The most poignant moment from Thursday’s boisterous and unruly Council meeting was listening to elderly Mullum resident, Peter McGill.
He waited patiently all morning to speak after the noisy Wallum crowd finished.
As some of the Wallum supporters started leaving, he told councillors that his home on New City Road was devastated by floods in 2022, and that ever since, he has found it hard to recover.
He said his mental health had suffered as a result.
Peter said that Council told him their recent plans to develop more houses on his street will result in less flooding, yet he questioned that logic, given his home insurance has increased significantly.
At the end of his moving and humble speech, councillors sat in silence, staring blankly.
Peter asked respectfully, ‘Are there any questions?’ Silence.
Mayor Michael Lyon looked visibly bored and disinterested.
After it was evident that he had to do something, he mechanically responded: ‘Any questions?’
No? Sorry Peter, you are on your own.
If you have just joined the conversation because you are concerned about the fate of Wallum, it’s worth considering that all of this is connected.
The Council chambers, where decisions are made which affect everyone, is a very cold place.
It’s an empathy-free zone, full of entitlement, arrogance and ambition without any meaning.
It feels hollow.
There is soooooo much secrecy, poor communication and no policy reform.
But there’s lots of plans for housing! How much will be ‘affordable’?
Those interested in direct non-violent actions may be interested to learn that the mayor’s secret deals on mass land rezonings will become public in the coming months.
As for Wallum?
What we learned from Wallum is that grassroots community awareness is needed before councillors take notice. The ball was dropped by everyone in the midst of Covid.
Are Council staff given sufficient direction by councillors around community expectations?
Planning staff recommended approval of the DA – On page 34 of their Evaluation Report, they stated there would be no significant impact on the natural environment.
As we now know, there’s a lot of expert opinion to the contrary.
Fun fact: Council once employed a biodiversity officer.
Perhaps reinstating the position might be worth considering to save everyone this pain in future?
It’s well known that Australia has one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world, as reported in the federal government’s State of the Environment Report.
Thursday’s Wallum vote was a chance to send a strong, unified message to the decision makers in Sydney and Canberra that would be hard to ignore.
Instead, the mayor will try (again) to negotiate with the developer for a compromise that will see some unknown amount of ecological loss.
In case there’s anyone with a spare $48m, the mayor told the Save Wallum FB page that’s the amount the developer would accept for the problem to go away.
Some problems can go away – for example, there is a local government election this September.
Hans Lovejoy, editor
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
