CANDIDATE VICKI JELLIE:

10 QUESTIONS FROM THE TERRIER:

What three main skills could you bring to the Warrnambool City Council as a councillor?

I have proven and strong advocacy, resulting in benefits for all stakeholders. I am able to build strong relationships which would encourage people to make their views known and engage with me. I have excellent communication and community engagement skills.

Community leadership must be at the heart of local government, and I have achieved this through my work with Peter’s Project. I have a background of working in partnership with local communities and organisations – including the government, voluntary, community and private sectors – and have developed  and worked collaboratively with these groups to achieve great results.

I am a critical thinker. I have the ability to think clearly and rationally and rigorously question ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them on face value. I would seek to determine whether the ideas or proposal represent the entire picture and would further investigate if they do not.

Today’s problems often come from yesterday’s solutions. Elected officials should consider how to best limit shifting a problem into the future by maintaining a long-term perspective and considering the potential impact of decisions.

I am not afraid to ask questions and will provide representation without fear or favour.

Do you see any particular issues, projects or problems in Warrnambool that you would like to work on as a councillor?

Covid19 recovery is one of the biggest current issues we face as a community. There will be many factors getting the economy back on track. One part of this will require carefully reviewing the Council’s current 4 year budget plans, and where necessary, changing some existing priorities to effect necessary budget savings, by seeking operational efficiencies. Strong leadership to enable the restoration of our economy will be crucial.

As a new councillor I would aim to advocate and provide whatever support South West Healthcare needs to advance the quest of their desperately needed hospital redevelopment. This is a vitally important project which would provide a new Emergency Department, new theatres and new ward capacity. I know that a strong healthcare facility attracts people to live and work in our region and this is a great example where Warrnambool needs a collectively strong voice, of which I would intend to lead.

I would like to look at a refreshed regional collaboration strategy, particularly in conjunction with Moyne and Corangamite shires. WCC is looked upon as a pivotal municipality in our region for many reasons, so our council must show leadership and foster these important relationships and gain new respect, for the benefit of all.

We are privileged to have an incredible indigenous history, an outstanding natural environment and our vibrant arts community that are true points of difference in our region. In collaboration with the community I would love to support the idea of a new cultural centre encompassing all of these things. Having such a centre would bring multiple benefits including tourism, education, employment and pride of who we are.

I would like to be part of the advocacy group to further investigate the recently discussed (WCC meeting 7 Sept 2020) scenario of Warrnambool being included in the Victorian Fast Regional Commuter Train Alliance. This program would reshape rail travel efficiencies and the settlement plan not only for Warrnambool, but the state.

Do you think the council could be more “open” with residents and if so, how?

Absolutely.

We need to bring the council back to the community by rebuilding trust and giving our community confidence that their elected representatives will always act with integrity, not disregard their obligations and not be afraid to speak up.

I want to be an effective local advocate and ensure that the representative views of our community are heard and we don’t lose touch with those we are elected to serve.

A continuation of live streaming and recording of council meetings, and a proposal to have an Auslan interpreter at all meetings. Live streamed council meetings have been very helpful for transparency for all.

The next 12 months are going to be challenging due to the impact of Covid-19 – do you have one or two key idea/s for how WCC could support residents and/or businesses?

Support businesses by relaxing permit and licencing fees wherever possible: eg: outdoor dining permits, footpath advertising.

Low or no cost parking in designated areas of CBD carparks. The first 2 hours free in all off-street CBD car parks.

Propose the idea for WCC to provide all ratepayers with a $100 voucher, or a similar discount concept, to be redeemable at businesses within the Warrnambool City area to stimulate spending and support of all businesses.

Do you have any ideas on where the council could cut costs, if necessary, to keep rates at the state cap?

Councils should focus on achieving more with current staffing levels before considering hiring more. Rationalise the number of council departments and managers. The incentive to give staff ‘manager’ titles means that unnecessary departments can emerge.

Require end of year reports from groups which councils fund. How have ratepayers benefited from what the group used the money for? Too much money is given to groups by habit or because “they get money every year.”

Review tenancies annually. Check the list of those outside bodies being given free or subsidised space by the council. Ensure these buildings are being properly utilised for purpose and – if not – they could be sold.

Don’t outsource training. Instead of having external training for staff, hold internal training events which are filmed and put on the internal internet site so that staff can view at any time. For example having their own internal Traffic Management Trainer.

Make every manager who re-signs a contract justify to councillors why it hasn’t been re-tendered to demonstrate absolute transparency. Seek operational efficiencies to prevent extraordinarily high project costs.

Preferences will decide who is elected to the council. Are you planning to preference most highly new candidates, exisiting candidates or you won’t be putting forward preferences:

I have struggled with the idea of preferencing and under normal circumstances I would decline to do so………but……..because of the unsustainable turmoil in the current council, and so much community angst as to how to vote to make change, I have preferenced candidates with an expectation to form a new diverse, transparent and trustworthy council.

If you were elected, what ways – if any – would you keep residents and ratepayers informed as an individual councillor?

As a new councillor, I would have to be made aware of the confidentiality protocols (which I am not currently versed in) so I fully understood what I am able to openly share with the community.

I would utilise appropriate social media use to relay suitable non confidential information to community, which could also be delivered by a monthly newsletter.

I would make the ratepayers and community well aware that I would be open to discussion, either with individuals or groups to talk about any concerns or suggestions as requested. I would be accessible to all. 

If you were elected, what would you have liked to have achieved at the end of your four-year term?

I would like to have been a part of a council that is respected and trusted by the community.

I would hope to have been able to keep rates and budgetary overspending regulated and have always made decisions in the very best interests for those I serve.

I would, I am sure, understand that you will never make everyone happy with so many diverse opinions and needs, but I would ensure that I would have made every decision with the absolute best interests of the community in mind.

I would hope that I have been part of a cohesive team who have achieved various projects and positive outcomes for the city, which have allowed our city and region to grow and prosper.

Are you a member of any political party? If so, which one?

Definitely not.

In the past two years, have you been a member of any local club, organisation or association?

I am and continue to be the Chair/Director of the Peter’s Project Foundation.

A mentor of Standing Tall in Warrnambool program.

A former board member of Realise Enterprises / Tasty Plate.

I feel that being a member of only a couple of local organisations is actually an advantage, because I have minimal or no conflict of interest when it comes to making a wide range of decisions. I would therefor show transparency, critical thinking and non-favouritism in my decisions.

Closing thoughts or ask and answer your own question here:

I am a lifelong Warrnambool resident and I am passionate about our local Warrnambool community.

I am ready to take on this commitment with eyes open because I love our city and the great things we can achieve.  I care about support in many areas including aged care, education, and the legacy for our youth, retaining and attracting young professionals to the city is essential.

I am committed to delivering the change that Warrnambool residents want and need.

I want to be part of a cohesive, respectful and progressive team, open to listening to other’s ideas and working for the future of the city, and ensuring the decision making process of our council are timely, fair and understandable for all.

You can find Vicki’s candidate Facebook page here.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Hear that? Crickets. Not a word. Nada. Nothing. Zip.

A full 48 hours has passed since the much anticipated monthly board meeting of Lyndoch Living where it was decided which members of the community, if any, would be good enough to become members of Lyndoch, which is owned by the community.

Among those who applied, as we know, is Vicki Jellie AM, who was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the community for her work with Peter’s Project to build a cancer centre in Warrnambool.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well, well, well…. it turns out former Warrnambool Racing Club chief Peter Downs resigned from the Lyndoch board months ago, but, oddly, officials weren’t told until the very day after The Terrier post on Facebook.

Mr Downs resigned on 18 December 2019 and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is supposed to be told of such changes within 28 days.

Despite this, and despite Lyndoch having held at least one board meeting since then, ASIC wasn’t formally notified until 17 February – the day after the Facebook post on The Terrier.

Mr Downs’ profile was also suddenly whipped down from the Lyndoch website.

Funny, that.

As it stands, there has been no public statement by Lyndoch about Mr Downs’ departure after three years on the board, and just three months after he was re-elected for a second term.

While I am sure we’re all happy to help Lyndoch to keep up with its governance free of charge (!), the bigger picture here is cause for concern.

Who replaces Mr Downs?

As we now know, while Mr Downs’ seat at the table sat empty, the Lyndoch board was rejecting membership applications left, right and centre.

You have to be a member of Lyndoch to become a board member.

No new members = nobody can nominate for the board.

Memberships were discarded instantly because the applicants happened to know me, however closely or distantly, or have ‘liked’ a post from The Terrier.

Wow, to think that passes as acceptable.

Board vacancies no longer have to be advertised, as they were under the old rules of Lyndoch that were changed without any of us noticing.

Now, when a vacancy arises, the board members and CEO just hunt around for their preferred applicants.

If any other public body worked this way – imagine the WCC councillors and CEO deciding who could be on the council – there would be rioting in the streets.

For the wider community to have no chance to nominate for the Lyndoch board is an outrage.

In any other world, this would be called branch stacking, or insider trading, or a closed shop, or a cabal, yet we are supposed to accept it as normal.

I keep saying it, Lyndoch is owned by the community and run by the board on our behalf.

That board will hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

There it will decide who will replace Mr Downs. The names are in.

It will also decide which membership applications, including that of Vicki Jellie AM, will be accepted or tossed in the bin.

It’s going to be a very interesting test.

There are troubles at Lyndoch. I am going to keep saying it, despite the attempts to silence those who say the Emperor is naked.

Does the current board feel happy with how things are being run? Do they agree with this shutting out of the community? Are they monitoring the numbers of staff on sick leave? Are they happy to sit back and watch and then say they knew nothing and did nothing?

There is a lot to be learnt from what is now unfolding at the Warrnambool City Council about speaking up and standing up.

I, for one, am waiting to see who from the Lyndoch board emerges as a Bernadette Northeast – on the front foot – or as a Cr Michael Neoh – far too little, far too late.

If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, please visit the Tip Jar here.

The Tip Jar

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Former Warrnambool Racing Club chief Peter Downs has quit the board of Lyndoch Living, having been reappointed for another three years just last October.

I don’t know exactly when Mr Downs* – who moved to Melbourne in September – resigned, but his board profile was on the Lyndoch website yesterday morning and gone by the end of the day.

This is awkward.

Lyndoch now has to fill his spot.

Mr Downs was one of nine board members, and Lyndoch must have at least nine board members under its constitution.

And here’s the catch: to become a board member, you must be first a general member.

Uh oh.

As we know, Lyndoch has only 15 14 members in total, all present and accounted for, including the board, the executive including the CEO, and two life members in Ron Patterson and David Atkinson who have already done their time.

There is nobody else, because, as we also know, nobody has been allowed to join.

No new members = no new board members.

Just yesterday there was a brilliant Letter to the Editor to the Warrnambool Standard by retired lawyer Lynn Hudson, a super-qualified person who applied to become a member of Lyndoch and was flatly rejected.

Her well-credentialled husband was also rejected. (You can read the letter here).

Lynn’s letter pulled back the veil on the farce that has seen a string of smart, caring, well-credentialled people who have applied for Lyndoch membership and been rejected with no explanation.

What an absolute joke. 

Except the joke, if it only were funny, is that the Lyndoch board now has to find a new board member.

It has four choices, only two of which will pass muster. 

One is to hand pick someone that passes the strict criteria for being a Lyndoch board member, which appears to be sit down, don’t ask tricky questions and be bedazzled by the plans to transform our aged care home into LyndochLand™.

Another is to advertise for a board member, which used to happen back in the days of equity, openness and gratitude for a community that loved Lyndoch.

A third is to do both of the above: advertise and then pick the person who has been worded up to apply.

Or…..

Or, the board just happens to have a membership application on its desk right now from one of the most qualified, most decent, most ethical, respected and upfront people in Warrnambool: Vicki Jellie, AM.

What a stroke of luck for Lyndoch Living!

Vicki, as we all know, was the driving force behind Peter’s Project, which saw a multi-million-dollar cancer treatment centre built in Warrnambool.

The AM after her name was awarded in the national Australia Day awards in 2017 as Australia’s Local Hero – a winner chosen out of the whole nation!

And yet here is Vicki, applying along with the rest of us, to see if she is good enough to be accepted as a member of Lyndoch Living where she used to work and where, first hand, she saw the changes that are now the subject of long-overdue scrutiny.

Mind you, I doubt Vicki would want to join the Lyndoch board as it stands. 

There are mounting questions about the direction of Lyndoch, and around staff morale, resignations and sick leave, which rolls on, believe me, except I am unable to speculate publicly as to why.

Mr Downs’ resignation has forced the hand of the board to reveal its true intentions and the next board meeting on 25 February will be very revealing.

We will know whether the board intends to once again be open and honest with the community that built and sustained Lyndoch for more than 60 years, or to remain a place of secrets and, I hope, growing unease.

One thing is certain, the game is up.

*I have left messages with Mr Downs late this afternoon for comment.
If you would like to apply to become a member of Lyndoch Living, here is the form.

If you would like to help keep the Terrier typing, please contribute below. 

The Tip Jar

The founder of the hugely successful Peter’s Project fundraising campaign, Vicki Jellie, has topped the list of Warrnambool City Council Australia Day awards for 2015 as one of six women awardees.

Vicki has been named Warrnambool’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year in recognition of her work in driving the fundraising campaign for a cancer treatment centre in south-west Victoria.

“It is really lovely to receive this recognition for my work, but this award belongs to all of the Peter’s Project board and to the community – it is really about the community,” Vicki said.

The other winners include Ann Krause, Megan Nicolson and Julie Eagles, each of whom received a Warrnambool Australia Day Local Achiever Award, together with disability advocate Lorraine De Kok, the inaugural president of the Inner Wheel Club of Warrnambool, Kaye Slater, and firefighter and mentor Wayne Rooke.

Young Citizen of the Year is Sam Maloney who was recognised for his mentoring work with young people through 3WAY community radio and Brophy Youth Services.

It is very different picture to 2014, when the council received only two nominations for women and neither were among the winners. (Teenager Olivia Niddrie was Young Citizen of the Year.)

This prompted a concerted effort within some sections of the the community to ensure that more women were among those in contention for an award in 2015.

Bluestone Magazine was among those to nominate Vicki, Ann, Megan and Julie and encouraged our readers to either do the same, or nominate a woman candidate of their choice.

We are thrilled to see such inspiring women formally recognised for their contribution to our community.

Ann Krause was recognised for her incredible work with supporting breast cancer survivors, having been diagnosed with breast cancer herself in 2007.

Ann was one of Bluestone’s Quiet Heroes and, as we have written previously, volunteers for a range of breast cancer support groups.

She is the regional community liaison officer for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA), a group that ensures women and their families are given the very best support upon diagnosis, and is also the co-ordinator of the Warrnambool Social Breast Cancer Support Group.

Ann was also the instigator of the Warrnambool South C Dragons women’s paddling group and remains its president. This social group is soon to head to its first Tasmanian regatta.

Julie Eagles – who was another of Bluestone’s Quiet Heroes – was recognised for her contribution to the conservation and promotion of local history.

The WCC said Julie has been a “tireless campaigner for many years” toward recognising and preserving the city’s built and social heritage and assisted in critical decision making and planning processes around this heritage.

“As a key player in the Warrnambool Heritage and Planning Group, Julie has helped to protect and preserve our irreplaceable built and social heritage for the enjoyment of the community and for generations to come,” the council said in its media statement.

And, as it so happens, local achiever Megan Nicolson was our very first Quiet Hero, way back in September 2013.

As a long-term member of the F Project artists’ collective, Megan was instrumental in establishing The Artery art space in Timor St, which has not only revitalised the local arts scene, but also a key part of Warrnambool’s CBD.

Megan, an artist, has since played a pivotal – and often exhausting – role in the highly successful Fletcher Jones community picnics and arts markets, held at Pleasant Hill last September and December.

Congratulations to all the award recipients, including the Community Event of the Year, the Rotary Hole-in-One Competition.

The award winners will be officially recognised at a ceremony in the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens on Monday, January 26, from 10.30am.