At the previous Planning & Policy Committee Meeting, I publicly requested a review of all expenditure allocated to Council's Koala Strategy in the General Business section of the meeting agenda.
This formal request to review all expenditure was voted down by the majority of Councillors.
This was driven by significant concern from members of our community on recent spending including LED koala signs, questionable acquisition of land for environmental reasons, the cost of funding koala social media and the new “www.koala central.com.au” website which should be funded from multiple agencies across the nation, not just Redland City ratepayers.
Most people, like me, want to see an effort made in protecting the koala. The debate should not be whether we save the koala and whose fault it is that the numbers are declining. Rather, the discussion should be how we can sustainably and realistically protect the koala. Roads, houses, dogs, and disease are not going to mysteriously disappear unless we are ALL happy to pack up, leave our cars and houses behind and move to Logan or the Gold Coast. Is the very promotion of the “urban koala” an oxymoron that will further add to its demise? This is the type of question that we need to ask and debate.
The debate should not centre around saving the koala at the expense of all other community priorities. For instance, the recent $12000 Koala Hedonic Property Study tells us our properties are worth more if we have sighted a koala nearby. How does this protect the species? How does this rate higher than an Hedonic study for Redland properties that don't have access to reasonable infrastructure? Instead, we need a common sense and balanced approach on how we protect the koala in line with the other community priorities.
We should not be spending money just for the sake of spending money. It is time to assess the situation, look at all the options and stop the blame game that further divides our community and apply some common sense. We should not continue to allow the plight of the koala to further divide Council and the community.
Definition of "HEDONICS" - noun - the branch of psychology that deals with pleasurable and unpleasurable states of consciousness.
I find it somewhat unbelievable that a sitting councillor can be 'voted down' from access to financial information of this nature. Incredible in fact.
ReplyDeleteThis bizarre and disturbing fact aside, I'd like to take the www.koala-central.com.au website to task, which, due to the scope and complexity on show, I assume was farmed out (of the Redlands) to an agency at great expense.
Apart from the fact that the website does not work in some areas - broken links and broken javascript; this is a slow, poorly built website, laden with garbage code, which doesn't meet the most rudimentary web standards.
Given that this is a council-funded website, there would certainly be grounds for this website to require serious rectification to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 - required for all Government websites…
"Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 agencies must ensure that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights to access information as the rest of the community."
http://webpublishing.agimo.gov.au/Accessibility.html
Upon automated checking I found this website to have 22 XHTML validation errors on the homepage alone, invalid CSS (2.1) and fails to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
http://www.cynthiasays.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=2&url1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.koalacentral.com.au%2F
One would have thought the Greenies would have ensured open access for all for this website, though it appears not.
I can believe it Karen. This Council doesn't seem to want to listen or have a discussion. "Pride goes before a fall" - any area of government that gets arrogant and looses touch with the people will end up getting voted out.
ReplyDeleteThis is unbelievable... how can this Council refuse to review public expenditure on a major strategy which their ratepayers are funding... again they are seen as a law unto themselves... an abuse of the power given to them by the people.. we are sick of them they are costing us a fortune and failing to follow due process of public examination on expenditure ... makes me and many otherse feel sick ... Council expenditure is supposed to be transparent and accountable and open for public comment ... so many of us would like to know the money spent by the "Melva" council of environmental activists ... what goes on behind close doors makes you wonder when they refuse to review their expenditure... maybe they don't want us to know exactly how much the Koala Strategy is costing each and everyone of us???? Keep going Karen I am forwarding your blog to all my contacts and asking them to forward to theirs as well... we are all interested in scrutinising this radical environmental activist Council -- they think they can get away with squandering our hard earned money on their own "interest" groups... keep them honest and keep up your good work, thanks again!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, Its a bit disturbing that as a councillor you can't get finincal information. What hope do the residents have. Even more disturbing is Damiens comments regarding the new web site meeting determined standards. This council needs to be brought to task on both these accounts. How do we support getting the financial you requested. How many residents do we need to get to a council meeting to demand this.
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