Latest news with #BawBawShire
ABC News
05-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
Justices of the peace 'keep the world ticking' but are stretched thin in Victoria
When a justice of the peace based in Drouin fell ill earlier this year and needed time off, Ian Symons was contacted for help. He coordinates the Warragul roster of justices of the peace (JPs), and it was hoped he had a spare pair of hands that could step in to fill the roster. But he was understaffed too. Mr Symons said people were travelling up to two hours to the Warragul signing station from as far away as Korumburra, Leongatha and Inverloch, desperate to find someone who could witness their important documents. He said JPs, all volunteers, often dropped out of the service due to age, ill health and competing priorities. "There are not enough people, not enough JPs in this local area who have got time to be able to participate in the roster," he said. "I know the other signing stations all suffer the same shortage of willing volunteers." A JP is an authorised person who witnesses or certifies documents such as birth certificates, statutory declarations and wills. They work from document signing stations often located in places like local libraries or police stations, and the service is free and volunteer-led. Victoria has 3,699 JPs, with 2,229 of those in metropolitan Melbourne and 1,470 in regional Victoria, serving a total population of more than 6.5 million. In the growing municipality of Baw Baw Shire there are just 45 registered JPs. Rodney Lavin is the president of the Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices (RVAHJ). He became a JP after serving as a local councillor. Mr Lavin said the Victorian government's recruitment of JPs was not keeping pace with the growth of the state's population. "We just know, factually, we haven't got enough," he said. Mr Lavin said his organisation had pushed the government to recruit more JPs, with no luck. "The need for action is immediate," he said. Mr Lavin said a major part of the problem was that many JPs were in their older years, and those who died were not being replaced. A state government spokesperson said a 2022 recruitment campaign resulted in 800 new JPs signing up, including 300 in regional Victoria. "We will continue to work closely with the sector to understand local needs and address gaps in coverage," the spokesperson said. But Mr Lavin said more were needed to bring Victoria into line with numbers in other states. Myli Libraries spokeswoman Bec Noone said the face-to-face support of JPs at libraries was valuable. "We're glad to play a part in making these services more accessible," she said. But justices of the peace are not the only people who can sign documents in Victoria. Documents can be certified by a list of authorised witnesses, including architects, nurses, pharmacists and legal practitioners. Mr Lavin said that could be problematic for already busy professionals, some of whom sought a fee for the service. In a cost-of-living crisis, he said charging a fee for document witnessing was unacceptable. A spokesperson for the Law Institute of Victoria said solicitors were also trusted to provide certification services "because they have overriding obligations to the court and the justice system". The institute confirmed that while solicitors could charge to certify documents, most would not — especially for existing clients. It also estimated that most legal practitioners working in small practices would certify documents on a weekly basis. A representative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia said community pharmacists could choose whether or not to provide document certification services and what fee to charge. "Anecdotally, it is a fairly common request." Similarly, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) acting secretary Madeleine Harradence said hospitals and healthcare services could choose whether or not to provide certification. "Clinical care is always prioritised," she said.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Baw Baw council Mayor Danny Goss suspended after 'aggressive' conduct in meetings
A regional Victorian mayor will be suspended for 21 days from Thursday after an arbiter found his behaviour in meetings more than a year ago resulted in misconduct. The arbiter was called in to investigate allegations against Baw Baw Shire Council Mayor Danny Goss and found he was "nasty and aggressive" and "abusive and threatening" during meetings in March and April last year. During a closed meeting in March 2024 the arbiter found Cr Goss told a young, female councillor to "shut up", "bottle it" and "get some experience". The arbiter's report into his behaviour and his subsequent punishment, seen by the ABC, is only being tabled at the local government level this week almost a year on from the initial complaints. In the 10 months between December 2023-September 2024 Cr Goss posted to his Facebook page regularly saying that council should stop concerning itself with issues outside of its remit and that councils were becoming too "woke". He was calling for council to stop putting motions forward in support of causes such as the Gaza conflict and re-naming places within the shire to honour notable women. Tomorrow, a report from internal arbiter Lily O'Neill will be tabled by the Baw Baw Shire Council and a formal punishment will be issued. Dr O'Neill found that in March last year during a disagreement in a closed meeting of council Cr Goss told former mayor Annemarie McCabe that voters in Drouin would "come after her with baseball bats" in relation to a policy position. Former councillor Jazmin Tauru told the arbiter that in that same meeting, Cr Goss had told her to "shut up", "bottle it" and "get some experience". She was elected at just 21 years of age but after one term chose not to stand for re-election. After that meeting she asked for all future councillor-only meetings to be attended by the chief executive officer, and mostly attended the rest of the year's council meetings via video-link rather than being there in person. Ms Tauru told the ABC she did not wish to comment on the report and was still "processing the events" that occurred during her council term. In May 2024 three councillors applied for arbitration about Danny Goss's behaviour. A week later he told his fellow councillors to "stick to the knitting". It drew ire from some community members and resonated with others. It is unclear whether he was aware of the arbitration application at that stage. However, the arbiter found his use of words did not breach councillor standards. "The application called this phrase 'misogynistic' and 'disrespectful'," Dr O'Neill said. "Having viewed the relevant section, on balance, I accept Cr Goss's evidence that this expression was a colloquialism to mean that he believed these committees to be outside the remit of council. "I find that these comments were delivered in reasonable manner." In response to one female community member calling out his turn of phrase, Cr Goss wrote a letter to the editor in the local paper, the Warragul and Drouin Gazette, naming the woman and directing her to a dictionary for a definition. "The fact that councillors want to establish a gender committee and will allocate $150,999-plus for a gender job in this year's budget is disappointing when there are so many issues in Baw Baw Shire and a massive shortage of money," he wrote. "The responsibility of local government is stick to the basics and to provide basic infrastructure and services. "It isn't to establish gender equity committees to right some perceived wrong … it isn't to waste time and effort on street names." He then spelled out causes including new footpaths, a bus shelter and drainage, which he had been campaigning for. He said his fellow councillors had been absent when he was advocating for those projects. "I was elected to do a job and those that gave me that privilege expect me to do just that — and not be distracted by this nonsense." In March this year Cr Goss apologised to the former councillors for his comments during last year's "acrimonious" debates. Dr O'Neill said he had suggested the apology when she met with him. "In looking back I regret the comments I made at that time," he said. "My view is we should own our mistakes. Cr Goss was re-elected to the Baw Baw Shire Council at last year's November elections. Following tomorrow night's council meeting he will be suspended for 21 days. Cr Goss has been contacted by the ABC for comment but has declined to comment until after the meeting.
