by Emma Ballingall

Baw Baw Shire councillors are calling for more than a Band-Aid solution to a longstanding and dangerous landslip on Thorpdale Rd.

Leading the charge, Cr Brendan Kingwill said the important arterial road linking Trafalgar with Thorpdale, Narracan and Childers had been impeded by the slip for decades.
"It's an important road to that whole community, it's been going on for so damn long, it's dangerous and I want to get something done about it as soon as we can before something tragic happens," Cr Kingwill said.
Cr Adam Sheehan said locals reported the landslip had been an issue for up to 90 years and yet it "continues to wreak havoc for all road users."
A state government road and not the responsibility of council, Cr Kingwill presented a general business motion to Wednesday's council meeting calling for Baw Baw Shire to write to Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne.
After gaining unanimous support, the letter will seek the status of plans to permanently fix the landslip site and annual maintenance costs. It also will outline council's concerns for the safety of residents.
To demonstrate the history of community concern, Cr Kingwill offered a newspaper clipping from 1978 headlined "Tourist road would bypass slip country."
The letter from Mrs Watson urged government to avoid spending money on a failed design and "cut the losses and build a new with foresight, not hindsight."
Fast forward to today, Cr Kingwill said "a lot of people rely on that road" including farmers, families, school buses, transport, industry and a growing tourism sector.
Cr Sheehan also called for common sense to prevail.
"Yes, the ongoing cost of maintenance - that can only be described as a Band-Aid fix - is of high concern," Cr Sheehan said.
However, he said Ms Horne should agree "safety is the biggest concern here."
"It's clear that continually pouring fill into what actually presents as a seasonal waterway or natural water runoff is not only bad practice but also unsafe and a waste of taxpayer money," he said.
"We are well overdue in considering environment impacts here too. Yes, it really is a slide and will remain so unless addressed properly. I'm not an engineer but, at the very least, I would suggest this site needs to have adequate drainage and stabilisation, or perhaps even be bridged."
Cr Jess Hamilton recalled travelling past the landslip about five years ago, presuming it was roadworks.
"It's really disappointing that they (state government) still haven't thought we're important enough to go out there and correct this because it's something that desperately needs to be fixed," Cr Hamilton said.
Cr Danny Goss labelled the site on an extensively used sealed road "a total and utter disgrace."
"The one job of government is to keep the community safe," Cr Goss said. "The government have just no care whatsoever for people in regional areas, we see it time and time and time again."
"Does our safety here matter?" he asked. "Do people in regional communities matter? It's a rhetorical question, I think the answer is not really."