Letter to the Editor

July 29, 2020

Listening to Community

Last night I attended a Hamilton Showgrounds user group forum. The task was to provide a way forward for the Hamilton Showgrounds Masterplan which has stalled two years in. I declared my conflicting interest as being a member of the current P & A Executive alongside being a shire Councilor. This was a discussion forum not a funding or decision making forum.

A good outcome would be to let the User Groups come together at the instigation of the Hamilton Pastoral and Agricultural Society to coordinate all the groups using the Showgrounds encouraging them to bring to the table their future needs. They had been prevented from doing this during the Masterplan consultancy phase. Seen as a conflict of interest. (?)
That something as basic as minutes would be kept. No consultants required at this stage.

The current masterplan includes that there is a functioning Advisory Committee that represents the Hamilton Showground users. This has not been happening.

Southern Grampians Shire Council is the Committee of Management for the site. The Hamilton P & A provide day to day administration and management of the site on behalf of council. P&A applications for funding facilities emphasize the facilities are multiuse.

One of the primary functions of a future council should be to ensure that public assets managed by council on behalf of the Southern Grampians community have functioning representative Advisory Committees or User Groups. Let our communities get on with it and don’t put blocks in their way. Respecting the valuable time and effort of volunteers.

I believe that having councilors chairing these Hamilton public asset advisory committees and taking responsibility for regularly convening these forums could be better than what is current practice. This is the model that has achieved success with the Hamilton Livestock Exchange. Certainly better than what we have experienced in recent years when it comes to the Hamilton Showgrounds and Pedrina Park.

Our townships can have Committees of Management that manage Crown Land effectively. Successfully attracting external funding supported by Council as two recent examples demonstrate with the successful building of the Cavendish Recreation Reserve Amenities Block and Balmoral Community Hub Projects.

It's about listening to our communities.

Cr Katrina Rainsford
Cavendish