THE distasteful mess that has enveloped the progress of the desperately needed Lookout residential rehabilitation facility smacks of the lowest kind of electoral cowardice.
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Unfortunately for the majority of Warrnambool's councillors, they have fumbled their way firmly into the crosshairs of public opinion by first cravenly refusing to take a position on the planning application for the proposed Dennington site and - only when ordered to by VCAT - displaying a level of spinelessness that would leave a jellyfish blushing when they finally did vote.
If there is an ongoing purpose for local government beyond emptying bins and mowing sporting ovals, it is to take an informed leadership position around planning matters such as this.
It is inexplicable to say the least that councillors first thought they could play hands-off footy by causing the application to go directly to VCAT, thus avoiding taking a popular stance that would displease a febrile minority.
It is the job of elected representatives of any government to make decisions that may be hard for some but benefit others greatly.
Hospitals, schools, jails, mental health facilities, wind farms, solar farms, sewage works ... they do have to go somewhere other than the facile, uninformed view that these services can be stashed somewhere out of mind and sight deep in the bush.
Bowing to inevitable vested interests condemns critical services to failure and increase their costs to unviability and resultant voter unpopularity.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell rightly chided councillors this week for voting against the Lookout's planning application on grounds other than planning. She outlined the case for the facility eloquently and nodded toward the irrefutable fact that VCAT will make its decision based purely on planning matters. Those councillors who delivered politically motivated and, in some cases, grotesquely bizarre reasoning to vote against the application (some of this included the site being "too windy" and lacking top soil ... forsooth) have been exposed for what they are: Nonsensical, irrelevant and motivated directly or indirectly by the altar of re-election.
Warrnambool's elected councillors have wholly misunderstood their role and wantonly ignored the expectations of those that voted for them. They have deepened distrust of government institutions, alienated all those who worked so hard to get the Lookout funded via donations and pure willpower and brutally spurned the needs of those people and their families who desperately need services like these in our region.
They have played at the fringes of this debate and proven themselves to be insular, limited, unsuitable and unnecessary.