Thursday, 28 November 2024

Ringwood East Traders Association

Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:43): Recently remarks were aired in this place with respect to a meeting I was invited to attend as a support person for Helen Johnston, the president of the Ringwood East Traders Association. This is her statement in response:

For 18 months, I’ve volunteered with the Traders Association to push for CCTV reinstatement on Railway Avenue, despite LXRP’s clear resistance. After extensive delays, a meeting was arranged to work out the bumps … while the draft agreement was incomplete, my solicitor advised me to attend solo, confident I could discuss the traders’ requested amendments.

Knowing time was critical, I attended alone since no other committee members were available and to provide support I invited Nick McGowan, who has shown active interest in Ringwood East. However, in the foyer the LXRP staff expressed their frustration that I had not brought my solicitor. Nick intervened saying it’s not to be ‘stacks on’ Helen, advocating for fairness and a calm approach. I am unsure which member of your staff felt threatened as the only other female part of this discussion was the solicitor, who was more than comfortable having a discussion with Nick. At no time did I see him become aggressive, he was disappointed and surprised by their adversarial behaviour towards me. In fact after the meeting he stood outside with me waiting for me to calm down and encouraging me NOT to do a live social media post detailing my frustrations working with your government big build project.