Analysis – Carol Altmann

The closure of the iconic, fun-filled dive pool at Warrnambool’s Aquazone still makes no sense to me, nor does the almost $180,000 it is costing to re-tile the change rooms.

It is a case of where the Warrnambool City Council chooses to spend its money.

When I returned to Warrnambool in 2013, I was stunned to see the diving pool drained and derelict. It turned out, of course, that it had been empty since 2007 and only this year – eight years later – has the council finally decided what to do with it.

In a narrow vote (4 votes to 3), it was agreed to close it forever because of what was considered to be the excessive cost of repairs and bringing it up to modern safety standards. But was that really the only option?

As a 54-year-old dive pool, it no doubt needed work and in 2012 it was estimated to cost around $245,000 to repair the leaks and replace the diving boards.

Keep that figure in mind, because we will come back to it shortly.

Another problem was that, under new regulations, the pool was 20cm too shallow to permit a 3m diving board.

The council received quotes of around $1 million to either raise the sides of the pool (which included major changes to the filtration system), or deepen it, plus another $66,500 a year to maintain it, most of which would be spent on employing a life guard ($40,000).

Even though half of the cost might have been covered by the State Government Better Pools fund, it was decided instead to close it forever, fill it in and investigate installing a ‘splash pad’ at a cost of $550,000.

But there were other options.

One would have been to lower the 3m dive board, which would make it unsuitable for formal competition (but it had actually not been used competitively for years, other than school sports) and still available for fun.

Cr Brian Kelson also suggested another alternative, which was to make the 3m board a fixed board instead of springing.

This is exactly what Indigo Council did at the Rutherglen pool, when it faced the same issue with its 1-metre boards, but Cr Kelson’s idea didn’t even make it to the discussion stage.

Did the whole dive pool really have to go? Or was it a matter of throwing the baby out with the pool water?

It is worth noting that 1300 residents were asked by the WCC for their opinion on priorities at the pool and 20% listed the diving pool first, while 23% favoured a better gym and another 23% selected renewing the 50m pool: in other words, the diving pool would still be a popular place for belly flops, pikes and the occasional ‘bomb’. Only 15% opted for a splash pad.

But that is now all water under the bridge.

In the meantime, a large chunk of the $245,000 that might have been spent on sealing and repairing the diving pool (remember that figure from above?), has been spent re-tiling and replacing mirrors in the changerooms in a project that is due to be finished about now.

The two-stage upgrade is expected to cost at least $178,000, and we can reveal that at least some of the work in the male changerooms has had to be done again.

Last year, council spokesman Nick Higgins said the project was costed at $120,000, but this week said that was wrong and his mistake – subscribers can see our full exchange of emails in The Vault here.

As it happens, I just received a quote to resurface, retile and waterproof my leaking 1960s shower stall at a cost of $1200. The Aquazone job will cost nearly 150 times more than that. It may be an unfair comparison, but one worth contemplating.

And as you contemplate, please enjoy the selection of images below from the original Warrnambool swimming pool, which opened in 1962. You can also see footage from the opening here (courtesy of Jack Wilkins). Images below are courtesy of Lost Warrnambool.

[box] The Warrnambool City Council is getting closer to making a decision on how to improve boat launching facilities at the breakwater, with increasing political pressure to build a fully enclosed harbour. Bruce Campbell explains why this is the worst option:[/box]

By Bruce Campbell

Leader, Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group

Member of Safer Launching & Retrieval of Boats Community Reference Group

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] ‘C[/dropcap]r Brian Kelson’s call to construct a fully enclosed harbour flies in the face of the very thorough consultation process that he himself was involved in.

One section of the boating community is conveniently ignoring the facts and aggressively lobbying councillors in order to pursue their self-interest.

The Safer Launching and Retrieval of Boats project is about precisely that: finding a way to launch and retrieve boats more safely.

It is not about spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a pipe dream to try to steal some of Portland’s competitive advantage.  I hate to break the bad news but Portland’s deepwater harbour and proximity to fishing grounds will always outcompete Warrnambool.

The project is also not about floating restaurants (yes, this has seriously been proposed) or the floating seasickness medical centres that would then be required beside them.  The project is not about creating mayhem on Pertobe Road with queues of cars and boat trailers preventing locals and non-fishing tourists from enjoying Lake Pertobe and the foreshore.

The project is also not about choosing the most expensive and environmentally risky option – a fully enclosed harbour – rather than the cheapest but completely practical option – installing a larger, cleverly designed boat ramp that reduces wave surge and ongoing dredging.

According to the project’s technical advisory group, this simple option will successfully provide safer boat launching and retrieval for 90% of the time.  90% also happens to be the proportion of time that ocean conditions make it safe enough for boats to leave the harbour.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] ‘C[/dropcap]oastcare groups, less vocal sections of our boating community and many passive recreational users of the harbour area do not want to see a fully or partially enclosed harbour for a range of reasons.  Many fishers also do not want to see this because they understand the potential environmental impacts on fish numbers.

There are serious concerns with the unknown long term impacts of new breakwaters on beach erosion and sand movement and with the likely introduction of marine pest species to Merri Marine Sanctuary via increased numbers of boats and trailers.   There are many examples of this occurring after harbour developments, including at Apollo Bay where the nearby marine sanctuary is now threatened by an invasive pest.

Our Merri Marine Sanctuary protects a very large number of significant plants and animals and it produces a large quantity of fish that supports recreational and professional fishing.  For example, on a calm day professional lobster fishers know to set their pots just outside the sanctuary for good catches.  Putting this at risk would be a very poor and shortsighted decision.

The minimal development option will provide safer boat launching and retrieval, will allow the sailing community to continue their activities unhindered, will not destroy the wider community’s enjoyment of our wonderful Lake Pertobe and foreshore area, will cost less taxpayer’s money and will be the least environmentally risky.  

And finally, for those who love to just sit in the car at the harbour carpark and look across Lady Bay, you won’t lose your view.”

Bruce Campbell

[box] You can download the WCC’s discussion paper on the proposals here (pdf)[/box]

Comment – Carol Altmann

When it comes to showing some spine on marriage equality, the majority of the Warrnambool City Council has proven, sadly, that they have none.

We know this because yesterday (31/8) the council had an opportunity to actually stand up and be counted on same sex marriage and they didn’t even make it to first base.

This is despite a majority of councillors telling Bluestone just two months ago that they had no problem with marriage equality, none at all, yet when it came to doing something about it, five of the seven councillors ran the other way.

How hypocritical.

Here is what happened.

As I mentioned in an earlier piece, Byron Shire Council Mayor Simon Richardson contacted the WCC by letter, asking for it to join a growing number of councils around Australia who have endorsed marriage equality as a civil right.

(Mayor Richardson who, for the record, has a female partner and two daughters, has taken a national lead on the marriage equality campaign within local government and has also formed a Mayors for Marriage Equality group.)

More than a dozen councils around Australia have so far declared their support for marriage equality, including Hobart City Council, Albury, Glen Eira, Greater Geelong- Surf Coast, Tenterfield, Byron Shire, Sydney, Leichardt and Port Douglas.

The people of Warrnambool have also shown they are ready to embrace same-sex marriage, with the most recent poll by the local newspaper coming in at 72% support.

At its regular briefing yesterday, the council had an opportunity to decide whether to join these councils by acting on Mayor Richardson’s letter, together with a marriage equality proclamation that Byron Shire Council has asked each council to sign.

Only two councillors, both women – Cr Jacinta Ermacora and Cr Kylie Gaston – argued that Mayor Richardson’s request should be taken further.

The remaining five, including Mayor Michael Neoh, Cr Peter Sycopoulis and Cr Brian Kelson – who told Bluestone that they support equality – all agreed that it should instead be “parked” ie. do nothing.

This is not leadership. This is weak.

It is also supremely ironic that a council can name Shane Hernan as its Young Citizen of the Year in 2013, yet not consider it worthwhile to publicly support the very issues that Shane is fighting for.

Because it is one thing to support gays, lesbians and transgender people quietly behind the scenes, but another to stand publicly shoulder-to-shoulder when the going gets tough.

And believe me, the going has been tough.

As it stands, there is not one political leader representing Warrnambool who will stand up for marriage equality: not Member for Wannon Dan Tehan, nor outgoing South West Coast MP Dr Denis Napthine, or state MLC James Purcell, or even, it has now come to pass, Mayor Michael Neoh.

In other words, the message to young gays and lesbians from our political leaders in south-west Victoria is that you are, and should remain, second class citizens.

What a terrible, isolating and discriminatory message.

And it is not just about young people. There are many older gays and lesbians living in Warrnambool who, despite their age and wisdom, are still too frightened to reveal their sexuality for fear of rejection.

I know how hard it can be. I grew up in Warrnambool and returned here determined not to retreat back into the closet. Bluestone has lost subscribers because of this, but, I would hope, we have also gained more.

Sexual identity is not something you can just turn on and off. Similarly, it is not enough to “like” gay people, provided they don’t act too gay or start asking for too much.

What is so heartening is that the majority of people in Warrnambool actually get this.

What is so disheartening is that the majority of our civic leaders don’t.

ANALYSIS – Carol Altmann

The attempted shaming of three Warrnambool City councillors for speaking to a journalist is yet another step toward shutting off information to the public.

And if you care about freedom of speech and freedom of the media, then the events of the past few days should be very troubling.

First, some background.

Late last week, the agenda for this Tuesday’s council meeting was released and contained a report given to chief executive officer Bruce Anson from the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate following its investigation into the leaking of confidential council documents to The Age early last year.

The inspectorate concluded that it could not determine who leaked the documents.

But it did conclude that three councillors – Brian Kelson, Peter Hulin and Peter Sycopoulis – met with a journalist from The Age the night before it ran the first of several stories about links between then-Premier Denis Napthine and Midfield Meats owner, Colin McKenna.

It was not hard to reach this conclusion, because the councillors told the inspectorate about this meeting.

After all, it has never been an offence for an elected official to speak to a journalist and it happens every day.

The assumption, of course, is that the three councillors used this meeting to hand over secret documents, but this is wrong.

The Age journalists, Royce Miller and Ben Schneiders, have issued a statement to say that they were already in possession of the documents before this meeting.

How did they get the documents? Who knows, but in a world dominated by public relations officers and media managers, leaks and whistleblowing are often the only ways that information in the public interest can come to light.

The inspectorate knew the three councillors had done nothing illegal, and it prepared a confidential report naming the three councillors that could only be released with the approval of the CEO, Mr Anson.

Ironically, Mr Anson decided to make this confidential report public, and included it in the agenda. In other words, what is and isn’t kept confidential by council is entirely at Mr Anson’s discretion.

A front page headline by The Standard followed but, in what I believe is unprecedented for a newspaper, it didn’t defend the profession of journalism that relies on research, well-placed sources, whistleblowers and leaks, but instead leapt on the “revelation” that three councillors had met with a journalist, as if this was a crime.

Its sycophantic editorial went even further and defended the former Premier against such “damaging” behaviour, saying that he must “be itching” to ask what was discussed between the councillors and The Age journalists.

This is coming from an organisation that knows the trust between a journalist and a source is fundamental to flushing out what those in power don’t want you to know, but is in the public interest: like the fact – as reported by The Age – Dr Napthine (and our Federal MP Dan Tehan) held shares in a racehorse with Mr McKenna.

A compliant newspaper and a media-managed council is a powerful combination in a regional city, and it could soon get even worse.

Lost within the story is a recommendation by the inspectorate that the Warrnambool City Council put its boot even harder on the neck of elected members.

It has suggested – and the council will now consider – changing its media policy so that councillors MUST tell the council’s communications manager, Nick Higgins, when they speak to a journalist, about anything.

What right has a government inspectorate got to try and gag elected councillors?

It is an outrageous recommendation and one designed purely to ensure that the only information released to the media (and therefore, to you, the public) is that which suits the council’s chief executive or the mayor of the day, whoever they may be.

This closing down of voices in local government is a growing trend across Australia, and comes as newsrooms are shrinking.

Indeed academic papers* have been written on this increasing secrecy and the restraining of elected members by tightening a council’s media policy.

We need to ask ourselves, who does such secrecy benefit? It is certainly not intended to benefit you, the humble ratepayer.

No, it is designed for councils to move more and more information behind closed doors so that decisions can be discussed – and made – by those with power without any “distractions” from the public.

This means decisions, when they are made public, are virtually a fait accompli, such as the nine-storey apartment block proposed for 1A Liebig St, or the sale of land to Midfield for an enormous milk processing plant.

And it is designed to keep all of the potential “hot spots” under wraps, such as the true state of affairs of the Fun4Kids festival finances, or the declining patronage at Flagstaff Hill, or the actual salary package paid to the chief executive, or who was invited into the May Races marquee...

We here at Bluestone Magazine have already been cut off by the council’s media unit: our questions now go unanswered and our requests for interviews with certain council staff are denied.

This is what happens when you don’t play by the rules or you refuse to stick to “the message” – but Bluestone will keep investigating nonetheless.

Warrnambool should not be distracted by the public shaming of three councillors for talking to the media – this is not the problem. The much more worrying issue is the move to stop councillors talking to journalists at all.

ANALYSIS – Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] H[/dropcap]eritage Victoria has finished a three-week investigation into missing and damaged artefacts at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool and found it has no case to answer.

Instead, any responsibility for the missing artefacts and damage to relics from the wreck of the Loch Ard (1878), has been sheeted home to former management of the village.

As first reported in Bluestone Magazine, Heritage Victoria launched a formal investigation into the cutting of copper sheets from the Loch Ard, with a 10x10cm piece taken from one, while another had a large slice removed, allegedly for use as a sculpture or trophy.

Such damage to relics is an offence under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act.

In addition, Heritage Victoria was investigating how the museum had lost track of at least 129 items from its collection, including the brass ship’s bell from the wreck of the Newfield (1892) that was once displayed in the Great Circle Gallery, and more than 200 lead ingots from the Loch Ard.

A spokesperson for Heritage Victoria today issued a two-sentence statement to Bluestone Magazine, saying the investigation was finished and there would be no further action, as “most” of the issues had happened more than a decade ago.

Here is the statement in full:

“Heritage Victoria has completed its investigation into suggestions of problems with the management of the collection at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and determined that no action is required.

“Heritage Victoria noted that professional systems highlighting collection management and an internal audit process had been instigated under the present management and that most of the issues raised had occurred more than a decade ago under previous management.”

No other information was available and is unlikely to be available in the future, as Heritage Victoria does not reveal the details of its investigations.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] S[/dropcap]o what happened to the copper sheets and who cut them?

And where is the missing Newfield bell, among other items?

Even after this investigation we are none the wiser and, from the sound of it, probably never will be.

The outcome of the investigation is not a surprise, however, in light of comments by Warrnambool City Council chief executive officer Bruce Anson to the February 2 council meeting.

At that time, and in response to questions from Cr Brian Kelson who first raised concerns about the missing artefacts, Mr Anson said “we are confident that our discussions with Heritage Victoria will not find any significant issues at all.”

“We have an ongoing and very positive relationship with Heritage Victoria,” he said.

When asked directly by Cr Kelson who cut the copper sheets, Mr Anson said one had been pierced by a nail, while on loan, and another had a corroded edge from lying in water.

The nailed sheet was in fact a drill hole, added to a sheet now on display at the Port Campbell Tourist Information Centre, so that it could be secured to the wall where it was formerly housed (the people responsible apologised to Flagstaff Hill in 1993 for their mistake.)

Mr Anson made no mention of the sheet that has had a large slice removed, or the sheet with a missing 10x10cm piece, but did say some of the cuts were “hearsay”.

Perhaps more will be ultimately revealed by the council, with Mayor Michael Neoh telling the same meeting that he would be happy for Director City Growth Bill Millard to do a full and formal report back to the council on these issues.

Let’s hope so, because as it stands we still don’t know what happened to precious artefacts that were given to our city by the Federal Government for safe keeping.

  More Analysis can be found here…

Veil of secrecy over salary of the WCC’s top job

The changing landscape under Midfield Meats

Abbott actions reveal toxic culture in council

Investigation launched into Flagstaff Hill

When scrutiny is sub-standard, democracy suffers