Apollo Bay’s residents and visitors need much more help regarding the threat of fire. The ‘place of last resort’ here is dangerous, being exposed to direct rays of sun on our foreshore and failing to offer basic resources.
The detailed three-hour CFA meeting recently failed to deal with our situation –how can people “contact the neighbours by phone” if we are surrounded by tour buses and 70 per cent of houses are air BNB businesses.
Regarding our random power switch-offs, a local electrician says we need more “sectionalised protectors” to minimise the number of consumers affected by one power fault. Maybe, but on 20 December last, the manager of the bottom pub kindly took me to hospital to recover when my house was switched off. It was a day of extreme heat and I have a solid brick house. I have managed other switch offs, but the prospect of half each year being summer is terrifying.
At the local government meeting in Colac last night, the response to my query was I should tell them which potholes need attention in Apollo Bay if I want to know whether they spend more on Binns’ Track (a distant log track where no ratepayers live) than they spend here.
We should not be forced to rely on the armed forces by default, or beg help from America’s helicopters and pilots. It is utterly disgraceful. Decent, organised and appropriately funded services is what government should be about.