Peter Conway’s status as a “white knight’’ for Campaspe Shire’s vulnerable citizens made headlines last year when he challenged the local government authority’s leasing policy.
He became the toast of the town when he tackled the issue of council demanding community groups enter into commercial lease arrangements to continue using council owned buildings.
The experienced negotiator also took aim at council’s Asset Management Plan and — after a couple of months of back and forth — walked away with his sword safely back in its sheath, ready for his next battle.
Policy 161 related to lease arrangements for community groups that occupy council-owned buildings and Mr Conway was at the centre of a series of meetings that resulted in a union between the Echuca Neighbourhood House and Echuca Senior Citizens.
Mr Conway is now back in the fight and he is as fired up as ever. This time the shire council is in the gun over its draft budget for 2023-24.
Fortunately, at least for the shire team that put the draft budget together, Mr Conway’s Australian return was delayed and he missed the deadline by three days to provide a submission in regard to the document before the deadline.
Last year it was interim Campaspe Shire Council chief executive officer Tim Tamlin who was in Mr Conway’s sights. This time it is new chief executive officer Pauline Gordon, who has been sitting in the ‘hot seat’ since October last year.
Mr Conway recalled a lunch meeting he had with Mr Tamlin, at the American Hotel, when he suggested there were four senior figures at the shire who “needed a change of scenery’’.
Before his arrival home he would have been interested to see the appointment of five new directors at Campaspe Shire Council: Shannon Maynard, Kate Lemon (infrastructure director), Michael Sharp (sustainability director), Jo Bradshaw (communities director) and Matthew McPherson (corporate director).
Such is the determination of Mr Conway to “keep them honest’’ that not long after landing back in Australia from a European vacation he was at the computer sending me an email to voice his displeasure at the budget.
Catching up on what had been happening in the district was at the top of his agenda, in particular, the article showing the community satisfaction survey results.
Why does he care so much, well, this is his answer.
“I have time on my hands these days and I am passionate about this community,” Mr Conway said.
“I've said it before, if Echuca-Moama was an Island and I was to be stranded somewhere — it’s this community I would want to be in.
“The selflessness and caring mateship displayed by the people of this place, during the tragic preventable flood event, well before the services we depend failed us, it was everything, anyone would want to be part of.
“Residents had each other’s back, it was an awesome display of humanity, and it came naturally,” he said
Fair reasoning, one might say.
He said his Campaspe Shire crusade was based on the fact he did not feel as though council understood its reference to ratepayers and residents as “customers’’.
“Council refers to us as ‘customers’, which means ‘a person of a specified kind with whom one has to deal’. That’s not us, and here’s why,” Mr Conway said.
“The very first item in the Local Government Act states — ‘The role of a council is to provide good governance in its municipal district for the benefit and wellbeing of the municipal community’.
“That's what I expect for every single person. I gave these words to the last CEO and said, ‘put these words as a screen saver on every council device as a reminder why you are all here’.”
Mr Conway continued to quote principles of the act, but his over-arching sentiment was that he, and his community, could not let Campaspe Shire Council write its own narrative.
“It's not rocket science. Every councillor, every employee, every consultant — anyone employed by the CEO — needs to have an understanding of the act and what we as the municipal community expect.”
Mr Conway said “new’’ CEO Pauline Gordon had been handed a poison chalice and arrived amid a baptism of fire (the flood).
He said it was brave of the CEO to promise to fix the 4.9 rating.
Quickly moving to his bone of contention, the shire’s financials, Mr Conway said he had read his fair share of budgets from the shire, but the 2023-24 draft was “like walking a labyrinth, what is real and what is an illusion, how do you find a way out.”
He recommended people confused by the draft should refer to the shire’s “where every $100 goes’’ brochure.
Mr Conway said he considered the draft budget a “sea of red for the community’’.
“Not only has the community support allocation been slashed, but the bureaucracy of council has allocated $7 million from its community spending for council to build its administration,” he said.
Mr Conway said, after he put the document down, he felt “speechless and gutted’’, especially for the 8500-plus senior citizens (65 years or older) of the shire.
“They receive not one service, have no manager for seniors or a single dollar thrown in their direction,” he said.
“It may be time for the shire to admit — it just can’t do the job any more,” he said.
