's got two
questions I'll start with the first one
the Victorian School building authority
of the vsba has been offering Early
Childhood grants in the billions to
upgrade improve and build elc's state
government politicians VBA and Victorian
Department of Education claim city of
Glenn has not once applied for nor
requested state government funding Port
Philip Council has recently worked with
VBA and their Community elc's to secure
$ million to improve their Council owned
centres Council have cited buildings are
old and no longer meet Community
expectations or current design standards
for modern child care services as a key
reason for Closing centres is it correct
that Council has not requested state
government funding to improve our elc's
why not and how do you think this
represents responsible management and
maintenance of our community centres U
Mr
Saunders thank you Miss hunt for your
question and through you Mr Mayor the
Victorian government building blocks
grants are aimed at increasing the
supply of State Gund funded kindergarten
places for three and 4-year-old children
not child care places the current
kindergarten infrastructure and service
plan for glena does not identify
shortfall in kindergarten places for the
glenara municipality until 2028 and the
shortfall in kindergarten places is
actually expected in the Bentley
McKinnon area not the suburbs where
council's Early Learning centres are
located it is therefore difficult for
Council to meet all of the funding
criteria for the Victorian govern's
building blocks
grants for our Early Learning centres as
outlined in the child care discussion
paper the buildings blocks funding is
inadequate to cover the full cost of
constructing a new financially viable
Council Child Care Center
with regard to Port philli Port Philip
Council has allocated over $18 million
of their own Revenue to capital
expenditure to prove the improve their
Early Learning years infrastructure the
Victorian government has committed a
further 12 million in funding for this
project this project is aimed at
increasing kindergarten capacity in the
centres not boosting the operational
viability of the child care services
thank you and Amo second question is in
2019 glena Council resolved to sell
three aged care
facilities You' sorry the question has
been submitted we will answer the
question as submitted we'll answer that
to you we're now into your second
question we we've answered the
question well we don't believe we're
talking in circles we're now talking on
your second question if we could have
the second question see second question
is in
2019 Council resolved to sell three aged
care facilities Ros toown spurway and
wari unable to find a suitable buyer
Council assured elderly residents their
centres would be retained by Council
longterm in 2021 Council closed spurway
disorienting residents and relocating
them to Rost toown war in late 2021 Rost
toown was closed with residents moved to
wari council had a special meeting to
make these decisions abrupt decisions
with Community upset at lack of
consultation the result was elderly
community members being displaced with
um terrible mental physical
repercussions fast forward to October
2023 a similar roll out is occurring
special meetings lack of community
consultation preliminary decisions to
displace vulnerable community members in
rushed timelines why is Council washing
their hands of community services like
aged care and child care and wider
Council believed they should hold no
responsibility to provide services to
support these tax and econom
contributing community members Mr
Saunders thank you Miss hunt for your
question and through you Mr mayor
council has an important responsibility
to regularly review the services it
provides to the community as part of
normal Council business we review our
services to ensure they sustainable
well-managed and meeting Community
expectations the child care strategic
service review aimed to better
understand how council's Early Learning
centres could operate sustainably into
the future
council is engaging with families in the
community which is consistent with the
overarching governance principles and
Community engagement principles of the
Local Government Act Council must also
comply with the national competition
policy which means that Council must
ensure its Early Learning centres do not
have an advantage in a competitive Child
Care Market because of the benefits
Council as a level of government with
access to rate pay of funds that other
child care services do not our centres
account for just 2% of the five
1,731 child care places in the
municipality that means there is choice
and capacity to meet the current and
projected Child Care demand should a
final decision be made to close the
centres support will be available to All
Families to find an alternative care
Arrangements the best suits their
individual needs thank you is Megan ly
still we're not taking any more we're
into the next question thank
you next question CEO is is Megan l
still here
Megan sorry thank you um to what extent
does the council restructure and the
October 2024 election play into the
outrageous timing of this decision its
inappropriately short engagement and
consultation period and it's failure to
consider the community prior to this
preliminary decision Mr
Saunders thank you m m for your question
the Electoral structural review required
under the Local Government Act 2020 and
the 24 council elections did not inform
council's preliminary decision to exit
its child care services thank you m ly's
second question is why does council not
see Early Education and Care as a
priority why are our children being
viewed as a deficit rather than an
investment Mr
Saunders thank you Miss L for your
second question council is committed to
providing high quality services and has
a broad role in support supporting
children and families in glenara by
planning facilitating and partnering
with government and local providers
along with direct service provision
Council provides a broad range of
services that support Children and
Families including Early Education and
Care maternal and child health parent
Support Services immunization services
and Library Services as well as working
to build the capacity of all your early
years services and supporting
professional development of early year
staff across the municipality and
another vital role is advocacy where
Council seeks to secure programs
projects and funding from other levels
of government to support early Year
services initiatives and programs thank
you is Dora bayz from orand in the yes
audience yes in the gallery
Dora
yes um Dora's got two questions I'll
start with the first first one um can
you explain on what basis you think the
current survey is open to families and
community members regarding the closure
of Glenn Ira's three child centres is
adequate in circumstances where the
surveys fail to meaningfully solicit any
information about the closures and other
available options and are promised on
the assumptions that the centres will
close Mr
Saunders thank you Miss bz for your
question and through you Mr Mayor the
survey asked two important open-end
questions with Textfree boxes for impact
families and the broader Community to
provide feedback the two questions are
firstly in the future what role do you
think Council should play in supporting
young children and their families and
the second question do you have any
other feedback for Council to consider
when making a final decision the
Textfree boxes in the survey enable
responders to share detailed and
descriptive information including their
opinions Express expressions of their
feelings and their understanding of the
preliminary Council decision thank you
D's second question is Mayor McGee has
previously stated that it's difficult to
extend the timelines applying to child
care closure process because of due
process concerns can you please explain
why it would be problematic from a due
process perspective to urgently extend
the timeline for consultation SL
consideration of all options while in
parallel urgently making a commitment
not to close the centres before December
2024 Mr Saunders
thank you Miss bers for your second
question and through you Mr mayor
council has committed to a 4-we
consultation period with staff impacted
families and the community and will
carefully consider all feedback prior to
making a final decision all feedback
received about the timing of the
potential closure of the centres will
form part of the considerations for the
final decision-making process thank you
is mayor olad of kegi in the gallery
this evening
no is Luke
skan hi Luke um your question is in the
ELC preliminary discussion paper and the
media Council makes the claim that the
Cent's no longer meet contemporary
building and service standards mayor Jim
McGee heral son oh that's a quote from
Jim McGee Herald son 12th of October
20123 all three of the elc's are rated
exceeding the National Quality framework
which is Australia's system for regul
regulating Early Learning using the
Criterion quality Area 3 physical
environment which focuses on the
physical environment to be rated
exceeding in this area Services
consistently align with safety
cleanliness and maintenance advice from
recognized authorities and contributing
to a flexible engaging and stimulating
environment that enhances each child's
learning development and well-being what
specific standards is Glenn Ira Council
referencing when making this claim and
what evidence demonstrates the centres
do not meet this
standard Mr Saunders thank you Mr SC for
your question council's Early Learning
Center buildings no longer make
contemporary standards for children
because they prevent Council from
achieving economies of scale required to
operate financially viable Child Care
centres there have been numerous changes
in Government funding policy and
Children's Services regulations since
the facilities were stracted which mean
the building's design make child care
services more costly to run in
accordance with the current regulations
and quality standards this is primarily
due to the small room sizes in Council
centres and the child educator ratios
required by the Commonwealth
government's National Quality framework
thank you is Amanda Smith of corfield
South here this
evening no
no Karina
is um with regard to the preliminary
decision to close Glenn Ira's three
Early Learning centres only three
options were provided in the discussion
paper to close keep open or merge no
mention was made of looking at other
Alternatives or looking to other
councils such as city of Yara and city
of Port Philip where Council run centres
were invested into and kept open for the
benefit of the community noting that
pursuant to section 92F of the Local
Government Act Council has an
overarching obligation to seek col
collaboration with other councils and
governments and statutory bodies can you
tell us the process and collaboration
that Council sought to explore all
options for the three elc's Mr
sunders thank you Miss Flack for your
question the service review of council's
Early Learning centres investigated
three options in detail for council's
consideration the review reflects the
operations of the three centres local
Child Care sector circumstances in the
glenara community and consideration such
as the impact of early Year's reform
agenda on the glenara municipality the
considerations for each option are set
out in detail in the discussion paper
Port Philip Council and Yara city
council are not relevant comparisons
because unlike lenara city council the
port Philip city council do not operate
the child care services that are
provided from Council own facilities
these services are provided by
community- based
providers the ARA city council manages a
number of children services including a
child and family Hub which is similar to
the option that was considered by
glenara City Council in a strategic
service review to consolidate all of its
council's child care places onto one
site the city of Port Philip has
committed $8 million as part of the
buildings blocks funding partnership
with the Victorian government and the
Victorian government has committed $12
million as I previously outlined
council's adopted long-term financial
plan currently has no budget provision
for major building Investments related
to the three Early Learning centres
thank
you is Ashley Diamond of McKinnon here I
don't see
Ashley oh sorry apologies question
apologies Karina um I do have it here um
Child Care is reliant on skilled and
dedicated Educators to deliver quality
Education and Care the a c's 2023
childcare inquiry shows that labor
accounts for the greatest share of costs
in childcare with land costs second as
the council has no land costs it can
invest its cost advantages into staff
wages transitioning towards higher
quality Care low staff vacancies and low
turnover why then does council not take
advantage of this for the benefit of the
entire community and in particular its
women and children especially given the
gonsky 2.0 report highlights how
Paramount high quality early childhood
education is to a child's transition to
and success at school Mr
Saunders thank you Miss Flack for your
second question as a level of government
glenara city council is required to
abide by the national competition policy
therefore Council must ensure its Early
Learning centres do not have an
advantage in the competitive Child Care
Marketplace because of the benefits
Council has as a level of government
with access to rate payer funds that
other child care services do not
application of the competition policy
requires Council adopt full costing
methodology which includes both direct
costs such as salaries and materials and
indirect costs including rent utilities
and administrative expenses thank you
um excuse me the gallery cannot
interrupt the council meeting is the
local law you cannot do that please
remain quiet Miss Diamond is not here um
is Nadia Moretti here hi Nadia um
Nadia's got two questions also given the
gross inadequacies of the child care
discussion paper and early service
report have Council has now been shown
the full model and breakdown of the
costs Mr
Saunders thanks Miss mered for your
question as part of the service review
councilors were provided with the
financial performance of each Center
including income expenditure utilization
rates deficits and expected future
deficits thank you m mored second
question is um which other Council
Services apart from Early Learning have
been subject to the same commercial
hurdles to be cost neutral or make a
profit um Mr
Saunders thank you m Meri for your
question the national competition policy
does not apply to all Council Services
only those that operate in a competitive
environment Council provides a broad
range of services for the community the
national competition policy requires
government businesses that compete in a
competitive market Marketplace like
child care services to compete on an
even footing with non-government
businesses this means council is
responsible for ensuring none of its
business activities that operate under
any advantage in competitive markets
such as the local Child Care Market
because of the benefit Council enjoys as
a level of government unless this would
compromise clearly stated public policy
objectives and would not be in the
public interest thank you um Anna Clark
still here
um Anna's got a couple of questions also
um Anna's first question is I'd like to
ask the councilors do you feel that
making a preliminary decision with zero
Community consultation prior is
appropriate and within the requirements
of good governance principles in the act
this has CommunityWide Ram ramifications
that all residents in this municipality
should be consulted about um Mr Saunders
would you start us off on that one
please thanks m Clark for your question
in order to comply with council's
Enterprise agreement it was necessary to
engage with affected staff and Council
was required to make a preliminary
decision under Section 46 of the Local
Government Act the CEO is also required
to consult members of council staff
affected by any proposed organizational
restructure before implementing the
restructure in the interest of good
governance principles out as outlined in
section 9 of the act and Community
engagement principles outlined in
section 56 of The Local Government Act
2020 this approach preliminary and final
decision supports Council to
meaningfully engage with affected
families and the broader Community by
being open and honest about council's
preliminary decision thank
you Anna's next question is what
consideration has been given to the fact
that if families are unable to Source
appropriate Child Care next year that it
will be women who will bear the brunt of
extra Child Care thereby negatively
impacting those women's careers and
ability to be financially independent Mr
Saunders thank you M Clark for your
question Council recognize the
importance of child care for families
especially working parents and Guardians
if a final decision to close the centres
is made we will help families find
Alternative Care that best suits their
needs our centres account for just 2% of
the
5,731 places available in the
municipality this means there is choice
and capacity so if Council does decide
to close the centres we have a high
degree of confidence that there is
sufficient supply of child care places
to meet current and future demand thank
you is Andrew buer of Marina
here thank you um is Lisa Perry of Cari
here Tom Moore of
kegi Deborah wildash of
Mara Robert breeda of
Marina he has to he has to be here for
us to answer them I'm sorry we will
answer them and he will get the answer
I'm next question thank
you is Maia Rosetto hi
Maia um has got two questions first
question um this Council has contravened
its obligations in section 9d and one
and I of the act by making an
unprecedented preliminary decision to
close our elc's with zero Community
consultation please explain how you
expect the public to feel confident that
this consultation is now genuine or
authentic Mr
Saunders thank you M moso for your
question and through you Mr mayor
council is required to put the
overarching governance principles set
out in section 9 of the Local Government
Act 2020 into practice including when it
made a preliminary decision about its
Early Learning centres it is council's
position that has given effect to the
overarching principles contained in
section nine of the ACT specifically
council's preliminary decision has
allowed Council to undertake a process
of consultation and engagement with
staff families and the community as
envisaged by section N9 of the act the
preliminary decision also allowed
information initially considered by
Council in a confidential meeting to be
made publicly available very soon after
that council meeting ensuring the
council was transparent about its
preliminary decision and the information
that informed the preliminary decision
as envisaged by section 9 of the ACT
council is satisfied that it has put the
overarching governance principles into
practice when making this preliminary
decision on this matter all feedback
received during the consultation process
will be genuinely considered by counc
thank
you second question from Maria is as the
municipality has been clearly misled by
the childcare discussion paper and early
Services report I wish to know when a
full cost breakdown will be available to
the community to help us understand the
financial model and drivers especially
to help us understand this Narrative of
elc's running at a loss despite all
human essential Services running at
losses Mr
Saunders thank you Miss Rosetto for your
question council's adopted 2023 2024
budget discloses the cost of this cost
to Council of
$570,000 each year this amount includes
revenue of 3.7 million expenses of 4.3
million of which 79% is attributable to
staff salaries the net cost to council
is
$57,000 the service review report
contained information that is commercial
Inc confidence Council has not made a
final decision regarding its three Early
Learning centres and remains operating
in a competitive Marketplace it is
anticipated this report will be public
publicly available by the end of the
week however information that is
considered commercial inconfidence will
be redacted from this report while our
Early Learning Center oper operate in a
commercial environment at the same time
um it cannot be said for other Council
services such as libraries Etc where
local government is the primary provider
of that
service and our last two questions Mr
Mayor are from Jane carslake of
callfield East Jan's still here yep um
your preliminary decision on the future
of early learning was made in camera
without any public scrutiny community
members your electors have no way of
knowing how you voted on this important
issue this lack of transparency is
inappropriate community members have a
right to know your position on this
issue will you commit to a transparent
vote for the the final vote on this
issue so your constituents know whether
you support the future of early learning
or not in advance of the council
election in
20124 Mr Saunders thanks Miss Carle for
your question yes the final decision
will be made at a special council
meeting to be held on the 12th of
December
2023 consideration of the agenda item
relating to council's final decision
will be open to the public thank
you I'm sorry question yester morning
and sorry two seconds let let me finish
the last question and then we'll yeah
um could could I just get your name so
that while I'm while we're dealing the
last question we can try see if we can
find
it2 okay great it's yes it's a question
32 great I I'll go to you next Esther it
is still here over the last few years
there have um this this is um Jane
kake's second question over the last few
years there have been various reports
looking into the security of the Early
Learning sector funding policy in the
areas of early learning has increasingly
been reliant on the not for-profit
sector with government subsidies
supporting service users as we've seen
with aged care this model does not
always lend itself to high quality care
or a secure model have Council has been
briefed on the value of having a
diversified Early Learning market and
the role that Council provided Services
have in ensuring security Supply and a
high quality service Benchmark Mr
Saunders thank you M carslake for your
second question the service review
examined the growth in local child care
services in the municipality and the
capacity to meet current and future
demand the review also included
information about the different types of
providers in glena and their quality
ratings of all child care centres in the
municipality additionally the service
review included an analysis of the
financial viability of council operated
Early Learning centres an analysis of
the opportunities and challenges
relating to the existing Child Care
infrastructure outline of council's role
and responsibility as a local government
and as a service provided in a
competitive market and finally an
assessment of possible options for
future Service delivery thank
you and now our last question is from
Esther Gori of Cari um in the glenara
council plan strategic Priority One
relates to well informed and transparent
decisions and highly valued Services can
Council plea can councilors please
respond to how the decision to close
three thriving and highly valued child
care centres with minimal notice and
suboptimal engagement addresses this
strategy in particular considering that
you have had no Community feedback as
confirmed by officers and councilors
supporting the proposed decision how
does the proposed decision align with
priority 1.2 and 1.3 to genuinely listen
to feedback and consider a broad base of
evidence prior to making decisions thank
you Mr
Saunders thank you Miss gor for your
question and through you Mr Mayor
operating at an average of 78% capacity
in
2022 23 enrollments at our centres are
declining while costs are increasing
Trends show no sign of this reversing
Council has made a preliminary decision
and is now Consulting with staff
impacted families and the wider
Community this feedback will be
considered prior to a final decision
being made later in the year and all
feedback will be genuinely considered by
Council the approach of announcing a
preliminary decision undertaking a 4-we
consultation process prior to making a
final decision supports transparent
decision- making and good engagement
practices the release of the detailed
discussion paper to the community
enables the community to be informed
about the option considered by Council
and how Council made made its
preliminary decision thank
you can I just double check that nobody
else that's in the gallery this evening
submitted a question in advance that
hasn't been read out no great we're
done you Council Zinger when you address
Council you address that through the May
what was your
question com
question
um oh and be I'll thank you yes you can
thank you um to all those who ask
questions and were here and to all those
who weren't here who asked
questions uh questions are able to be
asked up until 12: noon the day prior to
a ocm ordinary council meeting tonight
um because of the volume of material
that was uh sent as questions and this
is
uh meant to be no reflection on our
staff at all in fact the opposite it
wasn't until very very late this evening
that all councilors received responses
to the questions because not only do the
questions have to come in but they need
to be responded to each one carefully
and so uh and I speak for myself here
but I know that most councilors had no
prior opportunity uh to actually go
through the questions carefully or to be
able to uh we heard the answers as you
heard them tonight for the first time uh
and that's no reflection on our Council
staff it's just a sheer volume uh of the
input that came in uh therefore normally
some uh some of us might have had some
input into the questions and the
responses we will not do that if you are
not satisfied with your response please
ask again or answer a followup thank you
councel counc up to item four
confirmation of minutes of previous
meetings and meeting or meetings 4.1
is the the meetings of the ordinary
council meeting held on the 26th
September 2023 and the special council
meeting on the 3rd of October be
confirmed Council driver mover councilor
smood as
printed as printed Mr Mayor second for
that
motion Council parasol councilor smoo uh
thank you I think the minutes is
self-explanatory thank you councel par
thank you Miss
noie Miss noie do not interrupt our
council meeting you you know that
Council councilor good
night um Council parasol would you like
to add
no sorry we don't take questions from
the gallery at this point anyone wish to
speak against the motion any other
speakers on the motion
there no other speakers council is Mo
would you like to sum
up nothing look forward to
it um councils I put the motion all
those in
favor all those in favor that is carried
unanimously Council up to item five
reception and reading of petitions of
joint
letters we're going to do that okay
we'll do this one then we'll do uh
councilor mood as printed as printed uh
do I have a second for that
motion second for the motion for the
accept the
petition councel Paris canc moved uh
thank you Mr Mayor um I might use this
introduction to actually just
acknowledge all the people of parents
and children who've come tonight to
express their concerns um the petition
that we've received is about extending
the consultation period pertaining to
preliminary decision to close than our
Early Learning centres um and they've
requested that we amend the consultation
engagement period to end on a date at
Mid mid year next year 31st of July and
amend the final Council decision date to
be a date no earlier the 21st of August
2024 uh and C to commit to not close any
Early Learning centres on a date before
20 December 2024 that would be extending
an extra year um the recommendation from
oppos is we receive a note the petition
and then refer this petition to the
relevant officers consideration
including a detailed response to the
submitter thank you Mr thank you cancel
parel
we haven't made any decisions yet and
there's still time for the community to
consult and give us all the answers so
we can try and make a fully informed
decision thank you anyone wish to speak
against the
motion any other speakers on the
motion uh councilor smoo would you like
to sum
up uh thank you Mr Mayor um so I'm
assuming we'll have full support to
accept this petition I did just want to
remind our community members that there
are three ways that they can uh
encourage input into the community
engagement for this important decision
for our community one is the surveys
that you've received directly for
families of the child care centres the
second ways encouraging other family and
friends and community members to fill
out the community survey on child care
and thirdly we have a very important um
survey and consultation going on at the
moment is about our community our
futures which I would love to see all
160,000 uh members of our community fill
out because it's about weighing up um
what the community wants and I think
those are all three of them are very
important inputs for us um with this
decision thank you thank you and before
I put the motion I'll just make a
comment that we're receiving the
petition tonight the recommendation is
to receive and note the petition and to
refer this petition to the relevant
officer for consideration including a
detailed response to the
submits I put the motion all those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously item six is reports by
delegates appointed by Council to
various
organizations councilor smoo thank you
Mr Mayor before my um voice runs out I'd
like to report on uh attendance at the
municipal Association of Victoria State
council meeting on Friday go ahead may I
proceed excellent so uh twice a year
Council participates in uh process of
trying to advocate for a a range of
important issues for our community with
our fellow councils there are 79
councils in Victoria um so that the
representative body the MV uh can then
Advocate with uh for us and with us to
state government there are a couple of
uh key areas that I just wanted to
comment out briefly we heard from The
Honorable Melissa horn MP Minister for
local government who spoke about roads
climate change and financial
sustainability we then heard from the
president of alga which is the
Australian local government Association
so at the federal level um about federal
grants the Dreadful environmental um
situations happening in special funding
related to that and the applications
that councils can make for funding and
the advocacy they've done to increase
the amount of funding coming to councils
um for those who don't know while
councils provide over 25% of the
infrastruct services we receed less than
4% of the tax towards that um the last
speaker that I'll comment on is the MB
president's report counselor David Clark
um who also spoke about finances
Financial stability um the feedback on
operation sandon which has been in the
Press quite a bit in terms of um
concerns about corruption in one
particular local government and their
recommendations for all and talked about
a housing statement I'd like to finish
up talking about uh glena's motion that
we put which was Consolidated with
motion from City of Port philli I andan
that was very much about looking to have
the state victan government Advocate to
them to support councils and communes to
improve Community assets to underutilize
the land and meet broader Community open
space needs so really about
understanding that we need um higher P
minimum public open space requirements
um recognizing that as we have
increasing density in in our
particularly in our inner suburbs and
even in in some rural areas in Center um
people are losing their private open
spaces so we need to make sure people
have access to open space uh in order to
maintain their health and well-being um
we need to we've asked for um reforming
joint use agreements to provide greater
public access to public school grounds
outside school hours to increase access
to open space uh and ensuring greater
local government involvement in
Victorian government planning decisions
to identify new opportunities for open
space particularly as part of large
infrastructure process projects um and
I'm really pleased to uh share that that
uh there was 98% support from fellow
councils across the state um to support
this motion and uh the M will be
advocating to state government thank you
thank
you no other reports from
delegates Council there no other reports
from delegates I'd like to move a
procedural motion that we now change the
order of business to bring forward item
nine urging business to be heard at this
stage of the meeting do I have a second
for that motion Council
ROV all those in
favor that is carried unanimously do we
have any urgent
business councilor rcot do we have any
urgent
business yes Mr Mayor I have a item of
urgent business uh to deal with a motion
of condolence thank you councilors I
need to I'll move that we accept
councilor R C's motion of condolence to
be to be heard next um do I have a
second to for that councilor Smo all
those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously um urgent Business Council
rakov your
motion thank you Mr
Mayor my motion is that Council one
condemns the barbarous atrocities
perpetrated by the terrorist group Hamas
in Israel two expresses its deepest
condolences to the people of Israel the
family and friends of those slaughtered
and the innocent people of Gaza who are
under terrorist Rule and wishes a speedy
recovery to all those who were injured
and three writes to the following in
closing this motion and expressing our
condolences first the Israeli ambassador
to Australia second the executive
Council of Australian jury third the
Zionist Federation of Australia fourth
the Jewish Community Council of Victoria
and finally the Zionism Victoria and
four sends all thought prayers to our
Jewish community and to anyone else
impacted by the recent violence and
observes a minute silence immediately
after this motion is passed for all
innocent victims of the terrorist
attacks and the current War do I have a
second for that motion Council smooth
Council ROV would you like to speak to
that yes thank you Mr
Man under normal circumstances I would
say that Council should not be dealing
with International matters however these
are not normal
circumstances and as so many glena
residents have been directly affected by
the events I am addressing tonight it is
appropriate to make an exception on this
occasion I attended the peace rally at
corfield Park on Friday afternoon along
with you Mr Mayor councilor parisol and
councilor's mood where around about
5,000 people met in solidarity against
the heinous terrorist attacks in Israel
by the ter terrorist group
Hamas the premier denter Allen State
opposition leader John peso Mark draus
the federal attorney general and Senator
James Patterson Shadow Minister for home
Affairs and cyber security all attended
and all spoke passionately of their
support for Israel the only Democratic
country in the region and reinforced
their support for the Jewish people here
in Australia and for their safety
especially pertinent given the inci of
anti-Semitism being seen in recent
rallies in our streets
online and recently on our public
transport
system the barbarous atrocities and acts
of terrorism that occurred in Israel on
Saturday the 7th of October have left
the world stunned and many of us here in
the glenara community are Beyond and
without words it is inconceivable that
these terrorist attacks and the
barbarism scene could occur in any part
of the world let alone a modern
Progressive democracy like Israel this
is said to be the worst terrorist attack
since 911 in fact more Jews have been
murdered in these attacks than any other
single day since the Holocaust and it is
indeed reminiscent of the horrors in
Nazi Germany 84 years ago to which we
all say never again yet we are seeing it
again the graphic photos and videos of
the heinous acts committed by these
terrorists including the gruesome murder
and kidnapping of women children babies
and the elderly represent a barbarism
not seen for decades and which should
have no place in the modern world our
thoughts and prayers are with all the
peaceloving Israelis who may be Jewish
Christian Muslim a number of religions
of people living in Israel from austral
Australia or any other country our
prayers go out to the young Jewish
people who may still be in Israel at the
moment participating in the many
organized programs that are a right of
pass passage for school leaving students
many of whom have been able to return
home safely our community our country
and other countries must call this out
and stand up strongly and loudly against
terrorism I'll finish with a quote from
Albert Einstein who said quote the world
will not be destroyed by those who do
evil but by those who watch them without
doing
anything thank you councilor
smoo thank you Mr very I'd like to
reserve my right any Council wish to
speak against this
motion any other speakers on this motion
councilor
pinu thank you mayor m and thank you
councilor esakov for bringing this
motion to us um which I broadly support
well du support um and like everybody um
in who has uh seen what's been infold
unfolding in um Israel I've been
sickened and
horrified and um and and condemn the
actions of those people who have
murdered and taken people hostage in
Israel uh and I think every I think
everybody in the community has been
completely shocked to um see it
unfolding not only last weekend but as
the the week has
progressed so um I just wanted to say I
do support the motion I think we we
should because it is um as I said a
sickening and horrific event and um
unfortunately sadly and tragically we'll
be will go down in history as as as that
a horrifying and sickening turn of
events um and I feel very strongly for
everybody who's caught up in it and I
think the wording of of of the motion
put forward by councilor esakov um
includes the people of Gaza and anybody
who's been impacted by the current War
but however I would like to um to put
forward an amendment to the motion
what would that be the amendment to the
motion would be to add after point one
another point which would read that
Council point two is concerned about the
number of deaths injuries and
displacement of civilians in Gaza
because as I said this has been in
unfolding before us for a week the
latest figure I've seen of the number of
deaths in Gaza is about
2,800 um well I'll just have before we
go on we'll have to find out cuz you're
now starting to speak to yes I will stop
speaking
yeah I understand it's a friendly
Amendment but just so to be clear um
I'll put it to the Mover in the second
if they're going to ex ex um accept the
friendly Amendment First Council esof
mve and seconder no I don't accept Mr
Mayor uh two of the points are already
made in the points that I have said in
my motion and the other is against the
intent of this motion um well the Mover
hasn't accepted it so it won't be
accepted um would you like to speak to
the
motion well you have got other options
but I think I would like to move it as
an amendment to the motion okay do you
have a second for that councilor Zinger
councilor um P would you like to speak
to that now thank you mge
um as I said I'm just uh put wanting to
put this forward as as a an amendment to
the motion which I feel is in keeping
with the motion which um councilor esof
has put forward in which he mentions the
innocent people of Gaza and she mentions
the innocent victims of the current war
and think it I understand that uh
Council esakov doesn't feel as if it's
in keeping with the motion but I feel
that is in keeping with the motion and
that the following point three uh would
follow on naturally from from this point
and uh I also feel that it's important
that we acknowledge everybody who's
suffering um in this terrible situation
that's in folding in Israel and Gaza
thank you thank you councel
Zinger thank you mayor mgee I I would
have hoped that this would have been
acceptable to the move in second but let
me put on the record that the carefully
planned and deliberate Massacre of over
100 thou of over 1,000 in Innocents
including children the Aged and Festival
goers many with bodies disfigured or
decapitated is an Abomination which must
be met with our revulsion rejection and
reprobation to attempt apply
justification as some have done
rationale point of order Mr Mayor is uh
councilor zingia talking to the
amendment I was just about to um I'm
just getting advice on that Council you
have to can only speak on the amendment
at this point
oh um I will speak on the amendment
thank you very much councilor esakov
uh I think it's really important as
the um motion before us the substantive
motion actually
acknowledges uh that innocent people in
Gaza who are through no fault of their
own or maybe perhaps through some fault
of their own because they actually
elected the Hamas government uh but that
was a long time ago um most of the
people in Gaza are young people under
the age of 30 and uh they have not
voted uh they are under
a rule of a Islam fascist
misogynist
homophobic terrorist
organization and they their lives are
being destroyed at the same time Zing we
I don't believe we're actually talking
about the amendment anymore well I don't
believe you are if we could bring you
back to the Amendment the people in Gaza
are suffering and I think we need to
acknowledge the suffering of the people
of
Gaza um which uh my coun my my colleague
councilor pinu who says she's concerned
as I am and I would hope everyone about
the number of deaths injuries and
displacement of civilians in Gaza um are
everyone in around the world uh they we
all are extremely concerned about the
loss of all innocent civilian
lives and as councilor penu has said uh
in her introduction over 2,000 Innocents
have so far been killed many many more
will suffer under
deprivation um isolation lack of
medication lack of hospital care lack of
Medical Care lack of water lack of Clean
Water lack of medicine I hate to
interrupt you but I just like to point a
couple of procedural issues yeah we're
actually going to now vote on whether
the amendment is accepted if it is
accepted then we'll talk if it's not
then we'll be refering back to the the
original motion point of order Mr Mayor
I we all get an opportunity to speak to
the amendment that's been put this is
now a formal Amendment it's not a
friendly one no we um the amendment gets
put and a second speaks then we vote on
whether we accept it I'm sorry but that
is our meeting procedure excuse I get to
speak I get to speak against it if I
wish and others can speak on it as well
before the vote we are in a democracy
Excuse Me Miss
Noy the the meeting procedures that I'm
running under the what we the amendment
that's been made gets put a seconder
speaks the mve and the seconder speak to
it then it gets put whether it's
accepted to as a as an Al as a motion
and then we all can speak to it that is
our
procedure you got a question a question
yeah my understanding uh is and I'll get
to the question part of it is that um if
we do debate the this uh Amendment and
this amendment was to be successful it
becomes a substantive motion that we go
straight to another vote for correct so
that means that we need to be debating
it first so you have someone to speak
against it and others that wish to speak
to it and a vote to take to take place
and another vote to take place straight
afterwards so that is my reading of the
the procedure but I'm happy to uh be
misunderstood on that or for it to be
rectified if you can just explain it to
us all that would be awesome
counil I will
explain yes we can all speak on a
a an alternative motion or a a um a
what's the word I'm looking for an
amendment um the chair does have the
discretion
to after the move in the second have
spoke to to put to it to the vote um
given the sensitivity around the issue
tonight I'll reverse that decision I
won't be doing that so when Council
Zinger has finished I will then call for
those who wish to speak against it but I
do have the right as the chair to put it
to the vote cancel Zinger have you
finished yeah chrisan
yeah I just want to ask if if it gets
supported and someone doesn't speak up
now and the vote's taken does that mean
there's no chance to speak up if it
fails we're going back to the original
motion and if it's supported if it is
supported and it is supported then we'll
directly go and vote on the that will
accept the motion we will then
immediately put the um so anyone who
wants to speak should speak now before
the vote on the amendment very good idea
thank you C
Zinger thank you it's been very
difficult with all these Interruption to
actually remember what I was saying but
uh I was talking
about uh I think the need to
acknowledge the humanity of all the
people involved in this horrendous
situation especially those who have not
chosen uh to be where they are at this
moment of time and that is uh the
innocent civilians who
are and have been in Gaza some since
1948 um and have been born there since
they were expelled from their homes
um I believe that we as a Council need
to reach out to all our communities as
councilor esakov does uh in uh the
second paragraph where uh it
acknowledges the innocent people of Gaza
who are under terrorist um Rule and she
very kindly uh accepted my suggestion to
send thoughts and prayers to our Jewish
community and to everyone else anyone
else impacted by the recent
violence and because there are
Palestinians and people of senior
descent who live
in glenira who live in Melbourne who are
deeply impacted by these events um and
our thoughts and prayers should go to
them as well as our wonderful Jewish
Community thank you anyone wish to speak
against this motion councilor ROV yes
thank you Mr Mayor I do speak against
this this motion was a motion uh to of
condolence and it was in relation to and
in response to to a terrorist attack on
the 7th of October not the war that has
subsequently occurred this is all about
the terrorist attacks on the 7th of
October and to start talking about war
strategies which this motion seeks to do
I think that is an area that we
completely stay out
of thank you any other speakers on this
motion councilor thanop um
firstly I might just start by saying I
totally get the sentiment of the
amendment that's been put forward to us
um and considering I think the mayor is
going to try to keep us on the amendment
itself um I'll speak a little bit about
it and just to say that uh my my heart
absolutely goes out to any civilian um
that is impacted that said I'd like to
have a broader conversation and
therefore I don't think I can actually
support this amend Amendment because it
actually won't allow us to do so because
we're meant to be just talking about the
amendment so um I'm hoping that others
would agree with this position not that
I'm completely against the sentiment
that both Council Zinga and Council pinu
want to bring forward tonight but just
that uh in reference to what council OV
said about the purpose of this um urgent
uh business motion and condolence motion
uh will allow us to actually have full
uh range of conversation
uh should we vote against this amendment
Rebecca thank you any other
speakers if there are no other speakers
councilor penu is there something you'd
like to say before we put this to the
vote nothing further to add thank you
mayor we're now voting on the amendment
all those in
favor those
against amendment has lapsed um and we
revert back to the original suent of
motion councilor isakov has spoken just
record the record is uh councilor McGee
councilor thanopoulos councilor Cade
councilor ESO Council parasol councilor
smoo councilor McGee in in uh against
Council panu councilor Zinger in favor
of the
amendment um the item
itself oh on councel on the on the
screen on the reverting back to the
original motion we have councilor resof
spoken councilor smoo has reserved her
right counselor penu has put a motion so
you can now you can still speak on the
motion as can counselor so councilors
anyone wish to speak against this
motion any other speakers on the motion
on the motion councilor Z
thank you mayor thank you councilor
esakov for bringing this to our
attention and you weren't the only one
of course who wanted to bring a motion
of condolence here uh as I was saying
before the carefully planned and
deliberate Massacre of over 1,000
Innocents including children the Aged
and Festival goers many with bodies
disfigured or decapitated is an
Abomination which must be met with utter
revulsion rejection and and
reprobation to attempt to apply
justification as some people have done
in the media and
online rationale or Nuance to such an
Abomination itself isn't abominable and
must be met with revulsion rejection and
reprobation to see some people actually
celebrating such an Abomination is
itself abominal and it unfortunately has
happened and must be met with utter
revulsion and reprobation
and I want to call it out to celebrate
to rationalize to justify or lend Nuance
to this massacre of Jewish people when M
would do not do so with other peoples
must be decried for what it is as
anti-Semitism and must be utterly
rejected I therefore urge all councilors
to vote for this so we can have a minute
in
silence any other speakers on the motion
councilor
Cade
thank you may M um the last 11 days have
been a difficult time for the people in
the vtown region and the millions around
the world as well people are in shock
and in dismay at uh the utter Terror
that has fallen upon the people in this
region the terrorist attacks are brutal
and cannot be condoned it's a tragedy
for the innocent people in Israel and
Gaza and I sincerely hope that both
sides find a way to a peaceful
resolution thank you any other
speakers
counc
parisol thank you mayor M um firstly
I'll just like to say how eloquently
Margaret eov counselor Margaret eov has
put this motion it's with a lot of deep
thought um Point number two expresses
its deepest condolence to the people of
Israel the families and friends of those
slaughtered and the innocent people of
Gaza who are under terrorist Rule and
wishes a speedy recovery to all those
who were injured this uh motion I
believe also covers the fact that our
city is a city of Multicultural thoughts
and people so I think marg's covered
everything there um I can personally say
that uh I I know plenty of people that
have been affected personally and
obviously the whole community and the
support that has been given to our
Jewish Community has been amazing I
think Mr the president of the zis and
victorios goab referred to that later
and our Council itself has been
wonderful in all the support it's given
to the people and to the community and
it does so for all parts of the
community always so thank you to our CEO
to the mayor the officers staff and all
the
councilors let's be clear the terrorist
attack on the 7th of October was AOL
revolting Abomination disgusting any
other words we can think of on innocent
people with no
pre-warning and created the most deaths
of Jewish people on one day since the
Holocaust in the
1940s
so I really appreciate the support from
all councilors to pass this motion again
thank Margaret eov for bringing it to
our attention and any other councilors
I'm sure would have done the same thing
um so I support this motion
wholeheartedly and we wish all the
community whatever religion you are to
only have peace and may everything
settle very quickly in the Middle East
thank you thank you councel
thops uh thanks
me um it's probably really difficult
must be much more difficult for other
people to speak on this issue to be
honest but um
uh I um when my dad passed away I didn't
really shed a tear but um since the 7th
of October I've shed many um because my
heart breaks for innocent
people
um any innocent life that's taken for
any reason
whatsoever um especially when it's a
terrorist unit organization Group
whatever you want to call it individual
I don't care
really um is is just something that I
cannot accept and live
with um but we all actually have to live
with it unfortunately um the only way is
to keep calling it out to keep uh
ensuring that we support uh those that
aren't like this ultimately that we
continue to support the people that find
themselves in a
situation where they are part of the
persecuted as well because of those
organizations um and work hard to try to
achieve peace um
my
uh my deepest sympathies concern love
and affection are to obviously our
Jewish and Israeli um friends in the
city of glena and obviously any of those
uh that also have people that are in the
Gaza Strip and are currently suffering
and um I appreciate Council ESO for
bringing forward this motion and for
offering it uh the way it is and um I
just wish uh for peace to come over us
very soon
thank you anyone else wish to speak on
the motion councilor
smoo um can I ask for an extension now
Mr May why don't you go for a while and
then I'll but in and offer it if I think
it's
needed councilors um just one moment
councilors um councilor Smo does have a
uh a a fair bit to say I'll move now
that we give councilor mood an extra
three minutes all those in favor Council
smoo we'll start off with you for six
minutes thank you Mr Mayor first of all
I want to thank Council esof for um
raising this urgent motion I think it's
really important that as a community uh
we stand up for what's right which is
treating human beings like human beings
not slaughtering them in their beds I
want to start out and I've posted a lot
of this on my Council Facebook page but
I think it's really important that it
goes on record my heart goes out to all
those whose loved ones were slaughtered
or kidnapped hostages in Israel in the
recent terrorist attacks I hope that all
those kidnapped will return quickly and
safely I hope those that have been
injured will recover fully though the
body might heal quicker than the
mind I hope that the ugly head of
anti-Semitism will not re of its ugly
head to attack Jews around the world
outside Israel unfortunately we're
already seeing that happen I hope that
Israel can find a path to
peace my heart goes out to the Past
civilians in Gaza who are also victims
of H us they bear the brunt of Being
Human shields for these Fanatics who are
just like Isis if not
worse unfortunately I think things will
get worse before things get better I
wish there was a simple path to peace
and safety for
everyone I thank all those who reached
out to check on me and my family even if
you haven't known what to say every
message has made me feel cared about and
supported I thank the Australian leaders
who have spoken up against Hamas
terrorism and have said that Israel has
the right to defend its citizens who
have promised to keep the Jewish people
in a is
safe I know at the moment that I am not
my normal self I'm taking longer to get
things done to respond to emails but
that is nothing compared to what the
people in Israel are going through that
is nothing compared to what many others
are feeling around the world who are
grappling with the reality of the murder
or Abduction of Life ones I'm sharing my
personal Reflections today to help the
people in our community better
understand the situation of their or
Jewish Neighbors in glenara at the
moment and I know I am a lucky one
glenara has the largest Jewish community
in Melbourne in Victoria and in
Australia I think it's really important
for the wider Australian Community to
understand that not all Jewish people
are Israeli and not all Israeli people
are Jewish within Israel there are
Israeli Arabs there are Israeli
Christians there are Armenians there are
people of the bar High faith it is a
very very mixed country but many people
living in glenira and Australia have
family or friends or know someone or
know someone who knows someone that was
directly or indirectly impacted by what
happened Saturday week ago I also have a
strong connection to the land of Israel
going back hundreds of years but I'll
just refer to the 1800s when my great
great grandfather moved from Australia
to Israel and set up a soup kitchen Age
Care home to help people in need now my
connection continues with the modern
state of Israel my daughter lives in Tel
Aviv my son's best mate whom I call my
second son just started was moved there
to start his Graduate Studies in Tel
Aviv my older brother lives in nessana
which is south of Tel Aviv and around 50
km Northeast of Gaza my younger brother
lives in Jerusalem which is usually has
less threats from unguided rocket
strikes than Tel Aviv but it's still
they've still had to retreat many times
as the signs have gone off my aunt lives
in kibot sad only 3 km from Gaza my
cousins live in different towns all over
Israel world might fail me tonight with
the horror of what I feel the chaotic
thoughts and crushing feelings of the
last week and a half last Saturday the
7th of October my world stopped and I
couldn't breathe for hours hoping to
hear from family and friends that they
were
alive 7th of October
7:45 I heard from someone that there was
news of a rocket barash from Gaz into
Israel and attacks on a k sing in the
town's near the border my first thoughts
went to our
daughter who often goes and stays with
my aunt on K side which is is only 3 and
1/2 km from
Gaza where did my daughter go for the
festival she often goes to stay with my
aunt as do my brothers as do my cousins
I think she's planned to stay in Tel
Aviv but plans can change and because of
the time zone differences I may not have
been told we're my brothers okay I
watched my mom crying and she couldn't
stop crying as we waited to hear news
the stories kept filtering in from other
people the massacres of civilians in
their homes babies children women men
the elderly whole families even a
holocaust surviv
kidnapped the slaughter of young people
dancing in a music festival for peace
the kidnapping of people to use as
hostages the brutality and the
destruction I first heard the news at
7:45 3 and 1/2 hours later at 11:18 p.m.
I heard that my daughter was safe my
auntie had gone to one of her children's
and she was safe and my second son was
safe another 5 minutes later I heard
that my cousins were safe 6 hours later
I heard that my brother and his family
and Nana was safe 8 hours later my
brother and his family in Jerusalem are
safe at 3:17 a.m. in the morning I heard
that kot s my family's Keo wasn't in
filtrated there was an attempt and some
people were injured later my auntie told
my mom you almost didn't have a
sister people need to understand Israeli
towns nether border with Gaza are mainly
agricultural sediments they're just
towns many of those people are people
that actually believe in peace and want
peace and support whenever they can the
humanitarian rights of Palestinians
living in Gaza whenever I visit Israel I
drive past them to visit my auntie at
sad the very road that the terrorists
talk I have so many beautiful childhood
memories and adult memories of the
generosity and smiling faces of people
on the kots of the beautiful gardens
created and tended by kot's residents of
the cactus garden near the front gate of
my auntie's house which is only 50 m
from the front gate in the last
week when going through documents found
on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by
Israeli First Responders and shared on a
couple of different news channels
they've found detailed maps and plans
that show how Hamas attended to kill or
take hostages civilians and school
children on my family's kboards I got
lucky because the kboards managed to
defend itself but karaza which is right
next door diagonally opposite on the
intersection they didn't get lucky and
it was just just terrible two combat
units were sent to my family's keyboards
the instructions translated for Arabic
will kill as many people as possible
capture hostages contain the new dart
School search the banaya Kiba Youth
Center search the Old Dart School
identify the dental office the
supermarket the dining hall other incl
orders included surrounding the dining
hall the har and holding hostages in it
what I want people to understand is this
is what people in our community are
going through I know I got lucky but
every every day I speak to my daughter
multiple times my brothers because my
daughter sends me photos when she's
waiting when Rockets are coming overhead
they're not guided Rockets so sometimes
the iron D misses them her building
doesn't have a safe room she has to hide
in the stairs of the building and just
hope that her building doesn't get hit a
house has been destroyed in my brother's
town of messana buildings have been
destroyed or damaged in Tel Aviv the
ongoing Terror of raining rockets on
Innocents living in cities is is ongoing
I haven't slept properly since the 7th
of October I wake up at 2:00 I wake up
at 3:00 I wake up at 4:00 and check in
with my family members to see if they're
okay and I'm one of the lucky ones some
people are bearing their children their
parents their brothers their sisters
some people are anxiously waiting for
the hostages to come home and I think
it's really important when people in our
community and the broader Australian
community speak to whether they're
Jewish people or Israeli people to try
and understand the horror the fear and
the just the sickness the twisting
feeling in the stomach because we all
want this to end and we want peace and
it just never seems to happen and it's
like Groundhog Day this just keeps on
happening again but it just gets worse
and worse no we're in any where did I
imagine that anything so horrible as the
murdering of people in their beds and
decapitating babies would ever ever
happen in the world that we live in in
2023 thank you
Mr councilor smood I'm so
sorry councilor is
Young thanks M mayor um I also wanted to
express my deepest cond condolences to
the um Israel people and our local
Jewish Community as well as all the
innocent um victims of the terrorist
attacks and the current War um yeah my
heartbreaks for the experience
councilors mode has shared every
innocent person family deserves safety
and peace let's pray for peace thank you
thank you I think that everyone else has
spoken I think it goes without saying
this is probably one of the biggest
challenges our Council and our community
have faced in a very very long time but
clearly it's times like this where our
community comes together and we're
seeing that every day we saw that on
Friday we saw that today at Parliament
we're seeing that every afternoon and
we're getting so many um messages of
support I'll make a statement on behalf
of myself and myself as the
mayor tonight and always we stand with
our Jewish community in condemning the
horrific unprovoked and sickening
attacks we see against Israel do I have
a te
I please have a
t-shirt lar is proudly Melbourne's
cultural home of the Jewish
Community the events we are seeing in
Israel are both deadly and
heartbreaking I can only imagine the
challenging time this is for our Jewish
community and our Jewish councilors who
have heard from
tonight we've already seen so many
thousands so many thousands impacted by
the
attacks lives lost livelihoods destroyed
families torn apart and mourning lost
and mourning their loss countless people
injured we've also seen reports of
Australian lives that have been lost in
the conflict as well this violence is
senseless
at Council we our Focus remains on
supporting and strengthening our already
strong ties with the Jewish
Community this is a safe and inclusive
community we will always Stamp Out
anti-Semitism and celebrate the rich
diversity that makes glenara a great
place to live work and
visit when I was reelected as mayor in
November
I said right in this chamber I said one
of my biggest highlights has been seeing
this Council adopt the international
Holocaust remembrance Alliance of
definition of
anti-semitism adopting the IR definition
was a very significant moment for
Council and it strengthened our
relationship with our Jewish
Community it was a moment where we
reaffirm that glenara is a city where
everyone is welcome and hatred has has
no
place in March we saw the horrific
displays of hatred bigotry and
intolerance from neo- Nazis outside the
stage Parliament I gave a a public
statement where I said types of
prejudice should not exist in our
community or our
state we called on the Victorian
government to strengthen its anti-de
discrimination laws and immediately Bann
the Nazi salute and condemn it
represents thankfully in June the V
Victoria became the first Australian
state or territory to do so and may we
open the Israeli 75 Peace Garden on the
edge of the Town Hall Precinct it
acknowledges the historic bond between
the people of Israel and the people of
glenara and tonight we reaffirm that
Bond We Stand United with our Jewish
community in condemning the attacks and
mourning the loss of life
we hope for a speedy recovery from those
injured and the safe return the Speedy
return of those taken
captive Israel has always been the home
of the Jewish people and always will be
y Israel
hi councilor councilor isov would you
like to sum
up I would thank you Mr
Mayor this morning I was talking to to a
carer that was at a Cara's week event
that Council held this morning she had
cared or has cared for her daughter for
21 years 24/7
job we just happen to be chatting about
all sorts of things that are going on in
the world this came up this act of
terrorism came up and she happened to
mention that in her
congregation there are are two people
that she knows of that have 10 and six
people respectively relatives who have
been taken hostage in Israel by the
terrorists so as much as we all want
peace in Israel and we've heard that
around the table tonight just like to
quote the fourth prime minister of
Israel golden mayia who
said it's a wonderful quote and how it
is she said Peace will come when the
Arabs love their children more than they
hate
us I'd like to see that one
day but to close I'm going to paraphrase
a quote from the noed Democracy Advocate
Noah tishi who
said despite perceptions that Israel is
a complex country it is actually quite
simple it is a simple country in that it
is a democracy it is a simple country in
that it believes in freedom of speech it
is a simple country in that it has a
fair and independent Judiciary it is a
simple country in that it has regular
elections and that all citizens Jewish
and Arab and
others are entitled to vote it is a
simple country in that members of the
lgtbiq Plus Community are permitted to
live free without fear of
persecution I ask that we take a minute
silence as I said earlier in my motion
to remember and mourn the innocent
people that have been
slaughtered and thank you all for your
support council is up with the motion
all those in
favor that motion is carried can we now
please stand for a minut
silence
for
thank you
Council up to item seven reports from
committees and records of
assembly I see we have the grants
Community
grants um minutes of the 12th September
and the Multicultural from the 13th
September councils do have a
motion Council penu has
printed do I have a second for that
motion
second for the motion councel thopas
councel penic
here thank
you thank you m McGee um I just want to
speak to the community
grants um minutes of the 12 meeting on
12th of September in which we considered
two variations two Community grants from
the marona junior football club and a
glena Adult Learning Center and uh on
this particular meeting we uh supported
five youth Excellence grants for Lea
Bloom who attended the Ocea Oceana
weightlifting competition in AP Samoa
Rosie O'Brien who attended the youth
volleyball national competition in
vendigo West Iselle Davey who attended
the chai series swim meet in Hastings
New Zealand tan Stewart who attended the
the Australian karate national
championships in jmont Western Australia
and Braden Fisher who also attended the
Australian youth volleyball competition
in Bendigo West there were also three
facility High grants and two small
grants again for the glena ad Learning
Center and for the Godfrey Street
Community House thank you thank you
Council
thanop any we speak against the
motion
yes C councilor J was going to
speak
sorry we've lost the S oh cancel J you
just come back
cancel I'm not against I'm just speaking
to yeah you can you can speak to the
motion if you like okay thanks Mr Mayor
uh I'd like to speak to the September
Multicultural anniversary committee
meeting that I chaed and Council Zinga
also attended uh it was a very
productive meeting we received a
presentation on the Victoria University
consultation anti- racious strategy from
Dr Frank bong and another presentation
on The Voice to the to Parliament from
our oper Reginal Community officer Grant
Lee we also discussed counil
Communications engagement and advocacy
including the current our priorities our
future consultation the most exciting
outcome is is that we endorsed the two
hold a multicultural form in November to
further enhance our Multicultural and
anti-discrimination I'm looking forward
to this form thank you m mayor thank you
and just for those who are wondering we
lost sight of councilor Jang but we
actually had councilor Jang on the
laptop the whole
time um any other
speakers if there are no other speakers
councilor
pinu nothing to add thank you therefore
put the motion all those in
favor MO is carried
unanimously 7.2 records of sorry before
I do8 uh 7.2 Council I move a motion
that we extend the meeting to 11: p.m.
seconded councilor smoo all those in
favor all those in favor thank you
councilor singer that motion is carried
uh item 7.2 records of assembly and we
have the records of assembly of the 12th
of September the 19th of September and
the pre meeting of the 26th of September
council do I have a
motion Council
penic as
printed as second for that
motion cancor K councilor
penq nothing to add thank you nothing to
add councilor um
Cade nothing to
add anyone wish to speak against the
motion any other speakers on the motion
there's no other speakers on the motion
Council peny would you like to add
anything to what you said before no I
therefore put the motion all those in
favor the motion is carried
unanimously item eight is Officer
reports as listed
um8 8.1 which is the glena city council
2022 23 annual report councils I will
move
that as printed do I have a second to
for that counselor
C our annual report is for the financial
year ending 30 June 2023 this report
helps us to be accountable to our
community for how we manage public funds
and resources during the year to provide
the Val a valued community services and
implement the glenara council plan for
2021 to 20
2 in the annual report it reflects on
our major um achievements as well as how
we uh responded to ongoing challenges
this year we set ourselves a target of
48 actions we achieved 35 and are
actively working on the remaining 13 the
council plan guides our priorities
ensuring the delivery of quality
services and infrastructure that helps
to ensure that glenara remains such a
great place to live work and do business
last year Council adopted its first ever
advocacy
policy and endorsed a set of uh priority
advocacy projects over the past 12
months we advocated for Key Community
projects that need the support of state
and federal funding to get them moving
these included the carigi memorial
swimming pool where we received $15
million in federal funding in the
October federal budget we also did well
in the May state budget with $3.5
Million worth of election commitments
secured this includes 3 million for the
Redevelopment of The Pavilions at Macky
Road Reserve $500,000 to upgrade
lighting at kunang Park and Lords
Reserve Cari we also partner with our
with other councils and Peak bodies to
advocate for the local government sector
on issues from Financial sustainability
and cost shifting to climate advocacy
and planning reforms working closely
with our community is how we achieved
the goals our community set in the
glenara 2040 Community Vision our
residents have told us what genuine
engagement builds through genuine
engagement it builds trust as we plan
for the future in the past year we
connected with our community on 22
different projects we did did this
through a range of ways like feedback
sessions surveys through our advocacy
committees this year we collaborated and
established our first ever Multicultural
advisory committee this committee
represents our diverse cultural ethnic
linguistic and Faith communities while
enhancing our engagement with those
first whose first language is not
English this inclusive approach has
provided a valuable insight and
strengthened our decision-making
process this year we completed our
Redevelopment of the Lord's Reserve
Pavilion it now provides accessible
gender inclusive facilities and is home
to the glenara Jr soccer club and the
Cari South Cricket Club during this year
we acquired four Parcels of land located
in ases Avenue carnegi Oak Dean CR and
carnegi in line with council's open
space Space strategy the purchases of
these properties will extend active
Recreation for our community we will
also also enhance the play area at
princess Park Cofield South and and
transform the Bentley East um E Street
into a vibrant public space our most
ambitious project ever got underway with
the Redevelopment of the carnegi
memorial springing pool the pool is a
community icon it Redevelopment is an
integral part an integral
intergenerational investment that will
bring recreational economic and
well-being benefits to our community for
years to come once opened it will be one
of the most environmentally sustainable
pools in the world and I'll have more to
say after at the at the end when I sum
up counselor Cade would you like to
add thank you uh M mgee for a very
comprehensive uh overview um I can say
this is an excellent annual report
covering what council has done over the
past year um provides a lot of
interesting information uh for the
community um it demonstrates our
commitment to deliver on our council
plan and respond to the Community Vision
of Glen AA it sets out what has been
achieved and provides anyone reading it
with a snapshot of the role Council role
of council the outcomes of the work
undertaken the projects that are running
as well as information about the city
its people the organization the services
Council provides an overview of the
finances strategies plans and policies
to name but a
few
the report is also available online for
anyone who likes to read this report and
I encourage the community to do so Glenn
IRA has a history of winning awards for
its annual reports and I think this
report is award worthy too I would like
to thank all the officers and their team
who was who are who have been involved
in preparing this report it's a
challenging task and I commend you for a
job well done and support the
recommendation thank you anyone wish to
speak against this motion any other
speakers on the
motion council's
smood thank you Mr Mayor um I just want
to speak briefly to the finances um we
budgeted for almost 2 million operating
Surplus and ended up with um close to 16
million so um that variance of almost 14
million um was because we actually
couldn't for well we achieved more
grants and things than we' expected but
we also couldn't spend the money that
we'd plan to on a number of things that
are important to our community for a
range of reasons um such as uh
contractors or materials not being
available all the information isn't
available in the report and I think it's
just really important that when we don't
spend that money it means things aren't
necessarily being maintained or upgraded
to schedule so it's not that all of a
sudden we have lots more money it's just
that we haven't been able to do what we'
planned to do thank you Mr M thank you
any other
speakers there's no other
speakers I'll just sum up with a few
more little um comments glenara is just
10 km from the
CBD with easy access to public transport
and activity centres it is an attractive
place to live and work our population is
growing and our households are becoming
more diverse so we need to have a
variety of residential dwellings that
meet the community's needs to
accommodate this future growth we
adopted our housing strategy in November
um last year we've also continued to
work on our structure plan program which
ensures we get our City's future
development and land use right our goal
is to secure permanent planning controls
for propos for proposed amending to
amendments to the planning scheme we
adopted carnegi and corfield structure
plans and in 20 2022 and I busy drafting
planning controls for the amendments we
must balance planning for growth with
our focus on Heritage and open space we
increased our open space Levy for
developments from 5.7 to
8.3% we also implemented the Heritage
overlay um to two precincts and a number
of individual properties in stawick
looking forward we adopted our um
placemaking strategy in May to guide us
as we work closely with the community to
create attractive resilient Brant active
centres that meets our needs we also
introduced Street design guidelines
earlier this year this work is all about
building a vibrant and sustainable
future for for glenara and we're excited
about these possibilities in relation to
climate climate emergencies we endorsed
our glenara circular economy plan as
part of our commitment to The Climate
emergency onto this new plan we are
focusing on extending the life of
materials this includes using recycled
materials on major projects and
supporting the community to reduce waste
we also want new developments to have a
lower environmental Footprints this will
create healthier homes and workplaces
and lower energy bills and on finances
this year we have spent 57 million on
Capital Works investing in facilities
and assets that make glenar the great
place to live work and visit our
liquidity ratio sits at
124% which means means that for now we
can pay our expenses and our debts all
our Revenue goes towards delivering
valued community services and building
and maintaining Community
infrastructure councilors that is my
summing up I'll now put the motion to
the vote all those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously item 8.2 quarterly service
performance reports councilor do I
councilor Kate has printed
yes do I have a second councilor RIS
councilor
K so uh this report uh provides our
residents uh with information about
Council performance uh between the
period the 1st of April to 30th June
2023 um and sets out the progress on uh
strategic initiatives uh outlined in the
council plan as well as the
achievements um each year uh state by
Statewide Community satisfaction surveys
conducted throughout Victorian local
government areas and U the survey shows
that on average Glenn Ira continues to
perform better in all service areas
compared to Statewide results areas
where we are performing best are through
our libraries our art centres um
recreational facilities and public
areas highlights of the quarter are was
the purchase of three properties in
carnegi to be developed into open space
um the advocacy on social and affordable
housing and community events uh where uh
we had U the community and school
planting days uh which were well
received uh by and attended by the
community and saw active
participation um and I'm U happy to
support the recommendation thank you
caner
ROV thank you Mr Mayor I think Council
K's covered a lot but I'll just
emphasize the purchase of the three
properties you know Dan Cresent uh in
carnegi which will be developed into an
open space in the
future uh there's probably few of the
things that I had that I wanted to talk
about that she may have already
mentioned I'm not sure that she
mentioned this one though but I thought
it was worthy ever a mention when we
partnered with the Brotherhood of St
Lawrence did
you good good
uh to deliver or bring your bills day
back in April which assisted people on
low incomes to understand their bills
and access information on concessions
and other support and obtain energy
saving advice I reckon that would go
down well with the whole Community not
just the low the lowest income Community
because I think everyone needs to know
those things I think that's a terrific
initiative um and outside of that I
think Council Kate's mostly covered it
but thank you
anyone wish to speak against this
motion any other speakers on the
motion there no other speakers Council C
would you like to sum up nothing to add
thank I'll put the motion all those in
favor motion is carried unanimously 8.3
is the inclusion of four trees into the
classified tree register Council smoo as
printed as printed second for that
motion cancel parasol cancer
Smoot thank you Mr Mayor we have four
trees here with got 231 on the register
assuming there support for the four
tonight it takes us 235 all four of
these trees were on private land two of
them uh were residential blocks two of
them were on the Oakley Anglican Church
previously known as St Mary's Anglican
Church um three of them are exotic trees
a liquid Amber a cork oak and strawberry
tree and one is native spotted gum they
range in height from 30 m to 23 M so in
terms of height not the tallest trees
you found but range uh in age from 35
plus years to 120 years I'd particularly
like to note uh the cork oak uh located
on the church grounds which is the 20 M
and 120 years old it's also got a canopy
width of 24 M it is the largest cork oak
in Victoria and one of the oldest in
Victoria um and is recognized by both
the National Trust And The Heritage
Victoria so it would be really pleasing
to have it on our register thank you
thank you councel parasol nothing to add
thank you anyone wish to speak against
the motion any other speakers on the
motion
there no other speakers councilor smoo
would like to sum up nothing to add
thank you put the motion all those in
favor motion is carried
unanimously 8.4 is domestic animal
management plan for 20 2023 annual
review Council dve motion councilor esof
has printed yes
Mr second for that motion councilor smoo
councilor
esof thank you Mr Mayor uh this report
is presenting the annual review of the
achievement of actions for the 2023
period uh contained in our domestic
animal management plan that runs from
2022 to
2026 uh we adopted that back in
2021 the plan is the foundation for
council's animal Management Service and
enables officers to focus their
activities depending on what the current
demands might be the tables in the
report uh reflect those actions that
were deemed ongoing or planned for the
second year of the plan and other
actions completed pre in previous years
are not included the tables um in the
report cover the listed actions for year
two some of which are ongoing and
include training of authorized offices
which have been have been completed
other than new appointments uh
registration on and identification
activities where all by one are
completed with one still in progress the
nuisance activities are all completed
the dog attack initiatives or sorry
activities two are completed two are in
progress declared dogs is completed
overpopulation and high euthanasia rates
uh has had an internal process review
completed and the domestic animal
businesses as completed this report once
endorsed needs to be sent off to the
Secretary of the Department of job
skills industry and regions as as is
required thank you thank you councilor
smood uh thank you Council OV I have
nothing further to add anyone wish to
speak against the motion any other
speakers on the
motion if there are no other speakers
councel rof nothing to add put the
motion all those in
favor motion is carried
unanimously 8.5 Council gambling
submission to the Victorian government
council's to have a motion Council
Zinger is printed
second for that
motion councel pentu councel
Zinger thank you mayor thank you
councilors as
council's uh representative on the local
government uh Alliance gambling
reform
uh I submitted a draft report uh to that
committee who accepted it with uh
uh this pleasure I think it's it's a
salutary report because when we read the
statistics in there uh we understand the
harm that gambling is doing to our
community uh while we are not the worst
loser in Metro Melbourne we are just
around the average it means that of the
people who do use electronic gaming
machines and it's a misappropriate name
they're actually gambling machines so
electronic gambling machines or loss
machines because no one wins except for
the owners of the machines um $51
million was lost by our residents in the
last 12 months and that's 4.2% of their
income 4.2% of their
income uh our Vues are on average
larger uh than the uh average gaming or
gambling venue uh most of them are in
hotels and or
clubs I'm pleased to say that none I
understand of our uh clubs uh that we
support our community clubs that we
support through grants and and use of
our facilities uh except any money from
these gaming gambling facilities because
if they did they would not be able to
receive any Community grants from us
because it would be contrary to our
policies
um I think this is an important uh first
step and I'm thrilled that our officers
have given their time and effort into
the preparation of this report which I
which uh I appreciate which our
residents will appreciate to reduce the
harm by advocating for a minimum uh
betting card which is a terribly small
step to eradicating the
shocking Misfortune it is to be a
gambling addict thank you thank you
Council
PUK uh thank you um May m and thank you
Council Zinger for your remarks I just
thought I'd add a couple of other things
um The Scourge that the gamble that
gambling has become in our community is
only really about 30 years old PRI of
that we didn't really have much gambling
in terms of electronic gambling um
really it was confined to poker machines
in New South Wales sporting clubs um but
now it's certainly taken and um taken
rote in Victoria in particular and there
are other parts of the country um such
as Western Australia where it hasn't
necessarily done that but one of the
things I think Australians don't really
realize is uh that we have the highest
rate of gambling losses in the
world that we have massive
casinos um people don't people think of
places like Las Vegas and think oh well
the casinos there must be really big but
they're not not the casinos in Australia
are bigger they have more G gambling
machines they have faster gambling
machines that is they they turn faster
and take people's money
faster um and as the paper says it's a
major public health issue and has
profound impacts on young people and on
families and on businesses um the
tentacles are everywhere and I I just
say make these these points because I
think Australians don't necessarily
realize how bad it is here um state
governments are very reliant on gambling
taxes um I think I mentioned once before
New Zealand has introduced a policy
where it's step bystep stepping that
back so that every year it's
taking less revenue from gambling um to
sort of wean itself off that um the the
other point I'd like to make is that um
this is a extremely small measure that's
being taken and we only ever see
extremely small measures we never see
anything that's really going to Grapple
with the product um and the problem um
we've now seen you know even a couple of
years ago we wouldn't have realized how
much online gambling would become a
problem that it is now um and how to get
on top of that is is very difficult um
polling show knows that um the vast
majority of Australians want a lot more
done than is being done particularly
with online gambling particularly with
gambling advertising they don't want to
see um gambling advertis advertising at
sporting events on television on social
metor anywhere um um but that still
hasn't happened but it would go a long
way so there are much more
um stronger measures that could be taken
um but anyway
this is a measure I thank you thanks to
the staff for putting together the
submission on this very important
issue anyone wish to speak against this
motion any other speakers on the motion
councilor
thanop if you want an example of of uh
how the advertising Works uh they
usually put a bunch of people that sound
like the noises that we're hearing from
the room over there about how exciting
it is to win when you're using either
gambling or betting machines or whatever
you want to call it um and unfortunately
it's a lot more Suber for a lot of
people that end up going down the path
especially if addiction is Right within
you or your family or or whatnot and the
protections that are there for them for
the people that are vulnerable um are
really just not to level that's
required uh I won't cover all that
ground because I think the other
councilors have covered it so far but
the concerning part is when you watch a
report where the owners of these um
so-called gaming uh facilities are
actually taking it to the next level
where they actually want to convert it
into being a video game that effectively
sits in a casino they haven't quite got
governments across the line yet but they
are lobbying in the background to allow
an upgraded machine because they have
seen the declining interest from uh
younger people in using
egms um and they know that the best way
to um you know get back into that market
is give them something that they already
are pretty much addicted to anyway and
make take a bunch of their money away
from them so um it is right to say that
the steps aren't enough and
considering the the game plan that these
uh institutions and organizations have
coming for us we're going to really need
to be ahead of the game especially when
our governments are so dependent on it
so um look it's a good start and we're
going to have to keep on putting
pressure before um you know a worse
situation comes before us quite frankly
and they do start attacking the Next
Generation Um of potential
gamblers any other
speakers can
ROV thanks Mr Mayor I think uh I won't
repeat what other people have said but I
think uh one of the biggest issues that
I see is that uh our children are being
taught to gamble from a really really
young age because betting ads on TV and
especially during football games and
similar are teaching them that it's
normal it's okay uh and everyone has a
bet on
football I and it it goes further than
just football but you can bet on
anything I mean bet on outcomes of of
anything but to be able and be allowed
to advertise during TV viewing time
where there are young people watching
that is the worst that is really the
worst thing and if if we're able to do
anything in advocacy that would be on
gambling that would be one of the big
places to start on the allowing of
advertising of
gambling any other
speakers there are no other speakers
councilor Zinger like to sum up thank
you may and thank you councilors thank
you mayor uh I'll just sum up by quoting
from the report on page six which uh
says a few things about what we as gar
city council call upon the Victorian
government to do and we want them to
implement the alliance for gambling
reform agenda including a suite of
complimentary harm reduction meas meas
measures
such as changes to opening hours of
venues introduction of in gambling harm
after dark a request to have all
gambling machines can you believe turned
off between 2:00 a.m. and 6: a.m. just
for 4 hours they won't do that yet and
the introduction of a full Universal and
binding precommitment system by having
each person set their own reasonable
time and money limits two we call upon
the Victorian government to strengthen
regulation for online gambling including
banning all forms of online telephone
gambling with credit uh three to promote
and improve treatment and referrals for
people experiencing gambling harm and
four to Advocate to the federal
government for an adequately funded
National regulatory structure Banning of
gambling ads totally as well as National
promotion of a new self- exclusion
scheme called bet stop thank you
councils I put the motion all those in
favor motion is carried
unanimously item 8.6 is Council
submission to the federal government
National Housing and homelessness plan
Council panu has
printed seconded for that motion Council
thopas Council
penu thank thank you mayor um as
um everybody understands um I think now
we are in a housing crisis in
Australia um in Glenn IRA
um our officers have um are telling us
that
11.4% of our residents are in rental
stress
4.8% of moderate stress and
6.66% in severe stress um and that is
repeated all over the
country
um there there are and all over
Australia there are people struggling to
afford housing um and it's much worse in
lowincome areas and we're hearing more
and more and seeing more and more with
our own eyes people living in tents um
that was covered just on the radio this
morning
um people living under bridges people
living in their cars um and every single
day there's more and more people who
can't afford to to um to rent in the
private Mark private housing market and
a key cause of this crisis in my opinion
is that state and federal governments
not just my opinion but definitely in my
opinion have removed themselves from
their core responsibility to build and
administer public housing and they've
been doing that for the last 20 years
when there is public housing they let it
fall into disrepair and then demolish
whole public housing Estates and allow
the private sector to in to develop the
sites on public land set aside for
public housing but to redevelop that
land for private dwell dwellings and
little to know public housing or even
social housing so we all hear about
social housing social housing is usually
means housing run by the housing Comm
Comm community housing organizations
which is not public housing it's not as
secure as public housing it doesn't have
a fixed rental which is 30% of an of a
person's income there's no security of
tenure in that sector but that's that's
the largest sector for which it's been
handed over to as well as the private
sector so we have less and less public
housing every year and more and more
people living in Australia so the
percentage of public housing has fallen
as well as the volume this has been this
has been happening the demolition of the
public housing Estates in Victoria for
almost a decade but instead of stopping
it the Victorian government has doubled
down on this leaving us with less public
housing uh now this item is about uh our
um submission to the federal government
issues paper on National H housing and
homelessness plan and um I do thank um
our staff in
particular uh Mr Saunders for um for um
dealing with me and my passion about
this issue and my um desire to see us
put in a really good submission and I
think think it's an excellent submission
and it does point out what needs to be
pointed out which is what I've just said
the two levels of government that are
responsible for providing public housing
and making sure we don't have people
living on the streets living in tense
living in their cars including women
with children uh and just a rising
number of people who are either homeless
or almost
homeless um they've removed themselves
from it and I think I think our our
paper that we have here uh is is um
alerting them to their responsibilities
and the need for them to step up to
their responsibilities thank you thank
you canc
thanop thanks mayor um uh couldn't uh
agree more with what council pentu has
added so far but just to highlight a few
things number one it's a Pity that it's
a 10-year plan because uh one of the
worst things that we do in government
especially in democracy is unfortunate
is we constantly have this change in
Direction the the flavor of the radio
waves changes and all of a sudden it
doesn't become as important and then all
of a sudden the funding starts slipping
away and a perfect example of that is
that when you look in the 70s and 80s
possibly even before that but the 70s
and 80s new Del stock about 10% with
public housing in the last decade has
been between 3 and 4% and average about
4.1 I think so some use lower some use
higher uh there's a compounding problem
in a gap in the market uh this is over
multiple uh governments of all different
denominations and different makeups so
this is not a party uh Target quite
frankly at anyone this is this is over
all of them it's just vacating the space
quite frankly until we come to a point
over a period of time that it becomes a
problem then all of a sudden everyone's
trying to throw a bucket of money at it
um that's why I bring up the point that
it shouldn't just be a 10 year plan it
should be something where we have
everyone around the table we have all
all po all parties agreeing to a very
very long term plan and a commitment to
make sure that happens so that it's
budgeted and actually paid
for um that's not necessarily something
that we picked up because we're respond
a 10-year plan that they have asked for
but I think it's worth highlighting it's
also just worth highlighting again that
of what happens when government vacate
the space on something uh it's very rare
that the public private sector come in
and cover the gaps that are necessary
and I think that's something that we
need to continue to remind ourselves
when we have the opportunity to ride
other levels of government but also to
remind
ourselves thank you anyone wish to speak
against the motion any other speakers on
the motion councilor
SM uh thank you m gay and I just want to
thank councilor penu and councel off
agree wholeheartedly with their points I
think it's really important to emphasize
that this what we're seeing now in terms
of that drop in proportion of housing is
uh compounded by both our growing
population and government at both levels
vacating the space um and and one of the
things that I'm particularly concerned
about is the process that using is
actually selling the land and one of the
really important things about different
levels of government actually having
land is they can repurpose it to Future
needs so in the way that a lot of the
social affordable housing is being
developed some of it the apartments on
these blocks or town houses are actually
being um sold off or to the private
sector that won't come back to us if we
need to as a community um have more
housing on that land in the future um so
it really concerns me we know as a
council with the least amount of open
space and and all of these other issues
in terms of that it's really really
costly down the track to buy try and buy
land to put open space or to put um you
know public housing on so I think it's
it's really shortsighted um and in the
long term uh we know that they've
underinvested for a long time and even
with what we've got now it's an
underinvestment compared to the need the
very desperate need thank you thank you
councilor
Zinger thank
you I I speak reluctantly because of the
lateness of time but
um Council of pentu gave some
percentages but sometimes percentages
don't mean much so I just wanted to
flesh that out in real numbers and this
is on the 2021 census figure so on the
2021 census figure we have
63 and a half th000 households in the
city of glenira we often think of the
city of glenira as a rather wealthy
welltoo
area and yet of those
635,000
households 18,000 of them are on low or
very low incomes it's
18,000 that's
probably 36,000
people or
more there were
7,234
households in rental stress in
2021 it's probably one in every
street this included 3,000 households in
moderate rental stress and 4,000 in
severe rental stress
stress those in rental stress of course
are typically low income single person
single parent often
women and group
households my real fear is that in
20203 by 2036 it's estimated that we
could have about 10,000 households in
such
stress and I want to remind our
community that our council is not
responsible for building public housy
and
yet we are left with picking up the
welfare of sometimes the most
disadvantaged people in our community
we're the ones who are called out to
look at a person living outside were
worth collecting a bit of food here and
there or some money to do a welfare
check on
them and I know that because I've
reported things like that to Mark and
his team
uh who do their very very best for these
particular people but we can we can
solve individual problems we can do that
but it is a drop in the bucket when
you're looking at 10,000 households this
is a real problem it is a serious
problem it's not going to go away it's
only going to get worse unless our
federal and state governments pull their
fingers
out any other
speakers if there are no other speakers
Council
pen thank you um to coun councilor
thanis council SM Council zingo for
their remarks which were wonderful I
think in terms of describing this crisis
um I agree with Council Zinger it's not
going to get any better
unless governments particularly state
state and federal governments actually
do what's required Council on councilor
of Thanos office's Point um at what's
happened a my point of what's happened
over the last 20 30 years and since the
70s when when a lot of people grew up in
public housing housing that was provided
by the um Housing Commission the SEC the
railways all of these organizations
provided housing um that's set has gone
by the wayside but if we want evidence
the evidence is if you don't do that
you're going to have a housing crisis um
I just wanted to make couple of other
remarks too about um what the
government's putting in place and it is
raised in our paper about the 10% so
handing over public housing Estates to
private developers and saying you need
to provide 10% public housing is just
like wul woefully
inadequate um and uh we're saying it
should be up to 50% in other parts of
the world it's 30% 10% is just not going
to do anything it's an absolute drop in
the the ocean and uh the the new
planning reforms where the state
government is are running around blaming
councils for the lack of affordable
housing when it's its fault and it's
pointing the fingers anywhere but at
itself um is is in its new planning
reforms not even going to guarantee that
10% so it's in there but the minister
can weigh that
requirement if the minister so requires
so the point about that is private
developers are getting um really a lot
of leeway here and not being required to
give much to the community when they're
getting uh public land to build their
developments on but it should be a
requirement for any major public any
major private development of multi-unit
development should have a very
substantial amount of um affordable
affordable housing in it um if we're
going to do anything about getting on
top of this
prices thank you councilor I put the
motion all those in favor the motion is
carried
unanimously council is the next three
items if I could ask everyone to keep
their
um Kenneth ROV could I just move to
extend the meeting to we've done that
we've done that yeah where was I sleep
you might have been out of the
room we waited to your
left um council's the next three items
if we could just keep our com
brief um 8.7 lease of License to Bentley
Bowling Club Inc Council Drive motion
Council C has printed yes Mr Mayor
second for that motion councilor Cade
counc
rof I'll talk very quickly uh this
report uh requires Council approval to
enter into a new lease and license
agreement with the Bentley Bowling Club
uh Inc for their ongoing occupation of
council land at the Bentley Hodson
Reserve uh in 2005 Council resolved to
execute a lease with the club for a
narrow strip of council land that forms
part of its eastern Bowling Green and
includes some storage sheds uh this
formalized a long-standing Arrangement
between the former city of morban and
the club some 40 years before the city
of morban agreed to the use of the
council land in return for council's use
of a strip of land along the Higgins
Road Frontage belonging to the club this
was constructed to facilitate public car
parking and is approximately 270 square
meters different from any many other
community sporting tenants is their Club
is located on their own Freehold land
with only 560 square meters on its
eastern boundary belonging to council
with the current lease and the license
now expired new agreements need to be
entered into hence this report tonight
the club has been a compliant tenant and
is of course mutually beneficial to
allow this long-standing agreement to
continue taking the land back would only
detrimentally affect the club and
Council losing the car parking along
Higgins Road would inconvenience uh Park
users and only serve to have an adverse
effect on parking in the general area so
I do support this LA and license renewal
as spil out uh it offers a 5 years uh
lease with an option of another four by
mutual agreement at the pepper corn rent
of
$104 increasing by the CPI thereafter
and the club must hold $20 million
public liability insurance thank you
councilor Cade nothing to add thank
anyone we speak against the motion any
other speakers on the motion councilor
rof you like to sum up nothing to add
put the motion all those in favor motion
is carried unanimously 8.8 tender
20242 annual Supply contract of Sports
Grand Council reserves public lighting
and and Associated electrical services
council's drive a motion councilor k has
printed second for that motion councilor
resov councilor
Kade thank you uh M um so this is very
important um because we need to get uh
uh good lighting uh Council manages over
70 uh parks and reserves including 45
Sports grounds uh lighting is important
um to enable the extension of RS to
these facilities the recommendation is
to uh appoint a panel of contractors to
undertake The Works in respect of
lighting and electrical services to
sports grounds and C Council results and
um uh the term of the contract 3 years
with options to extend for a further two
terms um I am happy to support the
recommendation thank you cancer r c I
guess I'm happy to second I have nothing
to add thank you people have bought
houses doing that at
auctions anyone wish to speak against
the motion
any other speakers on the motion there
being no other speakers counc okay if
you'd like to sum up nothing to it I'll
put the motion all those in favor motion
is carried unanimously item 8.9 is
another tender 20 20231 one5 Underground
Service
depth
digging deping hard to say that word
you're Irish uh councilors do have a
motion councilor Kate has printed um yes
it is as printed councilor parasol a
second councilor
Cade I shall not try and pronounce that
word so this is a tender
underground dep things um and uh there
here again there is um the appointment
uh of U uh certain um companies to
undertake these Works uh which uh would
uh again uh be very helpful it's for a
three-year term with options for
extending this period um I'm happy to
support the recommendation as set out in
the report cancel parasol I got nothing
further to add I support it anyone we
speak against the motion any other
speakers on the motion Council C you
don't wish to sum up nothing to I'll put
the motion all those in favor the motion
is carried
unanimously uh item 8.10 vcat watch
councilors do I have a motion councilor
K as printed yes yes M second for that
motion counc parel councel K uh thank
you m so this
was the a matter where or we had watch
two applications resolved U Cofield
North and Bentley uh and uh one of the
applications is where the applicant
offered to make certain modifications to
setbacks and uh the offer was accepted
and settled and the other one involved
the cancellation of a permit that is no
longer required thank you thank you
Council
par Council parasol nothing further to
add thank you Council parasol anyone
speak against the motion any other
speakers on the motion councilor K would
you not like to sum
up
nothing oh councilor is there something
that you needed to question no but I'd
just like to make a quick comment if I
could time we have actually we're on vac
still we are still on just a quick
comment um the mov has summed up
the move has summed up councilors I'll
put the motion all those in favor that
motion is carried unanimously urgent
business we dealt with earlier in the
meeting um ordinary business reports for
members of council staff there are none
rights to reply there are none notices
or motions none councilof questions
there are none public questions we did
earlier in the evening um confidential
items there are none and I declare the
meeting closed at
10:35 thank you
all