Bayside Kingston Council ‘gagged’ by Suburban Rail Loop Authority

Victorian council says it can’t release documents requested under FOI because of confidentiality agreement with Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

A council in Melbourne’s southeast has been accused of acting as a tool of the Andrews government in blocking access to information about planning for the government’s flagship infrastructure project.

Bayside Kingston Council is spending ratepayers’ money challenging a Freedom of Information request from state opposition frontbencher David Davis for documents relating to its discussions with the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

Mr Davis is acting on behalf of former councillor and environmentalist Rosemary West, and impacted residents Andrew and Carol Dawson and Silvana Anthony, who accuse the council of playing a role in keeping locals in the dark about the Heatherton train stabling yard which is proposed as part of the project Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget office has costed at more than $100 billion.

The Suburban Rail Loop project.

In a witness statement submitted ahead of a VCAT hearing on Friday, Kingston Council General Manager of Planning Jonathan Guttmann states that council is unable to release some of the five documents requested because it has signed SRLA confidentiality agreements.

Mr Guttman states that “the release of the document would impact on relations between Council and the SRLA and would impair the integrity and viability of the deliberative processes relating to the Suburban Rail Loop project.”

In her witness statement, Green Wedges Coalition co-ordinator Ms West said that in 18 years as a councillor, she had “never seen a community treated with such contempt as this state government has shown to the community of Heatherton, and the wider south east (of) Melbourne.”

“It has been frustrating and personally distressing to have been prevented from properly informing and advocating for this community by confidentiality agreements mandated by a state government agency,” Ms West said.

Mr Davis accused the Andrews government of “steamrolling over” local communities and engaging in “faux consultation” over the stabling yards, which are set to be built on a site previously promised by the government as part of the area’s “chain of parks”.

“The green wedge has been protected by all parties, but Daniel Andrews is prepared to trash it,” Mr Davis said.

“There’s a cozy pattern with Kingston Council of co-operating with the Andrews Labor government, failing to stand up for their local community, and seeking to cover their tracks through the non-provision of documents.

“Too many Labor-influenced councils are unprepared to stand up to the arrogant decisions of Labor. We all want projects, but projects are routinely botched and suboptimal because Labor hasn’t consulted.

“Labor requires local councils to sign gag orders to shut down local community involvement.”

An Andrews government spokeswoman said the issue was “a matter for Kingston Council and David Davis”.

The Suburban Rail Loop Authority declined to comment on the record, and a spokesman for Kingston Council said: “out of respect for the VCAT process, we have nothing further to add ahead of the hearing.”