Narre Warren South resident Bob Halsall says he and seven other candidates will run as Independents in the state election to try to resolve the financial blowout from the Brookland Greens mess. 47785
By Bridget Brady
A NEW political force is set to shape the state election in the south-east, and candidates have the methane gas mess as their mantra.
An impassioned Bob Halsall, 57, is leading the charge and rallying eight Independent candidates to tackle the financial blowout of the Brookland Greens fiasco at the polls in November.
Their mission and message: to ‘make the state pay’ for what Mr Halsall says is an ominous situation for Casey ratepayers that the government helped to create.
“They have a far greater capacity to fix the problem without any pain to the people that they betrayed. And they have betrayed the people here,” Mr Halsall said.
The launch of the campaign comes as Casey Council last week announced a record-high 11.69 per cent rate rise in the draft budget.
The council explained the steep rate rise as a direct result of the huge financial “burden” it faced without the $41.9 million it is seeking from the State Government.
Mr Halsall, the husband of former Casey mayor Janet Halsall, will stand as an Independent in the seat of Cranbourne along with former Casey councillor Angela Dunleavy who will contest the seat of Narre Warren South.
The other candidates, who are yet to be finalised, will contest the seats of Narre Warren North, Lyndhurst, Dandenong, Bass and Gembrook.
The desire to go in to bat for Casey ratepayers also surfaced from what Mr Halsall said was a lack of leadership from state MPs in the aftermath of the debacle.
“I have not seen a single local state MP saying this is a serious issue and we’re going to fight on your behalf,” he said.
“They’re meant to represent the people who elected them. That is the problem with MPs who are members of political parties, they don’t do what the people want … I certainly feel cheated.”
Mr Halsall, a Narre Warren South resident, said VCAT’s 2004 decision to overrule Casey council and allow residential development up to the landfill boundary was a “poor” one.
“It was a no-brainer. You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out.”
Mr Halsall calculated each ratepayer in Casey could fork out about $1200 for the methane gas clean-up, and warned the flow-on effects of future rate rises and less money to spend on projects could hurt the Casey economy.
Mr Halsall hoped the community would get behind the cause to make enough noise to be heard and ultimately make a difference.
“They (the State Government) have completely washed their hands of it. I think the people should wash their hands of the State Government.”
