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Look at us now!

19/5/2018

10 Comments

 
Picture
Ten years ago, Wonthaggi was down on its luck, writes Cr Brett Tessari. But suddenly a lot of people are proud to call this place home.

By Brett Tessari
 
I’VE always been proud of Wonthaggi. I grew up here. It wasn’t a wealthy town but there was great pride in the town and the community.

A dozen to twenty years ago something seem to change: we lost our pride and passion for our town.

But look at us now! Suddenly a lot of people are proud to call Wonthaggi home.

In my other life as a real estate agent I deal with people coming here from Melbourne or other places. They can’t believe what we’ve got here. They mention the facilities, the beaches, the landscapes, the shopping, the clubs, the cinema, the arts society. We’ve even got a café culture at last. Work has started on a new high school and our hospital is set for a $115 million upgrade. The place is buzzing.

It’s funny the events that you only realise later are turning points.

Wonthaggi’s turning point came at the new council’s first serious meeting in February 2017. There was a motion for Bass Coast Shire to contribute towards a highball stadium at the future high school site. The state government had agreed to put in $2.5 million for the stadium on condition that the council contributed “up to $2 million”.

The new councillors, most of whom had been elected on a platform of cutting costs, voted five to four not to proceed.

The next day my email and phone were running hot. Unbeknown to most of the new councillors, the school and basketball communities had been working on the stadium project for several years. And they were furious!
By the time the April council meeting came around, these hard-working people had contacted every councillor and made sure they understood the background to the project.

At the meeting there was a motion to rescind the original decision and to support the stadium. This time it passed unanimously.

I thought at the time that vote was important. In retrospect I realise it was the start of Wonthaggi’s revival.

In times past the local community would have shrugged their shoulders and said “What did you expect?” Most locals had come to believe they didn’t deserve much. After all, the last major project in the town was the swimming pool and that was in the 1970s.

But this time a passionate community campaign persuaded councillors to change their minds and it had a surprising flow-on effect.

It marked the start of work on the new high school site in the education precinct. Since then, of course, we’ve had a visit from the Premier Daniel Andrews to announce funding of $32.5 million for the new school.

I wonder if that would have gone ahead if we’d knocked back the original funding for the stadium. Or would the government have thought, “Why should we help them if they won’t help themselves?”

The school announcement, after 10 years of hard work by the school community and advocacy by the council, really lifted the spirits of everyone in the town.

The one we didn’t see coming was the hospital upgrade. And smaller successes such as funding for the Wonthaggi SES ($2 million) and the Cape Paterson Lifesaving Club ($2.3 million).  

All this after no major government spending in Bass Coast for the past 15 years. Liberal governments never spent any money here because Bass was a safe Liberal seat. Labour governments never spent any money here because Bass was a safe Liberal seat.

So what changed?

In a word, politics. At the last state election the Liberal primary vote slipped from 56 to 45 per cent. Credit here to my fellow councillor, Clare Le Serve, who stood as an Independent candidate and won enough votes (10.8 per cent) from the Liberal Party to make the seat marginal.

Sometimes the things that seem hopeless causes make a big difference. The ALP now sees the seat as winnable and we’re the beneficiaries. It would almost be embarrassing … but it’s not before time.

There’s also the fact that due to a lot of very hard work by council’s finance staff we are now in a position to put up our share of funding to attract government funding for local projects.

So many things have been crossed off our advocacy list but there is still a long way to go. I want to see opportunities for local tertiary education for those of our young people who don’t want to go to the city.

We have our eyes on the high school site once the high school moves in early 2020. The Government hasn’t made any commitment but we are confident we will get the site for public use: a cultural precinct, perhaps the new library, perhaps a regional art gallery ...

Look at us now! The pride is back.  
10 Comments
Debra Crosby
20/5/2018 08:56:26 am

It's true what you say about Wonthaggi, it is finally going ahead and why shouldn't it? As you say it has everything most people want in a town. One thing that could add to its appeal to all that pass through or visit is to beautify the entrances. As an ex manager of a large public garden I know that this could be done very easily with minimum budget and labour. First impressions speak volumes and at the moment when you enter Wonthaggi, and Inverloch, for that matter, it looks as though there is no pride in the towns. I have travelled extensively throughout Australia and seen what a difference showing a bit of pride can make. Let's start to walk the talk.

Reply
Anthony Egan
22/5/2018 08:25:07 am

Yes this is a great Idea and the weekend showing the Town Square is part of Beautification ideas being done in Community and this has already been discussed in council chambers By Council Brett himself ???
& in many other committees through Wonthaggi.
Respectfully Anthony Egan

Reply
Joseph Heller
20/5/2018 09:06:58 am

Simply, people are moving to the area because of high house prices in Melbourne and other coastal areas such as Torquay or The Mornington Peninsula.
These prices are driven by a combination of low interest,negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts. All fed by record high numbers of immigration and temporary work /student visas.
Does anyone think our counciller , being a real estate salesman, may have a slight conflict of interest?

Reply
Catherine Watson
20/5/2018 02:36:29 pm

Joseph, I don't see any conflict of interest in what Cr Tessari has written here. I do see that he has a vested interest. But then all of us who live here have a vested interest in living in a town with good education, health and cultural facilities.
Incidentally when I first encountered Wonthaggi just over 20 years ago, it was a very depressed town. It seemed as though every second house was for sale and half the shops were empty. Landlords were offering six months’ free rent to entice tenants.
I sometimes heard Wonthaggi disparagingly referred to as "Moe by the Sea". I have to say I always liked the term.

Reply
Edward Buckingham
20/5/2018 06:16:26 pm

Hear, Hear,

Did you know that Moe has a fabulous new library? The view from the top is stunning. And Moe has a train line into Melbourne....

Great futures await those that work for it.

John Coldebella
20/5/2018 10:31:02 pm

Catherine, I share your fondness of the term 'Moe by the sea'. It has a nice ring to it, like names of many English seaside towns. So much more appealing than 'Lower Dandenong', which I find vulgar and offensive.

Anthony Egan
22/5/2018 08:21:55 am

To comment on a person you do not follow is plain Rude.
Yes his work is Real Estate But if you bothered to attend the local council meetings each Fortnight you would not make a comment like that. Respectfully Anthony Egan

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
20/5/2018 09:43:16 am

Brett,
My blood absolutely boils over when a Councillor mentions cost cutting because the worst thing you can do is go cost cutting in an area that is growing rapidly.
The Bass Coast finances are in great shape. Anyone suggesting otherwise if off his rocker.
I have read the Bass Coast Draft Budget 2018/2019 which prompted some questions in me so I have made a submission and expressed the view that the Draft Budget is by far to conservative and needs to be reviewed and changed to lift infrastructure spending to meet the growing needs of the Bass Coast Shire. Now is a good time to borrow money with all time low interest rates,
and is certainly not the time to pay down debt.

Cheers

Reply
Rosemary loughnan
20/5/2018 05:12:23 pm

It would seem that some of us are happy with our lot and felt confident and comfortable here over our entire lives. 20 years ago we saw our town as part of us ....sad to think so much negativity / depression was palpable out there . We must live in our own little Hicksborough world and not notice. We have reared successful healthy children and work in the community - no regrets and all good

Reply
Josephine Bueno
21/5/2018 09:09:57 pm

17 years ago we came to Wonthaggi not sure of what to find.
We fell in love with this magnificent coastal town and we are still loving it !
We call Wonthaggi our home <3

Reply



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