Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Now on seven excess, it's time to talk all things
wild West with Shane Pitt, Mayor of the West Coast.
It is time for mayor on their Good morning Shane,
Good morning Andrew. How are you Friday?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Love it into the work for working work for some people.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
That's right, yours has just started, I believe, Yes, okay,
we're going to listen to questioned.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's anonymous.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Is there any way that I can evince my nature
strip off so that the sheep can't you know what?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Over it? Second?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Tight of ringing the police. The owners don't care about them.
They just let them roam. The people of Peter Krotty
and Dixon Street need help.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, well we've had this has been an issue in
the past. Andrew and I went to the Biosecurity so
if they could assist with this, and because it is
not a council issue with the sheep roaming, so we
went and tried our best and I guess at the
time they come down and looked and talked to the
residents in the area and also talk to the owner
(01:02):
of them sheep with regard to that. Also, RSPCA have
been down here as well to look at the health
of the sheep, and yeah, I guess with regard to
de fencing off the nature strip, well, that's something the
resident needs to put an application into council with regard
to so that, of course I can't. The footpath part
(01:23):
of the nature strip cannot be fenced off. But you know,
under our nature strip policy we did say that residents
could do with the nature strip with if they know
whatever they would like under some certain conditions.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Sheet droppings everywhere, no.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I guess you know, that's one thing. But the resident
has asked if she can fence off the nature strip.
I guess that's something which she will need to make
an application to counsel yep, and they'll review that and
see what. You know, if the fence is not an
issue for passer bys or residents other residents in the area,
that may be able to happen. But until an application
(02:05):
is made, we won't be able to look into that
condition and see what whether we can assist. I will
contact Biosecurity again and see if they can do anything
about the sheet.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, again, well let's go to council matters the Bendigo Bank.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, this hot topic, Andrew, it is, yes, and I
guess Council stands with the community in the dismay have
the announcement that the Beni Go Bank in Queenstone will
close its doors in September. We found out well after
the event, more or less that other community members had
(02:43):
already found out before we knew.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
It was a shock.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It was a shock. At a recent council meeting moved
the motion to investigate options for the Bendigo Community Bank
for the West Coast community, which included continuing until the
end of the loose on the thirtieth of June twenty
twenty six, was moved. So still we've had a meeting
(03:06):
with the Bendigo Bank that didn't go down all that well.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
So what came out of that meeting.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, I guess their view is that they're still going
down that track. We've certainly after the motion, we've certainly
written to as many politicians as the main politicians that
we can. So we've wrote to the Treasurer, Jim Charmers
to see whether he could change their mind or at
(03:33):
least you know, we understand that there's been a lot
of Benigo banks around Australia closing down. Yeah, so it's
not just our community, but.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
We look at us, because we're the only one on
the west coast of a stated territory that's got no bank.
We're to travel two and a half hours and two
and a half hours back to our banking.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
That's right, mate, And I guess you know that the
feedback we got from the Bendigo Bank that the bank
wasn't going all that well, it was losing money, which
you know, we understand that businesses need to be commercially viable,
but you know, in the on the other side of things,
also banks should we have a little bit of social
enterprise when it comes to the communities as well. So
(04:15):
we continued the discussions regarding the closure. We've got meetings.
We've had meetings with politicians, as I said, the Benigo Bank,
and also we've.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Had small meetings here J's Cafe, a cafe. People have
pointed out what their reasoning is, why is it closing,
where is it going? Where's the town and where's the
west coast going?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh, that's right mate, and I guess you know that
was That's why this meeting has been called on Sunday,
the third of August. So this Sunday, three pm at
the Memorial Hall in Queenstown, and I guess that was
after the meeting that we had with the Labor state
politicians winter Yes was decided. Then you know, we need
(05:01):
to find out whether the community is all behind this,
behind the push to save the bank, because if the
community is not behind it, you know, we're probably was
wasting our time. Exactly, Well, we're not wasting our time,
but it shows.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That the as many hands as we can.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Exactly, it shows that the community is probably not behind
the saving of the bank and we will continue to
fight until them doors have closed, and hopefully they won't close,
but you know, let's see what we can do. We've
got a lot of people behind this from all sides
of politics over there in Canberra and also the state.
So yeah, we'll see how the meeting goes on Sunday
(05:42):
because that gives us a fair idea of how the
community is thinking about this. And I guess I want
to see as many people there as possible. We've got
a few politicians coming as well, so that's great to
see that they'll be down here. But you know it's
up to the community now to to voice.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Their well put petition to the meny Go.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Bank exactly, mate, And I think, you know, we've we
approached him about turning it back to a community bank,
and they were against that given that you know, when
it started a community bank over ten years ago. Now
they said it needed required two hundred and fifty zerousand
to get the bank off the ground. Well now that
they're saying it's closer to a million dollars. But you know,
(06:26):
there's there is other options that we believe. So we've
you know, we'll see how how everything pans out. And
the federal government, of course, they had the bank inquiry
which the Senate asked for, and you know, the report
was tabled, but the government hasn't done anything with that
report as such. They've done some parts of it, but
(06:49):
not not the full reports. So let's see, if you know,
we can have a little bit of bit of political
push from the feeds in camera and see whether they
can assisters as well.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, okay, okay, we'll get to the annual plan now.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, So for anyone interesting, we shared a breakdown of
the new budget and the priority actions from the annual
plane on our social media For those that aren't on Facebook,
of course, we've got copies of the Annual Plan are
available at the office and our agencies around the West Coast.
So yeah, we'll also have a dedicated page on our
(07:25):
website for a copy of the plane in the community
in the summary of the budget and action. So it's
out now, Andrew, so we want Yeah, that's the community's
got an opportunity to review that document.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And find out where their rates are going.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And so we're heading in the next twelve months.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Can then Shame, We'll take a break.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Keeping you in touch with your community.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
We're talking with the Mayor of the West Coast, Shane
Pitt on West Coast seven Excess. We're back with Shane
Pip with they're on air. Good morning Shane, Good morning Andrew.
Back again, mate, back again. Yes, after that break, the
annual Plan focus areas with the breakout.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, for the next few weeks, we'd like to highlight
the focus areas within the annual Plan for twenty five
twenty six. So each area relates to the twenty five
Community Plan which we went through earlier this year and
signed off on. So first up is our people and
our community focus areas. So this year our priorities are
(08:27):
for our people, our community, which include the Health and
well Being strategy, implementation, So a youth planning consultation, development
implementation supporting the Cultural Commons Committee. So that's off and
running now, but it's got off to a slow start
but hopefully picks up. And I guess these new committees
(08:49):
do start off slowly. But that's taking a little bit
of a road now.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So let's see how that sounds great.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Heads investigating a council train ship program. So it's something
we thought, you know, might be of interest to some
of our local children here to keep them in our
community that may.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Not want to be ones.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that may not want to head off to higher education.
Is opportunity there for a traineeship, So we'll see how
that pans out over the next twelve months. And also
of course collaborating, advocating, facilating connections with education providers to
help our local students as well. So yeah, no, I guess.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
It's a big problem with the young ones moving away.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It's not a problem, but it's just that, you know,
we want to make sure that we keep there is
children out there that want to stay with their parents,
and we want to see them parents stay in our
community as well, so as many as many opportunities for
them children as possible to move into the future with
our job prospects. Is better for them than seeing them
(09:57):
travel off and move. Yeah, moved for higher education, and
of course, you know, we need to make sure that
these children also have the opportunity to have the higher
education here on the West Coast as well. So there's
a lot of things that we need to look at here.
So next week we'll chat about another focus area. But
(10:19):
you know, we've also got the implementation of our Reconciliation
Action Plan as well, so which we signed off on
last year's so you know, there's a fairbit happening. Yeah,
and it's all as we mentioned, it is all part
of the twenty twenty thirty five Community Plan which fits
into this year's annual plan.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So we've got some positions vacant, we.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Have, mate, we have, Yeah, So we're recruiting for a
couple of positions at the moment. There's the Executive Officer
who provides support to myself and the general Manager, and
also Community and Grants Officer who will be working closely
with the community to develop programs projects, including applying for funds.
So there's a lot of grant funding comes across the
(11:05):
desk on occasions, Andrew, and it'd be good to make
sure that we've got.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, someone that knows how it works.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, and the opportunity for community groups here to be
able to reach out to someone to assist them to
apply for them grants, because you know, it's something which
we'd like to see more money come to the West
Coast from these grants and which will assist these community.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Got plenty of community groups out there.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
We have, Mate, we have and you know, not just
only community groups, that's also council can tap into some
of these grants as well, and you know, we want
to make sure we don't miss the boat there and
able to get some of this funding that you know
we need to maintain or not maintain, but putting new
projects around our communities as well. So if anyone's interested
(11:55):
in them positions. The descriptions are available from the council
office or from Council's website, where people can also submit
their application online now, so which is great, nice and easy. Yeah.
So both Ralph's applications close on Monday, the eleventh of August,
so not not too far away away.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Anything else we need to talk about, Shane.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh, no, I think we've just about covered everything mate,
I think.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
The main thing for from my point of view is
to see as many people as possible at the community
meeting on Sunday at the Memorial Hall in Queenstown.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
To be straight up to the market anyway it.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Will be mate. Yeah, so it is it is important
that we show our hand and make sure that we
can get I guess you know, we'll have a couple
of motions at the at the meeting to try and
work through how what we want to do the media.
I guess tact, we want to take who we want
to right to further in the political scene because from
(13:01):
the discussions we have with the Bennigo Bank hierarchy it's yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Not it does not looking good.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
No, it's not looking good. So but we'll continue the fight.
That's what we do here in the West Coast. We'll
continue to push until you know, so as I say,
the it's the end of the line.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
So that's it. That's it.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Well, Shane, I'll see you on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Ok, thank you here and.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We'll see you next next Friday.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That's Shane Pitt. That's maor on it.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And of course you've got any questions for the mayor,
whether it be in your street, in your town, get
in touch with us, we'll ask it for you. Just
head on notice sevenexcess dot com dot au and give
us the details.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
That is mayor on it all.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Thanks for the West Coast Council working in partnership with
your community. You're on better music and more of it
West Coast seven Excess