Political backflip full of twists

EDRINGTON Ward councillor Brian Hetherton can take full marks for Timbarra getting a secondary college.
And the City of Casey should not be forced to continue with a commitment to buy part of the Timbarra school site for a sports centre.
Residents living in the Timbarra Estate west of Berwick Village and Casey Council have been caught in an extraordinary political sting that could cost the council more than $1 million. However, because of politics, a secondary school could be built for the area.
The State Government last year earmarked the land originally set aside for a secondary college as redundant for educational purposes and put it up for sale.
Cr Hetherton objected to this and called a series of meetings in an effort to gain public support to have the land acquired for community use.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan insisted at one public meeting that a school was not needed on the site and would not be built.
Timbarra Residents Association president Brian Miller said the Education Department land was needed for a sports facility.
The then Liberal candidate for Narre Warren North, Cr Mick Morland, told the meeting that a Liberal Government would build the school.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford told the meeting the council was negotiating purchase of part of the site and that the remainder of the site was too small for a school.
And Mr Miller cancelled a third public meeting at which Mr Donnellan had promised to tell residents what his government would do with the site. He failed to discuss with Cr Hetherton why the meeting was cancelled. Why?
My view is that Mr Miller would have been aware then that the Bracks Government had made a turnaround over the school.
This was brought on because of the Liberal promise to build a college and obvious public feeling at meetings demanding a school, plus fear that Mr Donnellan, despite his nine per cent margin, was at risk. The last thing they wanted was another public meeting that would have revealed the capitulation that was announced just before the election.
Revealing this at a public meeting also would have highlighted the backflip and made it a political issue.
Luke Donellan and his minders were careful not to let me know about the change because I had followed and written about the process for weeks and would have highlighted reasons for the back flip.
The situation now is that Casey Council is facing massive expenditure to buy a chunk of land it doesn’t need.
The council has been tricked into making a commitment to buy part of the land and should withdraw from negotiations with the government on purchase of the sports site.
It should enter into a joint use program for students and community for any sports facilities built on the site.
Cr Bradford, who has worked for Mr Donnellan, told the Tuesday 21 November council meeting that the council had been fighting a long time to have a secondary campus on the site.
This was in stark contrast to his insisting at the public meeting on Monday 31 July that the council did not support the school being built and that it would not be built.
Nevertheless, the process initiated by Cr Hetherton was directly responsible for forcing the Bracks Government into meeting its obligation not to sell communityowned land and to build the muchneeded college.
Perhaps those councillors persistently calling for accountability, transparency and a check on wasting ratepayers’ money will also not support further negotiations to pay for this land.
The council should walk away from the deal.