Mayor Marg O’Rourke (Bendigo Advertiser 6 October) and council CEO Craig Niemann (P7,  GB magazine, September 2018) spruik the GovHub as a done deal. Marg claims “many benefits of consolidating … into one building”, but offers no quantifiable evidence. Marg doesn’t mention negatives. Craig notes; “One-stop-shop … paying your rates, getting your fishing licence and lodging an application to prospect for gold”. Is that the best on offer? Hedging bets, Marg cheekily claimed, “No formal decision has been made by council”.  Surely she’s pulling our leg.

Nods have been given and decisions made. In mid-2017 the government announced the project would be located on the main council office site. Craig’s definite, “we’re the third regional city to have a GovHub built”.

Marg gymnastically explained: “The previous council’s [2016] … directed staff to drive the operational investigations of a future Gov Hub. At the beginning of this council term, councillors were briefed.” In other correspondence Marg claimed, “… and gave their in-principle support for the work to continue.”

The endorsement and in-principle support was for operational investigations, nothing more. To proceed further required an investigation report and councillors voting at a public council meeting. That has not occurred. Marg also failed to mention the 2016 council’s request for a feasibility study; none available. Now the 2018 council belatedly seeks a concept plan? What a shemozzle! Government announcements and websites show the project has moved beyond investigation.

Marg misleadingly claimed, council’s current budget and annual plan includes actions to develop a concept plan and advocate for support. In a 19 April media release Marg said: “We plan our budget to closely reflect our Community Plan priorities.” But this $90m project is simply not in the current Community Plan –  lesser projects are.

Trapped and committed to government, rather than the best deal for residents, council slipped this major initiative into the 2018-19 Budget: “Develop a concept plan and advocate for support to construct a GovHub, for the co-location of government services.” But didn’t Marg tell us Budget initiatives come from the community’s priorities? Is Council trying to bluff the project through?

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Further evidence? Marg claimed “The GovHub project aligns with the Community Plan under the goals … [four]”. Align? Smothering pixie-dust! The GovHub doesn’t appear in the plan anywhere, so slippery-wording the GovHub into the plan is distortion. The Independent Review recommended, “… that community consultation be undertaken early to explain the benefits [and negatives] of the project”. Council’s bombed miserably.

Council wasted millions backing losers – tram around the lake, Hargreaves Mall, Walk Bendigo, Marong Business Park. Not again! Ballarat has a far better deal. From the publicly available material we are being had. Council’s loose due processes and inconsistent documentation appears deceptive

Stir councillors. Let’s hear debates. Show the negatives’ and benefits’ balance sheet so we can determine if the project will lead to more effective and efficient council services, otherwise walk away. Residents pay. 

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