In the Meeting Agenda released by the Surf Coast Shire for the council meeting to be held Tuesday 17/10, item 4.3 on Page 48 introduces the next step in the process being folowed by Council to clean up the mess initiated by Cr Humphrey. You can donwload the entire agenda from the Surf Coast Shire website, just scroll to Page 48 to read the detail (Click here to see the agenda)

There’s a couple of things that are interesting in the agenda that are worth pointing out, as follows:

• The council acknowledges that the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) did not support the council motion in the early stages of the process
• Although we have not seen the actual letter sent by the Planning Minister to the council, the agenda does quote the Minister as saying “It would be imprudent to proceed further without appropriate local consultation being undertaken.”
• The council acknowledges that “there has not been a broad ranging and structure [sic] consultation process undertaken. For example, the people who legitimately and legally use Pt Impossible as an option dress beach and the broader community were not consulted prior to the Council considering the above action.” This is the first time (as far as we are aware) that the council acknolwedges the community was not consulted, contrary to what Cr Humphrey would have you believe
• Council has requested the Shire CEO (Peter Bollen) to prepare a community consultation framework
• Council suggests there will be “considerable political risk to Council if it maintains its current position in relation to
  its request to Minister Hulls to revoke the optional dress provisions at Pt Impossible without undertaking a
  structured and open consultation process.” - That’s a bit more than a public meeting, Cr Humphrey…
• Finally, council acknowledges that “consultation may inform Council that its current position in this matter is justified or alternatively it may return that further thought needs to be given to this issue”. The nudist community is of the belief that much further thought is required, preferably based on facts rather than the emotive rhetoric and specious assertions that put council in this position in the first place

The Victorian nudist community supports the notion of open and reasonable discussion of the issues within a consultative framework that allows for the contributions of all interested parties to be considered. The community also welcomes any opportunity to be involved in the process that defines the consultative framework, in consideration of the unique ways the community communicates internally throughout the state and nationally.

It is our view the Cr Humphrey’s suggestion to hold an open forum to resolve the issues “once and for all” (as quoted in the Geelong Advertiser 16/10 and referred to in a previous post on this site) is a naive and short-sighted view of how appropriate and comprehensive community consultation should be undertaken. Cr Humphrey’s poorly researched original motion and subsequent behaviour (particularly in the media) has only served to highlight his unwillingness (or inability) to present verifiable facts and remain impartial on these issues, and has not served the interests of the community or the council as a result.

We’ll keep you informed of the outcome of the meeting, and urge everyone to be ready with the letters and comments for submission

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 1:40 am and is filed under Beaches, General News, Pt Impossible, Southside. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.