By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
TENSIONS between Cardinia Shire Council and Emerald Community House continue over a bus shelter used as a public art space and noticeboard.
Following a #letthemstay event hosted by the Emerald Community House and Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) on 8 February, the bus shelter was decorated with messages of refugee support.
The shelter was washed down with pressure washers by Cardinia Shire Council on the mornings of 1, 2 and 3 March, removing all the material posted.
Members of the community house re-posted all the materials and subsequent media articles about the shelter, but the council continued to wash the shelter down each time.
The last time the shelter was washed down, on 15 March, community house manager Mary Farrow made a complaint to the local police about the material being taken down.
“The council never contacted us about the material we had posted and they did it under cover of darkness night after night,” Ms Farrow said.
Cardinia Shire Council have said they do not own the bus shelter but are responsible for the maintenance of it.
“The posting of any form of unauthorised notice, flyer or poster in public places, such as bus stops, does contravene Local Law 17 and is considered vandalism,” a statement from Cardinia Shire said.
“Council officers have the authority to take action and in this case, remove unauthorised material on a public asset, regardless of the topic.”
Ms Farrow believes the bus shelter was targeted due to the political nature of the material that was posted.
“We have been decorating this shelter for seven years and this is the first time they showed up unannounced, blasted the shelter with power hoses only because it had refugee material,” she said.
Two years ago, Cardinia Shire was recognised by the Refugee Council of Australia as a refugee welcome zone that upholds human rights for refugees.
Ms Farrow said Cardinia Council had crossed a line by cleaning away everything that had been put up in the bus shelter.
“We had stuff up there about the McBride Street Kinder and other community information.”
“This is a violation of free speech when council assaults this bus shelter for people putting up letters about issues they care about,” Ms Farrow said.
Emerald Community House has since started a petition to show community support for the bus shelter to be owned and managed by the community rather than council.
The petition currently has 140 signatures but Ms Farrow said the petition was about more than just numbers.
“The petition is not about numbers, it’s about the comments we are getting,” she said.
“Council has not engaged with the community and they are only listening to a small group who don’t want to support refugees.”
Moving the bus shelter into a community owned agreement would see the community house take on responsibility for the management of the shelter.
“We are defining a community-based bus shelter third party ownership with the state of Victoria,” Ms Farrow said.
“We hope council sees the opportunity to have a win with the community instead of oppressing them.”
Cardinia Shire Council in a statement said council were discussing ongoing arrangements for the bus shelter and a proposal was being explored to retain the existing shelter as a public art piece.
