This is what I presented to the council tonight.
EGSC Draft RLUS Speech by Carl John Fechner

EGSC Draft Rural Use Land Strategy June 6th, 2023
Mayor Reeves and councillors, I commend you for your commitment to represent the East Gippsland’s communities needs and participate in the decision-making process that is beneficial to all of the East Gippsland community.

I commend you for your willingness to sacrifice your time to be our representatives ensuring that every major decision is made with a governance process that is beneficial to the overall well-being of the community you represent.

“The Right Man” was contracted by EGSC to write the draft
With this in mind, I have some grave concerns about the EGSC Draft Rural Use Strategy written by “The Right Man,” whose name is Martin Richardson, the current planning manager who is now under a 5-year contract to implement the draft he wrote.

Conflict of Interest?

Mayor and Councillor’s, may I ask..

1. Is this not a conflict of interest?

2. If the person who was contracted to write the Rural Land Use Strategy, and is now employed by the EGSC as the Planning Manager to implement the draft he wrote, would it not have a bias to his viewpoints or opinions that he may uphold and not necessarily that of all the citizens of East Gippsland?

3. Does it not conflict with local Government policies under the conflict of-interest rulings?

353-page Document

Mayor and Councillor’s,

May I ask, have you have read this 353-page council meeting agenda in its entirety and understood all the potential dire and detrimental implications that this draft has in its current format to the citizens of East Gippsland?

The initial draft was some 197 pages and now it has morphed in to a 353-page document, so it has lots of inclusions since the original document, and I am sure most of the community would be very concerned when reading some of the obscure inclusions.

Rural Land Use Strategy—Farming Zone Revisions

Initially, I was alerted to the proposed land size revisions, but as I dug deeper into this document, I was shocked to discover the dire and detrimental implications this current draft document holds.

Mayor and Councillor’s, I implore you to consider,

4. That this draft in it current format is rejected until a thorough and/or an independent review is made.

5. The conflict of interest is recognised and a complete separation of the two roles is implemented—in other words, the same person cannot fill the two roles.

Click here if you would like to read the EGSC Rural Land Strategy.