Bass Coast Shire Council needs an injection of capable new blood and new ideas. As ratepayers, you know it. With increasing population pressure on services, roads, parking and our beautiful coastline, we need a responsive council who has the community at its centre, and acts on residents' concerns.

I am a resident, Gippslander born and bred, writer and editor. My wife and I previously owned the Phillip Island Winery, experiencing at first-hand the challenges of business here. You might have visited.

I'm not afraid to press an argument in any forum. If elected, my focus will be:

1. New ovals/facilities for Phillip Island Football Netball club. The land is there, the club has waited nearly 40 years for promised new facilities - they have waited long enough. It has a staggering 592 participants but just one oval for training and playing days for its men's and women's football teams, for its Seniors and Reserves, U18s, U16s, six junior teams, U18 and U16 women's teams, veteran's team and more than 100 Auskick participants! We can fix this. It is not acceptable that proposed new ovals and facilities has stayed on a council back-burner for so long when the community need is so clearly evident.
2. Coastal erosion impacting on Silverleaves (and elsewhere) must be a priority of council. The Silverleaves community whose properties are under threat, deserve better. Council must keep DEECA and the State Government on the hook on this.
3. Environmental protection for Westernport Woodlands to address the disaster of sand mine expansions (sacrificed for sand for Melbourne).
4. A general rates cap, a fairer deal and better support for our farmers, and a rejection of inappropriate development. The proposed half-baked Bass Coast Unlocking Rural Tourism Strategy (BURT), which threatens the unique character of the Island with 'special use re-zoning' for large scale tourism ventures, must be opposed. It will destroy the very thing that makes Phillip Island so special.
5. Designated 'safe routes' - clearly marked along identified roads - for safer road sharing for e-scooters, e-tricycles, bicycles and mobility devices for elderly, school kids and community users.
6. Pedestrian walkways in built-up areas (so that families, kids and pooches need not walk on busy road shoulders).

My commitment:

If elected, I will work for the benefit of Phillip Island, the Phillip Island community, and for the broader benefit of the Bass Coast region. I will work to ensure that council has the community at its centre, that it engage sincerely on matters that impact on the lives of residents in accordance with the highest principles of governance and accountability. That it deliver on its promises, and that it preserve and enhance the unique character of our region, of our beautiful coastlines, woodlands, farmlands and lifestyle.

See my Facebook page for more information (and please feel free to add your comments):

Facebook: Tim O'Brien Candidate for Bass Coast Shire Council - Island Ward
Website: www.TimOBrien.vote
Mobile: 0487 787 666
Email: tim@balladeer.com.au