General News
25 May, 2026
Black and white not fuzziness in decisions
If you ask my husband do I make decisions with my heart or my head, he will not hesitate to say ‘my heart” -especially when it comes to clothes! and I confess that is probably true.
If you ask my husband do I make decisions with my heart or my head, he will not hesitate to say ‘my heart” -especially when it comes to clothes! and I confess that is probably true.
However, when it comes to council or business decisions the same cannot be said (sadly). It would be so nice to be able to make decisions that always gave you a warm and fuzzy feeling, or that answered every individual’s point of view or desire.
Recently this was tested with me and possibly other councillors when we needed to make a planning decision that had multiple objections.
There is no doubt that planning applications have a lot of rules, regulations and “red tape” associated with them. Invariably, Loddon Shire Council also needs to get approvals from third parties -such as water management, fire agencies, indigenous groups and other government départements, when considering applications.
These bodies are also governed by other legislation and rules; that we, as councillors, may not be familiar with or even know exist.
So when a planning application gets objections, our role is to understand the rules, legislation, third party obligations and the objections content in order to then make a decision – we are provided with a recommendation by the council officer, whose job it is to pull this all together, understand all the legislation and rules and provide conditions that will enable resolution, if one can be achieved.
My heart told me to object to this application. The amenity of this rural living zone and the passion for their peace and quiet that the objectors had was reasonable and completely understandable.
If you feel like your environment is under threat, you too would object (just ask any farmer whose land is threatened by VNI West).
The objections were articulate, detailed and reasonable. Where they could have been just a bunch of NINBYs (Not in my backyard), they offered a sound set of reasons for their objection.
Why then, did I vote against the objectors? This is where the head comes in!
The application was sound, the third parties had agreed, the proposal, while not being wanted by the objectors was reasonable i.e. it was not for anything extraordinary or illegal.
The applicant was perfectly within their rights to put in this application and if all the conditions agreed to are met, then a reasonable outcome is achieved (how we know all the conditions are being met is an article for another day).
Therein lies the nub of the matter – the applicant was within their rights to put in the application and there was nothing illegal about their application.
If we had voted against the application the applicant would know that at limited cost to them, they would take the case to VCAT who would most likely have found in their favour, ruled against council and made council pay their costs, amounting to $$$$$ of rate payers money being spent on legal fees.
This has happened before, where a decision of the heart has cost the ratepayers dearly and with the exception of my wardrobe, I will always listen to my heart, but decide with my head.
* Cr Wilson is the Inglewood Ward member of Loddon Shire Council.
Read More: Loddon Shire