Serendip: emotions overflow in a week of ups and downs
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| Bush Stone-curlew chick raised at Serendip - it and its parents have been removed. Parks Victoria said this week they will never return. |
"I went to Serendip a few months ago and it was dead!
It's depressing."
"You can see the passion in this room! You're looking at people who fought for Serendip. Who do you think lobbied for the money? We want Serendip fixed."
Three significant meetings took place this week to protest actions taken by Parks Victoria at Serendip Sanctuary.
Removal of displayed wildlife was at the heart of these discussions.
On Monday LCG met with Lara State representative, Hon Ella George, to request a moratorium on further action and for short term funding to repair and clean up the Sanctuary.
Tuesday saw a request by LCG to Council to write to our local member and the Environment Minister to request intervention to follow up the failure by Parks Vic to respond to an earlier request to return removed captive wildlife and establish a community/stakeholder review of the You Yangs Precinct Master Plan.
Wednesday night the week of action culminated with an emotion filled community meeting with Parks Vic management to protest the action taken in removing wildlife and the poor state of infrastructure at the Sanctuary. Attendees at the meeting were critical of Parks Vic’s management of the site to the point that it should be embarrassed to have international visitors (including many visiting the Avalon International Airshow) visiting Serendip in its present state.
LCG was thrilled to have Hon Ella George (local member) and Councillors Kylie Grzybek and Deputy Mayor Anthony Aitken along to the Wednesday meeting.
This was a strong show of support for the Lara Community over Parks Vic’s treatment of Serendip Sanctuary.
Read on to find out more.....
SUNDAY: Overwhelming response to our last Update
MONDAY: purpose driven meeting with Ella George
During this hour-long meeting LCG representatives reminded Ms George of her pre-election commitment to find emergency funding for the Serendip, stop Parks Victoria from removing wildlife and help set up a community-based advisory group to oversee the future of the Sanctuary.
In response Ms George confirmed that she has been working to fulfill her promises and was making some headway.
She also guaranteed that the $11m funding for the You Yangs Precinct Master Plan that she announced before the election will be included in the Budget in May.
Recently we wrote to Ms George and implored her to stop Parks Victoria undertaking any further changes at Serendip. She was unable to to provide a satisfactory response to this request
However, Ms George promised that she will directly approach the Minister for the Environment for emergency funding to undertake remedial work at Serendip until funds are released from the Budget allocation.
Overall the meeting was positive with Ms George telling this Newsletter that she is committed to "keep fighting strongly for Serendip".
Her ability to do this will be dependent on the support of the community.
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| Live video recording building was situated here. It's been torn down. Why? |
TUESDAY: Council commits (again) to support Serendip
LCG President, Barry White, asked Tuesday's Council meeting:
“Will Council support the future of this major asset [Serendip] by contacting our recently elected Lara member of Parliament, and the new Environment Minister, to express dissatisfaction with the failure of Parks Victoria to address the matters previously raised and to highlight the importance of Serendip Sanctuary as a major community, family, education, conservation and tourist attraction, before the current damage becomes irreversible?”
The response from Council was that it would take action as requested.
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| Group BBQ facility torn down. Why? |
WEDNESDAY: Lara reminded of Parks Victoria's belligerence
About 70 people attended this significant meeting representing many community groups including: Lions Club, Kevin Hoffman Walk, primary schools, Chamber of Commerce, Sporting Club, Men's Shed, Lara Care Group and many more.
Parks Victoria says removal of captive wildlife will continue
It was hoped that the meeting would be a turning point in the community's relationship with PV. Sadly that was not the case, especially in regards to our principle concern, captive wildlife.
Parks Victoria reiterated its plans to remove all captive wildlife displays from Serendip and restated its intention that the Sanctuary would only contain free ranging wildlife.
Reasons given for the removal of captive wildlife was that current containments and facilities were below lawful animal welfare standards. (LCG has reason to believe that this was not the case at the time of removal. More on this in a later Newsletter)
Chair of the meeting, Barry White, reiterated LCG position that without wildlife on display, why would anyone want to visit Serendip? This question has been asked many times and has never been answered nor was it answered at the meeting.
Throughout the meeting PV staff frequently defended their actions which finally brought some participants to point out that Section 8 of Master Plan required PV to wait for a budget allocation, for full community representation and for various studies to be carried out PRIOR to implementation of the Plan.
After much pressure Senior Parks Vic Director, Jason Borg, admitted that PV had made a mistake in removing of wildlife and other actions before a review group had been convened to oversee implementation of the Master.
Regrettably however, the damage is done!
Stakeholder Reference Group must not be a toothless tiger
As reported last week LCG received a letter from the Chair of Parks Vic to finally establish a stakeholder reference group to review implementation of the Master Plan.*
Late in the meeting Mr Borg finally made mention of Stakeholder Reference Group and that it would be set up by the end of March. Mr Borg also announced that he will chair the new group.
This was a significant win for the community, and for LCG in particular.
Many participants were staggered that this welcome announcement was made so late in the meeting - after significant and ongoing pressure by the community for clarity and honesty about what PV is up to at Serendip one would have expected that this would have been the first announcement!
The test for PV now is how it goes about structuring this reference group, whether the group has a real decision-making ability and how long it will last.
In essence the Stakeholder Reference Group must NOT be a toothless tiger.
*On LCG's suggestion the City of Greater Geelong Council officially requested a Community Reference Group as far back as September 2020....without response! Since then the request has been made in writing many times both by CoGG and LCG...all without response.)
Recording of Wednesday's meeting
- the recording is about 1.5 hours long
- Barry White's introduction runs until 10 mins
- Parks Victoria presentation: 10 to 20 mins
- Q&A and discussion 20 mins to the end
- you will need to turn the sound up!
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| Architect designed Information Centre locked and bolted. Why? |
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