SP Cllr Jolly responds to attack from ASU leaders

At the April 2005 Yarra City Council meeting, I asked a ‘Question without Notice’ of the Acting Director of Planning, Jane Homewood, as to why a two year extension had been given to Ashlyn Enterprises for their Cheese Grater development in Fitzroy.



This extension had been approved without any consultation with Councillors or residents. The reason given by senior officers in the next few days was that the lack of consultation was regrettable, but because some demolition had occurred on site previously, the developer had four years to complete the work and therefore, in fact, had not really needed the extension. This was the position put by Council management to the Melbourne Times (MT, April 20th).



(Two years ago there had been a big community campaign to stop this development, followed by community outrage at VCAT for its approval of the development over the heads of Council and local residents. However, as the development was so ugly and unpopular, by the time the two year permit ran out this year, no development had taken place, and an extension was sought from Council.)



In the following weeks MT (20th April) under a headline “Red faces over cheese grater mistake”, I was (accurately) reported as saying: “If that’s true, it shows the laws are absolutely ludicrous and need to be changed”.



It has since emerged that in fact the demolition in no way absolved the developer from the need for an extension after their two years ran out.



I continued in MT: “It’s getting very close to the stage where radical action will have to be taken in relation to the planning department unless they do something very soon. There’s a crisis in confidence in the department. I want to see immediate improvement.



“Why does it take councillors acting like Sherlock Holmes to work out a secret extension given to the developer of the cheese grater? We’re expected to represent community interest, not to be Sherlock Holmes.”



The MT continued: “Cr Jolly said it highlighted the need to have structure plans across Yarra in place ‘so we didn’t have these bush-fires’.”



One Green Party Councillor later said they had been approached some of their rank and file asking why it was SP and not Green Councillors seeking improvements in the direction of planning at Yarra Council! Dr Paul Mees, Lecturer in Transport and Land Use Planning at Melbourne University wrote: “Steve Jolly should be congratulated, not condemned, for speaking out about the appalling way Yarra council allowed a planning permit extension for the "cheese grater" development.”



Yet this voicing of community concerns by me was translated in a letter to Yarra’s CEO, Lydia Wilson, from Australian Services Union Branch Secretary, Darrell Cochraine, to be: “’mud’ being thrown at (Council staff) for Cr Jolly’s own political purposes.” He also commented that: “public criticism of staff by any Councillor is clearly not productive as it affects the morale of staff.” This of course would be true if it occurred.



My job is to voice community concerns on Council. Many in the community believe there is a culture in City of Yarra (not just the planning department) that is harsh on residents and soft on developers and businesses generally.



We are no longer in the Jeff Kennett-era where the bureaucracy was supreme and not subjected to public scrutiny. No department is above criticism of the public and elected Councillors. I made a strong criticism of the Planning Department’s decision in MT and on Council and make no apology for it.



However I never attacked individual staff and never would – this can be seen clearly if people actually look at what I said to MT. In fact I am the only Councillor to raise pro-worker issues on Council such as the casualisation of the workforce at Yarra; ensuring contractors have EBAs and stick to industry work calender (I have report commissioned on this coming up at this Tuesday’s Council meeting); and even stopping the illegal phone message monitoring staff that had been in place.



If SP ran the Council we would change the political direction of the planning department, but not a single worker would be sacked. No other party represented on Council will give such a commitment to Council staff.



The ASU State leadership are wasting time on being dragged into political debates on Council (as they also did last December when they tried to suggest a better transport policy would lead to job cuts!), especially at a time when they have three members in the building regulation unit being witch-hunted by Yarra Council management.



These workers have been treated appalling by Council bosses, and are on stress leave, with one (who has given a decade of loyal service to Yarra) suffering a heart attack without as much as receiving a Get Well card from management. There has been nothing in the way of industrial action or even effective legal action from the ASU State leadership to defend these workers. Why not put even 10% of the energy they put into attacking me, into defending their members at Yarra? The reality is if the ASU leaders refuse to effectively defend their members, Council management will still face other action to defend these workers’ jobs.



I believe a union that signed away the 35-hour week for a 38-hour week in the last EBA for some Yarra staff and negotiated a tiny pay rise should be more self-reflective of its own performance. Speaking as a fulltime shop steward in Australia’s most militant and effective union, the CFMEU (construction division), I know many in similar unions share my views of the ASU leadership and feel sorry for its under-supported members.



Not surprisingly, SP’s political opponents on Council took advantage of the situation with their comments in MT (4th May). Cllr D’Agostino has the right to say what he wants to the newspapers, but I find it hypocritical that someone who doesn’t get out of bed in the morning without doing a cost benefit analysis tries to reinvent himself as a workers’ champion.



The central issue in all this that must not be lost is the need for the direction of planning in Yarra to be more in tune with the views of local residents. This central issue must and will continue to be discussed.