An open letter to the Lane Cove Community from 34 of your local council candidates
In the interest of maintaining the integrity of the democratic process and correcting misinformation in the lead up to the Lane Cove Council local election on 4 December, I am among 34 candidates urgently responding to a recent public letter.
It was sent to Lane Cove community members associated with sporting clubs and published the week commencing Monday 8 November.
It had no name or return contact details on the PDF. However, it was addressed as originating from the:
Lane Cove Cricket Club
Lane Cove Junior Rugby Club
Lane Cove Junior Rugby League Club
Lane Cove Junior AFL Club
Lane Cove Senior Rugby Club
Lane Cove Football Club
Lane Cove Netball Club
We understand it has been selectively circulated to many members of these clubs.
The letter contains a number of untruths that are essential to address.
The letter states “as unbelievable as it sounds, dogs will be given priority to sports grounds over Community Sports, especially on weekends, due to continual lobbying from small interest groups…. This will mean that local community sport will not have access to the local Sports ovals at key times on Saturday and Sunday mornings.”
This IS unbelievable. It’s unbelievable because NONE of this is true.
Correction #1
No signatory to this letter, running in the 2021 Lane Cove local government elections, has ever advocated for dogs to be on sports ovals during weekends when games are scheduled to play.
Furthermore, none of us were asked to respond to any questions on this alleged policy prior to this inaccurate letter being distributed.
Correction #2
There has been no resolution before Lane Cove Council that ever considered reducing hours for sports clubs over the last four years.
Sport is as much a part of the fabric of our community as our beautiful bushland. Several candidates of this letter are members of the sporting clubs listed above themselves, or have children or family members who are.
Correction #3
The letter stated that only candidates named in the letter - Liberal candidates and another “independent” candidate from a group that historically votes in a bloc with the Liberals - would put “Community Sport First and dogs second.”
This is incorrect.
No candidate signatory to this open letter is suggesting as a policy that sport should be deprioritised in our area and dogs be given greater control.
The letter states that the local Clubs “have been through the list of candidates for the Local Council Elections to ascertain who puts Community Sports First and dogs second.”
Wrong again. In fact, not one of the candidates listed below were approached by any of the sporting clubs to state their position on this issue, nor are these positions stated on their candidate websites.
All signatories of this open letter listed below are happy to answer any questions our community may have on this or any other issue. We welcome your feedback.
Unlike the candidates listed on the sporting club letter, we are happy to put both our names and contact details publicly in the interest of transparency and community dialogue.
Best,
Lane Cove Council Candidates
Vote for more integrity in council chambers
Letter Signed by...
CENTRAL WARD
GROUP D
Bridget Kennedy (independent)
Madeleine Hinchy (independent)
Sally Kennedy (independent)
bridgetforlanecove@gmail.com
www.bk4lc.com
GROUP C
Jerem Zwart (independent)
Vanessa Walker (independent)
Paul Mirabelle (independent)
openparkgroup@gmail.com
GROUP B
Kathy Bryla (Labor)
Lyn Nasir (Labor)
Catalina Rueda Palasio (Labor)
www.lanecovelabor.org.au/central
EAST WARD
GROUP E
David Keith Roenfieldt (Labor)
Rachel Louise Baker (Labor)
Sieger De Vries (Labor)
GROUP D
Thelma Frances Vissel (Independent)
Roderick Trevor Tudge (Independent)
Charles Edwin Vandervord Nixon (Independent)
vissel@bigpond.net.au
GROUP C
Merri Southwood (Independent)
Peter Bartholomew Re (Independent)
Virginia Wai-Suen Chin (Independent
Silvana Anna Maria Novara (Independent)
merriforlanecove@gmail.com
www.merrisouthwoodforlanecove.org
GROUP B
John Leo Fegan (Independent)
Nicholas Peter Sandford (Independent)
Penny Jane Mabbutt (Independent)
johnfegan47@gmail.com
GROUP A
Donald Neil Sinclair Murchison (Independent)
Elizabeth Dean Walton (Independent)
Jean Gee (Independent)
donmurchison.elections@gmail.com
www.donmurchison.com
WEST WARD
GROUP E
Andrew Zbik (Labor)
Suzanne Varrall (Labor)
Wayne Enright (Labor)
GROUP C
Caleb Taylor (Independent)
Ann Proudfoot (Independent)
Weidi Chen (Independent)
caleb@caleb2021.com.au
www.caleb2021.com.au
GROUP B
Rochelle Flood (The Greens)
Pierre Masse (The Greens)
Adam Hart (The Greens)
rochelle.flood@nsw.greens.org.au
www.greensoncouncil.org.au
