The association believes that Cr Tony Allen should be congratulated for his initiative in moving a motion that council should establish a Community Disaster Relief Fund to operate in perpetuity & assist residents & ratepayers whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by natural disasters such as bushfires or floods.
While the association acknowledges that all councillors supported Cr Allen’s motion, that is hardly surprising given that opposing the proposal would be akin to voting against motherhood.
What is surprising is the apparent ignorance on the part of the elected council as to its options for establishing a fund & its failure to call-out council’s senior management for not having addressed the issue in a timely & objective manner, while persistently arguing that any fund should be operated by private sector interests.
While the association believes that council should acknowledge & thank Mr Dunn for his offer, it nevertheless believes that if council took the trouble to genuinely investigate the requirements necessary to establish a council-managed charitable fund, it would discover that it is not as difficult as council management has consistently made-out.
Indeed, as Mr Dunn acknowledged in his address to council, the process of establishing a charitable fund is relatively straight forward: even for council. The association also contends that persistent claims made by council management that to set-up such a fund would be as difficult as establishing the Mayoral Appeal Fund are simply dishonest & self-serving, with that fund having been specifically set-up in accordance with the regulatory requirements attached to an official declared natural disaster.
The association believes the council management is against the idea of establishing a council managed community disaster relief fund simply because it believes the task is too onerous. But rather than being honest about its motives, council management has deliberately prevaricated & avoided every effort to honestly address the issue.
What a surprise. This from an organisation that can routinely bury residents & ratepayers in paper at the drop of a hat or produce legal advice claiming that night is really day or whatever other self-serving claim that it is trying to push.
Over the past seven months since the
Yankees Gap fire, both the
Mayor &
Deputy Mayor have attempted to gain clarity from council’s management on the status of the issue. Management responses on both occasions (
here &
here) have studiously ignored the questions posed & clearly sought to confuse the elected council on the issue. Even during the ordinary meeting of March 13th, 2019, it was clear that there was confusion amongst some councillors on the issue.
The association became so frustrated with council’s behaviour that it has obtained its own formal legal advice as to the ability of council to establish & operate a Community Disaster Relief Fund in perpetuity. The association believes that if council management was the least bit interested in finding the best way forward, then it would have sought its own advice many months ago from one of the horde of legal firms that it eagerly consults on just about everything-else.
Needless to say, contrary to the view expressed by council management, the association’s legal advice makes it clear that there is only one thing preventing council from establishing its own charitable fund under current legislation & achieving DGR status for that fund, & that is council’s willingness to do so.
While the association has no issue with Mr Dunn or his company, it is opposed to the involvement of a private sector organisation in the establishment & operation of a community disaster relief fund, primarily because it believes that for such a fund to be successful, it is vitally important for it to enjoy the confidence of the community, with that best achieved when such activities are undertaken by government.
The association also believes that the kind of auspiced model suggested by council management would detract from the standing of the fund within the community & could well discourage donations, in particular from the business community, whilst potentially giving rise to governance issues.
In all the circumstances, the association believes that council has an enormous amount to do to convince residents & ratepayers that it is genuinely interested in supporting them in the face of such natural disasters that may overtake us in the future.
Going nowhere.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
