22.02.2013

I attended the February [13th] council meeting at American River when council’s responsibilities in regard to fire hazards were brought to the attention of Council and the community by Cr Graham Walkom.  This was the culmination of his seeking questions of the CEO Andrew Boardman who took a surprising position of answering most of the questions with: this is not our problem, ask the Bushfire Committee or anyone else or, do not know!

There are many high risk areas on KI where the community expects the Council to play a direct role at least with a moral or duty of care obligation.  The Council should be interested in actively supporting and ensuring that all those who have a role in this highly charged matter of “fire compliance” is carried out with the aim of showing that the Council is fair and cares for the community and Kangaroo Island.

By bringing [eight Community Fire Risks motions] to the CEO and Council, Crs Walkom and Liu were doing what the community expects of them.  Apparently the other councillors did not think so because all motions were defeated.  In my view the misrepresentation of Cr Walkom during debate was culpable and caused him to correct these councillors several times.  The mayor, on an even vote, used her casting vote to vote down a resolution which showed to me she did not value the work Crs Walkom and Liu were doing in bringing these important questions and resolutions to Council.

It was gratifying to see a strong showing of community at the meeting who were obviously supporting the actions of the minority of Council, reflecting the high community support for them when elected to Council.

Shirley Knight