Tuggeranong Community Council Inc

General Meeting – 4 September 2008

Draft Minutes

   

Apologies:

Senator Gary Humphries, Brendan Smyth MLA, Mick Gentleman MLA, Sgt Geoff Knight, Eric Traise, Barry Blight, Rusty Woodward, John Armstead.

 Present:

See attendance book record of 4 September 2008       .

 Approval of August 2008 Minutes:

Accepted:                    Audrey Ray                             Seconded:                    David Lissimore

 Matters Arising from August 2008 Meeting:

President, Mrs Rosemary Lissimore provided the following update:

 Wanniassa Medical Centre Closure

The TCC sent a letter to Dr Bateman in conjunction with Katy Gallagher’s office and others, but the time had run out due to the fact that we were given such short notice.  We did receive a reply like many other people with a set letter of 5 pages, but no apology or offer to help.  I attended a hearing at the Assembly and left a submission on our concerns.

 Since then the ACT Minister for Health, Ms Katy Gallagher and members from AMA ACT, ACT AGP, The Pharmacy Guild, healthcare consumers, and the TCC have submitted a further letter to Dr Bateman, asking him to release the lease – so far no response.  After the last meeting I contacted both Annette Ellis, Federal Member for Canberra and Senator Gary Humphries with regard to tonight’s meeting.  Annette agreed to attend and is here tonight to update us on the health situation, but Senator Humphries is unable to attend.

President’s Report (Mrs. Rosemary Lissimore):

 The meeting tonight is to discuss Doctors and Medical Centres in Tuggeranong, not to discuss the Power Station issue.  The other topic is to discuss the (flight path) situation with Canberra International Airport.  We have a tight schedule and we will be keeping to this.  

Also, there are several concerns raised with regard to the Planning in our area, one in Wanniassa and one in Monash.  We do have two people from Monash tonight and we will be hearing from them later in ‘Any Other Business’.  Both concerns have already been raised by the Council with ACT Planning.

The Tharwa Drive duplication will be going ahead shortly and we have suggested that a letterbox drop should be undertaken to the residents prior to the commencement, with regard to the disruption with the road closures.

 The rest of the month for me has been (taken up) trying to understand my new VISTA system on the computer; whoever thought this system up I can assure you it was not a woman, as it’s an absolute nightmare.

Accepted:                    Wayne Sievers                         Seconded:                    Joy Burch

 Treasurer’s Report (Mr Eric Traise):

In the absence of the Treasurer, the President introduced our new Committee Member, Paul Armstead (son of John), who presented the following Report:  

Current bank account balance is $5,842.  Expenditure reported for purchase of a new computer for $1,300 approximately, as well as the usual regular administration and general office expenses - total $1,399.

Accepted:                    James Sizer                              Seconded:                    Steve Doszpot

 Other Reports – Police:

In the absence of Sergeant Geoff Knight, his replacement Sergeant Stephen Rollings presented a brief summary of local police activities during the past month consisting of the following matters:  

Police crack down on organised car “hoons”

On Thursday, 28 August 2008 Police closed down a section of Naas Rd south of Tharwa and breath-tested more than 60 drivers in a clamp down on dangerous and irresponsible driver behaviour, including suspected street racing and burnouts.  

Police tracked a large number of vehicles south through Tuggeranong to Tharwa.  The vehicles then gathered at Naas and Apollo Roads, south of Tharwa, where police believe dangerous driving activities took place on public roads.  In a coordinated effort between Traffic Operations, Specialist Response and Security and general duties patrols from Tuggeranong, police created a stationary vehicle checkpoint and sealed off the route from the area.

More than 60 vehicles were checked as they left the area, with 63 negative screening tests for alcohol recorded.  A total of eleven Vehicle Defect Notices and eight Traffic Infringement Notices were issued.  The police operation was part of an ongoing effort to reduce antisocial driver behaviour on ACT roads.

 “Police are able to target these drivers with the assistance of the public and using unmarked police vehicles.  This group appeared to have arranged this ‘meet’, which was quickly shut down by police.”  “We will continue to target illegal behaviour, and we would encourage anyone who may see this type of behaviour to contact police on 131-444”, Acting Superintendent Davis said.  

Identity of witnesses sought after fatal collision

A fatal collision occurred on Tharwa Drive, Conder shortly after midnight on Saturday, 9 August 2008.  The collision resulted in the death of a 15-year-old passenger in one of the vehicles involved.  Police are hoping to speak with a number of witnesses who stopped at the collision prior to emergency services attending the scene.  All witnesses who have not yet spoken to police and who were in the area of Tharwa Drive, Conder between 12.15am and 12.40am on 9 August are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

 Burglary – Zamels and Sunglass Hut, Tuggeranong Hyperdome

An amount of property was stolen from the locations.  Following information of possible offenders, Police obtained a search warrant relating to the burglary.  Police located a number of items stolen from the burglary and subsequently arrested two offenders that are believed responsible for these burglaries and others in the area.

Burglary– St Vincent De Paul, Greenway

Police attended following a report by security guards of offenders on premises.  Police located the offender at the premises and a male was arrested and charged.

Guest Speakers – Ms Annette Ellis MP and others:

President, Rosemary Lissimore introduced our guest speaker, Ms Annette Ellis MP, the Federal Member for Canberra to provide an update on some current local issues of concern.  Ms Ellis commenced by referring to the important issue of doctor provision and health services and acknowledged the involvement of the Council over several years in lobbying for improved medical services in the Tuggeranong Valley, and she expressed her sincere appreciation to the Council’s President, Rosemary Lissimore, for her vigilance and ongoing efforts.

 Ms Ellis drew attention to the severe shortage of doctors in the Tuggeranong Valley, which was a nationwide problem and acknowledged that the ACT also has the lowest level of bulk billing among all States/Territories at around 52%.  She proceeded to provide some background details surrounding the recent closure of the Wanniassa Medical Centre, which involved a previous decision by the independent practitioners to sell their business to a management company (Symbion).  She outlined the sequence of recent events and the roles of the various parties involved, resulting in the acquisition of the business of the Centre and merging (at short notice) with the practice operated by Sydney-based company, Primary Health Care Limited (PHC) and its principal, Dr Edmund Bateman, at Colbee Court in Phillip.  

Ms Ellis provided details of her lobbying activities and negotiations prior to and following the protest rally attended by 300-400 residents, and the further “interesting” discussions with Dr Bateman.  It transpires that the PHC group has retained the lease of the premises and indicated that they are prepared to leave it vacant for the remaining 4-year term of the lease.  Correspondence with PHC has proved quite futile due to their most uncooperative and ruthless attitude, and no real outcome seems likely at this stage.  It is apparent that the local residents have been severely inconvenienced by this change and several unfortunate tales regarding this outcome have already been reported to Annette’s office, which have been noted for future reference and use.

 Annette indicated that she has been unable to obtain the relevant statistics on doctor distribution and location, but has recently had formal discussions with the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon MP and relevant staff to address the areas of concern.  Further consultations were also held with the ACT Health Minister, Katy Gallagher MLA and other relevant stakeholders, which resulted in the offer to provide suitable premises in Wanniassa for use as a Medical Centre.  

The history of doctor shortage has been acknowledged as a longstanding problem and it appears that the Federal Government is determined to address the shortfall by introducing various remedial measures and incentives in the near future, including the introduction of suitable training activities to attract more doctors and other ancillary services and related measures.

 Questions from the floor:

 Members raised several questions and concerns after Annette’s presentation including the following issues:  

Contract arrangements by the Wanniassa doctors with PHC would unfortunately prevent the possibility of this arrangement.

·         Minister for TAMS, John Hargreaves MLA acknowledged the support and involvement of Ms Ellis in trying to resolve this matter.  He provided a further explanation regarding the commercial realities of acquiring business premises in the ACT.  A form of due compensation would certainly be required and it is apparent that a lengthy process would be involved.  Also, the principal of PHC is known to be a very powerful (and extremely rich) man who could quite easily delay the proceedings in court for several years.  A further serious hurdle is the fact that the medical records of the former Practice are now owned by PHC and they would be most unlikely to agree to their release.  The reality is that the ACT Government is unable to take the lead on this issue and it has to be driven by the Federal Government.

This may be a possibility, however the underlying issue is that the trend towards “corporatisation” of medicine has resulted in considerations involving more of a business case to determine where doctors are actually located, rather than meeting actual medical service requirements.

Restrictions introduced by previous Federal Government on training of graduates in the medical profession, which has contributed to the current severe shortage of doctors.  The current Government is addressing the issue but problem cannot be solved overnight.

Several other related concerns were raised regarding this contentious matter and it is apparent that the various issues are unlikely to be resolved for some considerable time.

President, Rosemary Lissimore proceeded to introduce our other guest speakers from the Canberra International Airport, namely Noel McCann and his assistant, Alex Ananian-Cooper.  They provided a PowerPoint presentation updating relevant information regarding the current jet flight paths and the following issues were highlighted:  

 Members raised various related matters about past experiences involving the impact of aircraft noise and possible options.  A serious concern was raised by Colin Petrie about the likely noise impact for Tuggeranong residents if the flight paths were changed to accommodate the proposed Tralee development.  Reference was made to Canberra being the only major Australian city that has an approach path away from residential areas, and the unsatisfactory situation and huge cost involved with soundproofing houses under the flight path in Sydney some years ago was mentioned.

 Ms Ellis indicated that airports in every State come under Commonwealth jurisdiction and the Tralee matter directly involves the NSW Government and Eden-Monaro / Queanbeyan Members, rather than the ACT.  She confirmed that all three Labor Federal Members representing the ACT are strongly opposed to any development that may result in a change of flight paths that will adversely impact on ACT residents.  A great deal of correspondence involving representations on this issue to various NSW Planning Ministers has taken place over recent years, and Annette indicated that her strong position on this issue has not changed.

 Mr McCann left copies of the draft report of the current study and invited members to contact him at the airport regarding any further information or concerns regarding the flight path issue.  

President, Rosemary Lissimore introduced the final guest presenter, Carol Allnutt, who addressed the meeting about the proposed multi-unit development in Fisk Street, Monash.  The issue has been subject to recent publicity and protests by the nearby residents and Carol acknowledged the support provided to them by Audrey Ray, Liberal candidate for Brindabella.

She indicated that the consultation process has been most unsatisfactory and the residents of the street were quite shocked and devastated by the decision.  The consultation process involved written notice being provided to only six residents in the adjoining properties, informing them of the planned rezoning and construction to take place.  Carol distributed an extract of an ACTPLA map of the surrounding areas and details of the various zoning categories in place.  On this basis, it was quite clear that similar zoning changes could take place in other Canberra suburbs with very little notice, and residents were urged to check out the likelihood of such action in their particular area.  

Minister Hargreaves took the opportunity to provide some background information and update regarding the changes to the ‘A10 Overlay’ zoning situation relating to urban infill, which involved a statutory process and various planning considerations.  He is unable to interfere with the process but is sympathetic to the objections and is prepared to make appropriate representations to the Planning Minister on behalf of his constituents.  Mr Hargreaves also indicated that the development application is unlikely to be approved in its current form, and various other steps and options remain at this stage, including a statutory appeal process.  Reference was also made to various historical planning objections and decisions regarding other local developments in recent years.  

Carol concluded by thanking attendees for their interest in the issue and invited residents to express their views to ACTPLA by the closing date of Monday, 8 September.  

Any Other Business:

No further issues were raised by members.

 Next meeting:

Thursday, 2 October 2008, with guest speaker to be confirmed.  The ‘Meet the Candidates’ Special Meeting will be held at the same venue on Thursday, 25 September and all candidates were encouraged to confirm their attendance and participation as soon as possible.

The meeting concluded at approximately 9.40pm.