Sunbury secession scenario the talk of the town

Community consultation is over and the submissions are ready for the panel appointed to steer Sunbury’s secession from Hume.

A spokesman for new Local Government Minister Tim Bull said the Sunbury-out-of-Hume panel had received 65 submissions.

The panel’s report is due to be handed in to the minister by the end of June.

Among organisations and individuals who made submissions were Hume council, Melbourne Airport Corporation and the Broadmeadows Progress Association.

Collating and editing has begun on community feedback, both written and spoken, including comments lodged by more than 500 people who attended one of the nine consultation sessions held during the two weeks before Easter.

The community consultative committee’s chairwoman, Northern Victoria MP Amanda Millar, said the committee was due to deliver its findings to the minister and the panel this week.

“The committee is currently working hard to finalise its report to ensure that the voices of Sunbury and the wider Hume communities are heard as part of this consultation process,” Mrs Millar said.

She said the consultation report would also be made available to the public early next month, soon after its publication.

The government was unable to say whether submissions direct to the panel would also be made available.

Government project consultation usually involves the posting of public submissions, along with procedural information, online. The website created for the Sunbury-out-of-Hume project has not been updated since April 2, which was before the previous minister, Jeanette Powell, stood aside.

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