Margaret and Max Treasure, Walpa
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
COUNCIL code of conduct primary principles include act with integrity, be impartial and act honestly.
At a recent East Gippsland Shire Council meeting, a motion was passed.
In summary, this motion directed the chief executive officer to advise authorities that East Gippsland Shire Council opposed the proposed mineral sand mine at Glenaladale.
Some councillors who voted in favour of this motion are on record indicating their opposition to the proposed mine, prior to the studies being completed or the release of the environment effects statement.
Some made submissions to the inquiry and advisory committee stating their opposition to the project, and some allegedly made financial donations to a group opposing the mine.
Maybe a conflict of interest should be declared. It appears some are pursuing their own agenda, making decisions without all the facts, have no respect or consideration for the majority of the 47,316 residents of East Gippsland Shire.
Of the 909 submissions regarding the EES, 75 per cent of them are sample submissions, same wording repeated many times, some neglected to amend the prompts and apparently didn’t read the submission: copy and paste from Mine Free Glenaladale website, obviously no knowledge of East Gippsland or Glenaladale.
Many from Friends of the Earth, Animal Extinction, professional activists etc.
The petition presented to the state government also lacked credibility – allegedly signed multiple times by the same people, manipulation of fact, even a free sausage in bread, sauce provided.
We must have stable employment or East Gippsland will become one large retirement village.
Council must be progressive and consider the expectations of all, personal agendas are not appropriate and a minority group should not dictate our future.
It appears we have a biased council intent on stopping the proposed mine.
East Gippsland deserves a council that will promote development and growth and keep our skilled workforce employed locally.
