My name is Trish Cerini. When I first came to the island in 2004, our holiday home was a refuge from our busy business world of Investment Real Estate, based in Melbourne. I was the Director, alongside my husband I ran all facets of our business. The island was where we loved to be, my husband John surfed and I loved the ambiance of island life. In 2009 we moved to where we are presently, in Beach St., building our new home and planning for our retirement, we achieved this in 2017. I was instrumental in Save our Beaches campaign, against having a car ferry on our beautiful Cowes West beach.
I’ve stood for nomination as I believe we have important issues that need to be addressed in our Island Ward. Our beaches are sadly being eroded away, which we urgently need to address. Covid has changed so much, locals can be encouraged to support our islands businesses by ‘live local buy local’; they are our livelihood. I will be working hard to lobby for our health system, to ensure we receive a fully functional hospital to service all the needs of young families and retirees.
We residents love our dogs, they should be able to run on off leash beaches, but only where good protocol & respect is observed, where clean up bags are provided with more bins available to keep our island tidier. Our garbage cycle is an important issue which needs to be resolved, I will work tirelessly to ensure all these issues are addressed and obtained, our island needs to be treated with the respect it deserves.
Questions 1 thru 15 are from BCRRA and 16 thru 34 are compiled from the community questions received. Candidates were asked to respond to all 34
- Why do you believe the community should vote for you?
I have been a resident since 2004, whilst retiring in 2017; I have gained extensive management skills while running my own business and have financial experience, I am also accountable and relatable to all people at different levels of resident’s needs. - What are your strengths in working with people?
My strengths are that I know how to relate within groups and listen to individuals, as I managed staff in excessive of 60 plus in my previous business and learnt the many skills required to encourage and support people in every area. - If elected, how will you demonstrate that you stand at the front of the community rather than standing beside the bureaucracy?
If elected I will always represent the community at large, as an example I was the instigator of the Save our Beaches campaign back in 2018 and know how to work hard within a team of residents to achieve a voice for the community. - What considerations, inclusions or deletions will you take when forming your new Council Plan?
Once and if elected I will become aware of all aspects of the council plans and ensure transparency, honesty and integrity are always in place. Of particular importance to me is the protection of our beaches and addressing erosion issues, and ensuring the promise of obtaining a hospital for our island residents and visitors is followed through. - How will you demonstrate that you remain focused on financial discipline at Council
I have always been focused in the financial area, having owned and run our own Investment Real Estate business and property portfolio for many years, consequently my interest in budgets is high and I cannot tolerate wastage of funds such – I learnt that people love spending other people’s money! - Is Council’s 4 year Strategic Resource Plan together with the 10 year financial plan appropriate to meet the future needs of The Bass Coast Shire Council and its Ratepayers?
In relation to existing plans, I believe the next councillors elected will have an opportunity to review and seek more community support for the priorities that should be in place. - Will you be prepared to challenge the system (council officers and fellow councillors) to keep your constituents well informed
I believe I am a no nonsense person and will not tolerate any barriers from any individual, I will be prepared to challenge anyone that tries to stop the release of information that is crucial to the needs of the community. - Will you take action to investigate the 10 year Waste Contract details in the first 12 months of your term as a councillor? Will you review the contract model settings and make findings publicly available?
Our waste contract is in dire need of reviewing ; transparency is vital and I will always seek public comment as our residents are the body of our island, they are screaming for this contract to be reviewed. - Will you support continued live streaming of open Council Meetings and availability of a publicly available video archive?
I will definitely recommend & support that all meetings be live streamed publicly and are available as long term resource, the public want to be involved and know what has been discussed and decided.
24 April 2024
Trish Cerini advises us that she is currently working on further responses to the following
- Will you take action to review the Governance Rules Policy in the first 12 months of your term as a councillor including community consultation?
- Will you take action to Review the Media Engagement Policy in the first 12 months of your term as a councillor including community consultation?
- If elected, what commitment will you make to improve Council engagement with the wider community and build community engagement with your local ward?
- How will you ensure that the CEO and officers genuinely and respectfully answer all public questions with a sincere response that address the core of each question?
- Do you believe that keeping any increases to rates, fees and charges within the State Government Rate Cap or below the CPI increase is paramount for Council?
- Would you be in favour of regular virtual community connection sessions in lieu of the previous model used by Council?
- Why are you standing as a Councillor?
- Do you live in the ward you seek to represent, and why should we vote for you?
- Council recently commenced Live Streaming meetings (for a trial period). They also recently adopted policies defining Council engagement with social and other media. How do you feel about these?
- How would you improve Council engagement with the wider community and build community engagement with your local ward?
- Public Transparency and good Governance are at the core of BCRRA’s purpose. Council has recently adopted new policies covering Governance Rules and Public Transparency.
- Do you feel there is a need to review these policies, and if so when should this be done?
- What role do you feel community consultation has in reviewing these policies?
- What measures would you put in place to demonstrate honesty and transparency in your decisions and spending of ratepayers’ money?
- Do you think ‘The Fair Go’ rate cap is better or worse than limiting rate rises to CPI?
- Bass Coast Shire has budgeted for a significant amount of Capital Works in the coming years. How do you feel about the level of borrowing necessary to deliver these?
- What is your opinion of Council’s current financial position? And of the outlook projected in the Long Term Financial Plan?
- What is your opinion of the 10-year waste contract agreed by the last Council late in 2016?
- And what do you think of the (uncapped) charge for waste services being separate to the general rate charge?
- What is important for you about township boundaries and character within the shire?
- What is your feeling about the condition of council owned roads and footpaths and bike paths?
- What are your views on the level of importance of art, culture, and indigenous recognition in the Council framework?
- Statistically, one in four Bass Coast Residences has a dog. How do you feel about existing restrictions in place? What, if anything would you change?
- What would you like to see BCSC do to address Climate Change?
- How do you rank the importance of tourism against local amenity?
Questions 35 thru 88 are ALL community questions exactly as we received them.
Candidates were given the option to reply to as many or as few as they wished.
(Questions 16 – 34 above were compiled from these)
No responses to these questions have been supplied at this time.
24 April 2024
| Phone Contact | Email Address |
| 0408 024 714 | trish@cerini.com.au |
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