Which of our councillors have owned a racehorse?

The simple question of which Warrnambool City councillors have owned a racehorse has thrown up all sorts of hurdles. Image: sportspix

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how hard it has become to get to the truth, and for people to get answers to even straight-forward questions, like how many Warrnambool City councillors have owned shares in a racehorse in the past four or five years.

This question was put to the CEO as part of public question time at last month’s council meeting and also asked by me directly to each councillor, and we still don’t have a full answer.

Here is what we know so far:

Cr Sue Cassidy told me via email that she had shares in two horses: one, trained by Michelle Payne, she dipped out of in early to mid 2018 and the other, trained by local Matthew Williams, she divested in 2017.

Crs David Owen and Tony Herbert said they have had no such interests.

Crs Kylie Gaston and Mike Neoh didn’t respond to either me or the CEO.

Cr Robert Anderson didn’t respond either, but I chased him up with a phone call because I was told he did – and does – have interests in a racehorse. He told me in no uncertain and angry terms that it was none of my business, that it was personal, and that the question was on par with asking whether he had three girlfriends, or lived with a man, or owned four houses…..err, not quite.

 

As it stands, under the Local Government Act 1989 (written on parchment), none of the above is considered a direct conflict of interest, even though the councillors have been hotly involved in the racehorses on beaches debate.

Under the new Act, going through State Parliament as we speak, it will be. It is also a conflict under IBAC guidelines, but guidelines are not rules or laws: they just encourage public officers to name it up. (The old ‘pub test’.)

I can’t help but wonder how things might have unfolded around the whole racehorses on beaches battle if we had known about these interests from day one.

As it now stands, the council may still have to make one more major decision, even though the majority of trainers have agreed to no longer pursue Levy’s.

Racing Victoria/Country Racing Victoria is apparently coming the heavy on the Warrnambool Racing Club to press on with Levy’s, because to back out now could set a precedent to close off other horse training beaches like Balnarring and Barwon Heads.

We always suspected W’bool was a pawn in a much bigger game.

Surely our council would never succumb to such pressure….would it?

This article is part of an ongoing series supported by the Walkley Foundation, including funding Freedom of Information applications and other research tools. If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, you can find the Tip Jar here.



Racehorse trainers abandon Levy’s: the battle is over

A four-year-battle to save Levy’s Beach from mass racehorse training is over. Image supplied.

Exclusive

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A four-year battle to save Levy’s Beach/Tarerer coast from mass racehorse training is over, with a meeting of all trainers last night (Mon) voting to abandon the plan.

A meeting of about 40 SWOTRA* trainers was held to gauge opinion once and for all, and, according to a rock-solid source, it was decided by an overwhelming majority that they would no longer pursue access to Levy’s/Spookies Beach.

Trainers will instead use only Lady Bay, where numbers will be capped at 50 a day, down from 96.

The meeting, attended by an officer from the Warrnambool City Council, also agreed to lobby for better sand training facilities at the Warrnambool racecourse.

Hallelujah.

Common sense has prevailed, at last.

I could weep.

I could weep for that beautiful, wild beach, which finally has a chance to recover from decades of abuse and neglect and be nurtured.

It is time.

While the WCC is yet to formally vote on the plan, the trainers’ decision makes that vote a virtual fait accompli. It will happen quickly.

Last night’s meeting comes just three weeks after the council deferred making any decision on Levy’s so it could meet again with the main players, including trainers, and traditional owners who have been strongly against turning a precious slice of Country into an exercise park for racehorses.

Now it is done.

Now we will see an end to an ugly battle that has raged for years and savaged our community.

So many people – led by the steadfast Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group – fought to stop the madness of allowing up to 120 racehorses a day, every day, to train along the beach, and another 40 a day to trample up and down the large dune.

This outrageous assault was going to be allowed all year round.

This was never a compromise: this was utter capitulation to the Darren Weir juggernaut that blew our community apart.

There are many things that I find unforgivable about Weir, and cleaving our community in two is one of them.

The stretch of Tarerer coast/Belfast Coastal Reserve, including the dune, that was to be opened up to racehorse training. Image: Chris Farrell.

The uncomfortable truth is that if Weir had not fallen into his own vat of troubles, we would still be at war, such was his power and influence over our star-struck council and the racing industry.

Who could forget that terrible, “urgent” council meeting held just four days before Christmas in 2018, when the anger and vitriol spilled over for all to see?

It was brutal and ugly and so damaging.

Warrnambool, which has long been a racing town, was forced to take sides and friendships and families have suffered.

Now, to pull out a cliche, the healing must begin.

Levy’s Beach has to be healed and the hoons booted out through proper, serious enforcement. If you are caught being a dickhead, you are fined $3000 on the spot – that sort of serious enforcement.

And the training rules of Lady Bay need to be enforced and be seen to be enforced.

No more slaps on the wrist, no more relying on the public to capture wrong-doings on their i-phones, but instead an independent monitor who will release monthly, public reports via the council.

I recently found out through Freedom of Information that Parks Victoria planned to charge the Warrnambool Racing Club a whopping annual licence fee of $62,400 to use Levy’s Beach, such is the privilege.

Using Lady Bay for racehorse training is an equal privilege.

It is our main beach and it is our compromise, but it can only work if there is respect for the rules on all sides.

We have a chance to get the balance back.

This exhausting battle is over and – I hope – the war is too.

————

[*Trainers must be a member of the South West Owners and Trainers Association to access local beaches. The group has about 40 members, from full-time professionals to hobbyists.]

Thankyou to the Walkley Foundation for funding part of my investigative work with this on-going story, including expensive and time-consuming Freedom of Information applications and other research tools. If you would like to help The Terrier keep digging, you can find the Tip Jar here.



Cr Neoh attempts to be hero, but nobody falling for this one

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well this has to stick in your craw.

Cr Mike Neoh is riding in on his silver horse having realised – just 8 months out from an election – that things are broken at the WCC.

You are spot on there, Cr Neoh, but what did you do in the past five years to change that culture of which you now speak?

The bullies that have made life hell for some people in council didn’t arrive last week.

They were employed by the previous CEO.

The credit card rorting didn’t happen yesterday.

It started years ago, under the previous CEO.

 

False and misleading council reports -especially around things like Flagstaff Hill and the Aquazone – have been an issue for years. (I know, because I have been writing about it!)

That appalling “good bloke” culture that suffocated so many good people has thrived unquestioned for years.

You – and the other senior councillors – didn’t inherit this shite, you were right there, watching, as it all unfolded.

So while I am absolutely overjoyed that AT LAST the councillors have decided to listen to the staff who have been suffering for so long, it is disingenuous to act surprised.

The alarm bells have been ringing and, like him or not, Cr Peter Hulin was one of the chief bellringers.

The new CEO Peter Schneider, unfortunately, has not lived up to expectations and certainly not built bridges or healed the wounds.

Given Cr Neoh’s public declaration today, I suspect Mr Schneider is now a dead man walking. He will probably be gone within six months.

But he must not be the only one.

A clean out of all the dysfunction is necessary and that must come not only in the next few weeks, but also in October.

(Photo from The Warrnambool Standard home page, with my words added at the top. You can read Rachael Houlihan’s exclusive story here: https://www.standard.net.au/…/city-council-has-serious-cu…/…)



Breaking down: WCC staggers under the weight of old ways

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

It’s 12 months since the Warrnambool City Council started a new chapter under a new CEO, but still it staggers under the weight of the old regime that is pulling the place apart.

As I write, I have just heard from solid sources that two high-level staff have taken leave amid allegations of bullying.

Other senior staff  have taken sick leave or unexplained leave, including the head of governance who has not been seen for months.

Over the past six months, staff have continued to resign, paying tribute to their workmates, but saying they can no longer deal with the workplace culture and a lack of leadership.

One senior staffer who left put it this way in a letter to colleagues: “I urge you to stick to your values, call out things that are not in line with the organisation’s values and most importantly, be kind to each other.”

The elected council, meanwhile, remains riven with deep rivalries that pit the Cr Gaston/Neoh faction against the Cr Hulin/Cassidy/sometimes Herbert faction, in a bitter struggle which is circular and exhausting.

To be frank, despite the polite smiles in the council chamber, most of the time they want to rip each other’s heads off.

Whistleblowers have been isolated and the CEO’s supposed “open-door” policy remains blocked by gatekeepers, so staff  are reluctant or unable to step through.

Even the CEO is kept in the dark, having allegedly not been briefed about the looming credit card scandal until June last year, which is when the scandal broke publicly.

In that environment, faith is broken and people learn to just shut up and get on with it.

Or they resign.

I say all this being fully aware – and grateful – that the council is full of decent, solid, hard-working, loyal people who give their absolute best to Warrnambool as true servants of the public and they make up the vast majority of council staff.

But the fact is the new CEO, Peter Schneider, inherited a shite sandwich which he has been unable to turn around.

Just three months before Mr Schneider started, the results of an independent staff survey leaked into the public domain and it was not a pretty picture.

It found that since 2014, the council had gone backward on every key measure, including leadership, people, customer focus, and strategy and planning.

Most telling was that while 71 per cent of all staff said they felt proud to work at the council, only 51 per cent said they looked forward to coming to work each day.

In one department, only 39 per cent enjoyed coming to work each day.

That is not a sign of a happy place, but a place where good people keep hanging in there, hoping things will get better.

They haven’t – I have seen resignation letters and spoken to some of those who have left – and they won’t until three things happen:

a full, open and independent assessment of the workplace culture with a commitment to act on the results;

an end to the bunker mentality by being open and honest with the public;

a changing of the guard at the next council elections in October.

 

Without these, I fear that the WCC will continue to lumber along like a bus on broken wheels, wondering why it’s losing all of its passengers.



Traditional Owners lift their voices, but will we ever listen?

The section of Tarerer coast (Belfast Coastal Reserve) and large dune that will be opened up to commercial racehorse training under plans still before the W’bool City Council. Image: Chris Farrell

Letter to Warrnambool City Councillors 2 Feb 2020

By Lee-Anne Clarke and on behalf of  Elder Aunty Julie Jose and Tom Clarke

Today we are writing to you, as we are aware that there is a Warrnambool Council Meeting
on the 3 February 2020. On your Agenda for this meeting, you have listed 5.2 Horses on
Beach – Land Manager Consent Spookys.

Our interest in the Agenda Item stipulated is to add our Cultural lens and views as
Traditional Owners of the Kirrae Whurrong/Peek Wurrung people. Our view on our Cultural
Landscape; our Traditional Lands of Eastern Maar people.

We do not want commercial horses on the BCR – Peek Wurrung Dune Country.

BCR – Peek Wurrung Dune Country:

Along this Coastline beginning around Port Campbell, The Twelve Apostles (Kirrae
Whurrong) and Point Ritchie – Moyjil (Peek Wurrung), Hopkins River, Thunder Point, Peek
Wurrung Dune Country, further down Tarerer, right through to Gunditjmara Budj Bim
Cultural Landscape (Now on the World Heritage Listing), we have thousands of years of
scientific evidence of First Nations occupation.

This part of our Country in which we as Eastern Maar call our Ancestral and Spiritual Homelands. This area in which has been
recorded where our people were quite heavily populated and utilizing this are for
Traditional Customs, enjoyment, economy and environment, Ceremony and trade over
many, many thousands of years. In fact Moyjil being investigated and dated as old as 80,000
to 120,000 thousand years. Moyjil is around 5 kms from our Dune Country.

Does this not tell you something?

In the Reserve, it has been well known that firstly the commercial horse training has begun
and continued illegally for years and never reprimanded or picked up as an Illegal activity on
the Reserve within your Council.

During this time, there has been unsurmountable damage that has occurred that is
irreparable within the HH Track area. Ancient sands damage and artefacts damaged with
riders and their horses.

Within these Dunes, we have Burial sites, artefacts, shell middens, hearth ovens and
ceremonial sites.

We also hold Dreaming Stories. Dreaming Stories are Creation stories of the Cultural
Landscape. Dreaming Stories are treasured and held in high regard across the whole of
Australia.

We also have a healthy native wildlife and birdlife there who consider this place their home.
These animals and birds whom we are connected to via our Totems and incorporates our
Ceremonial dance, our way of working in synchronicity with Country; to sustain healthy
country.

We would like you to consider Peek Wurrung Dune Country to be delicately nurtured in way
of supporting Traditional Custodians and wider Community to care for Country.

Protection of Cultural Heritage:

In caring for Country, we would envisage, seeking governmental support, and funding for
this area. We would expect there to be a demand of Tourism in the area as there are rising
interests in Aboriginal Culture as is well received across other places of interests regarding
Aboriginal Culture.

We would believe the protection of Cultural Heritage needs to be recognized in this area,
for First Nations, and be given the opportunity to create an infallible foundation in looking
after this amazing reserve, and give the respect it deserves.

For the Protection of Cultural Heritage versus commercial horse training on sand dunes and
beaches these two are in direct conflict. There is greater support for the protection of
Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

We believe in investing in long term Cultural Heritage, as tourism is the future.

As to the industrialization of horses, training on our highly sensitive Dune Country and
highly concentrated Aboriginal Cultural Heritage our artefacts submerged within the ever so
sensitive BCR – Peek Wurrung Dune Country, would implicate further destruction through
this type of abuse within this area.

We are extremely concerned about the irresponsible destruction, damage and interference
the proposed activity will undoubtedly bring to our little and remaining Cultural Heritage.

We consider this our natural environment our Cathedral, our Church.

Our unyielding love for this Country has our Elders terribly upset, concerned, and have cried openly for Country
such is the love and raw emotion that genuinely attaches us to Dune Country.
It would be irresponsible for us not to speak out as next of kin of our Ancestral and Spiritual
homelands.

As a lure from the Gambling Industry, a consideration of a yes vote, would invoke serious
implications of the whole of the reserve as time goes on.
Please shut the gate on this now and save the little remaining pristine area that we have
left, the Belfast Coastal Reserve – Peek Wurrung Dune Country.

The statistics show the horses do not need this Reserve to use for their personal gain in the
racing industry.

As Traditional Custodians, in dignity, we would like to ask you to, please do not allow
commercial racehorses on Belfast Coastal Reserve – Peek Wurrung Dune Country.

Wurruk.