Questions aplenty for lunch speaker

Lunch guests will have plenty of questions for Parks Victoria CEO Bradley Fauteux when he addresses the Yarra River Business Association (YRBA) lunch on July 15.

Mr Fauteux has only recently taken over the reins at Parks and will be mixing with a group of businesses which have had a strained relationship with the waterways manager over recent years.

In particular, water-based businesses will be interested in future governance arrangements over the river as well as the composition of a new interim committee being formed to guide future arrangements.

The YRBA was represented on the Lower Yarra River Use Future Directions Group (LYRUFDG) which last year recommended a new governance model.

The State Government rejected the governance recommendations but some local stakeholders understood that an interim committee was being established to transition to an independent waterways authority.

However, in a recent interview with Southbank Local News, Mr Fauteux said that was not his understanding.

“Nothing in that announcement suggests that there is going to be an independent authority established in the future,” Mr Fauteux said. “None of what I have heard says that that’s going to be the likely outcome. I think it’s a possible outcome and, again, a lot can happen in a couple of years.”

Local stakeholders will also have plenty of interest in the composition of a three-person committee which is being established to oversee a number of practical issues such as berthing and dredging.  The committee is also expected to make recommendations on appropriate future governance models.

While the YRBA was expecting three independent business people to be appointed to the committee, it is far from certain whether there will be any at all.

Early in the interview, Mr Fauteax said: “We’re going to have a three or four-person committee.  We’ll have someone from local government, we’re hoping to have someone from the City of Melbourne, we’re hoping to have someone from our board and someone from Parks Vic, I don’t know who that will be, comprising the committee.”

Later in the interview, Mr Fauteux said business would be represented on the committee.  A transcript of the interview can be read at www.southbanklocalnews.com.au/editions/article/interview-with-bradley-fauteux/

To book tickets for the lunch, email YRBA executive officer Tim Bracher at [email protected]