Merle Hathaway for Ballarat Council | Public figure
Merle Hathaway for Ballarat Council
Phone: +61 419 324 042
Reviews
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23.01.2022 Please support this. Not another Mullawallah disaster, please!
23.01.2022 Feedback on Music Victoria's website from some of the candidates who stood for Ballarat. We hear the results on 2 Nov. For those who are elected, make sure they hold to their views as stated here! http://www.musicvictoria.com.au/council-elections-2016
22.01.2022 There are 2 more candidate forums that I know of, both on Thursday 6 Oct. Commerce Ballarat - at Craigs, 5.15pm, but only open to the candidates and members of CB. Then at 7.30pm there's one at Buninyong Town Hall, open to anyone, but only candidates of South Ward will be presenting. I'm also having a tea & coffee 3.30 - 5.30pm at Buninyong Brewery on Thursday 13 October. Just a drop in for a chat with me, share your concerns and idea. Open to anyone of course.
21.01.2022 Tonight I attended the investiture of the Councillors and election of the Mayor, Cr Samantha McIntosh. Now we hope to see real attention to heritage, the arts and community. I encourage everyone to attend Council meetings from time to time. It's one way to ensure our elected Councillors are working for us.
20.01.2022 Yesterday was the first opportunity for Ballarat people to meet and compare the policies of the candidates. However, audiences were quite small. Only 15 at the excellent "Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion" at Trades Hall in the morning (which gave 5 minutes for each candidate and ample question time) and even less in the room for my Ward at the Town Hall forum in the afternoon. Interestingly, there was ample evidence of poor preparation, especially with some of the standing Cr candidates. But then communication has not been the strong point of the past Council!
19.01.2022 Rather long, but worth watching, especially if you don't have asylum seeker or refugee friends to alert you to what they have suffered to reach our country in search of peace.
17.01.2022 The Alliance for Gambling Reform recently polled me & other candidates regarding our attitudes towards poker machines. I think they do enormous harm to our community. Here's their article with the results of the poll. http://www.theage.com.au//call-for-councils-to-have-more-s
16.01.2022 Results of the Ballarat Bicycle Users Group survey of candidates. It will be interesting to see if candidates who are elected adhere to their stated positions in these surveys. http://gallery.mailchimp.com//BalBUG_Candidate_Survey_2016
14.01.2022 This proposal in its current form will have a disastrous effect on Buninyong, further cutting our township in two. Already we have far too much traffic. We need a bypass - as we've been saying since the 70s!
13.01.2022 At tonight's Ballarat Arts Alive meeting we discussed the need for an Arts Policy. There may have been a strategy some time back, perhaps developed from a 2011 forum, instigated by Emma Barrance that led to the formation of Ballarat Arts Alive.
11.01.2022 Well, the results are in and we have a change of Councillors across all wards. Congratulations to Ben Taylor, who now joins Jim Rinaldi and Des Hudson in South Ward. My special thanks to Judith Buchanan, Janice Newton, Mike, John, Barbara, Lucretia Prang, Glen, Jan & Murray Taylor who helped letterbox, and others like Gary Fitzgerald and Brigid O'Carroll Walsh who were great encouragement and advice providers!
10.01.2022 All candidates were asked to respond to a number of questions by BREAZE - the environmental sustainability advocacy group. Here's a link to the responses of those who bothered to reply to them. http://breaze.org.au//1017-ballarat-council-candidates-res
10.01.2022 In case anyone saw my accidental, brief posting of the Petition re Meals on Wheels being tendered out - I do not support this petition. The meals were terrible - tasteless and of poor nutritional benefit. We should give credit to Council for conducting blind tastings to confirm what years of complaints had already told them. Ballarat Health Services lost the tender, as it should. People who are elderly, infirm, disabled need and deserve really good meals to maintain their health. Perhaps BHS will learn from this lesson and improve in time for the next tender process.
08.01.2022 This sounds great - creativity, science, manufacturing!
08.01.2022 The City of Ballarat's website seems rather short on links to policies - only 21 listed. Does it not have, for example, an Arts Policy, Bicycle and Mobility Scooter policies? Apparently it is working towards a Biodiversity Policy, but in the meantime Council still chops down more trees than it plants, and seems obsessed with paving over or spraying every hint of green stuff, whether native grasses and plants or noxious weeds. That's distressing.
05.01.2022 I did have a little win though on the weekend. Instead of watching election results, I climbed Tiptoe Ridge (Mt Arapiles) with 2 guys who were celebrating their first climb there 50 years ago. And we overtook two other, younger parties!
04.01.2022 Another reason to be less selfish & look after the socially disadvantaged.
02.01.2022 Quite shocking Council meeting last night. Not reported was that a member of the public who was thanking Council was stopped with a "point of order" from a Councillor, then told by him that "If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it". This was allowed to go unreproofed yet when other Councillors queried the lack of information-sharing by officers, the same Councillor blocked this with another Point of Order. The chair could have over-ruled but instead allowed a very nasty tone throughout.
02.01.2022 This week, if you'd like to catch up with me to chew the fat about anything to do with the upcoming elections, drop in at Buninyong Brewery (107 Yuille St, beside the lake) any time 3.30 - 5.30pm. Tea, coffee, biscuits etc provided.
01.01.2022 Something I've forgotten to mention - afternoon tea & a chance to have a chat with me on Thursday 13 October at the old Buninyong Brewery. 107 Yuille St, overlooking the lake.
01.01.2022 Don't forget Thursday night's Candidates Forum for South Ward. At Buninyong Town Hall at 7.30pm. Most of the candidates are coming, and there'll be supper after. These are usually well attended and a very good way to find out who's worth voting for!
