It was well attended, with in my opinion the majority of the residents there for the same reason, I know this because more than half of them walked out disappointed once the controversial policy was introduced.

I asked my two questions which I had to submit by 12noon that day, they were answered by the Mayor (madam speaker), which I then had no right of reply, this was very frustrating.

Another concerned fifth generation resident also stood up and spoke against the policy, but this fell on deaf ears as the councillors had already made up their minds to pass this policy no matter what.

I don’t have any problem for those residents that want this service, however it could be a user pay system that is currently in place with the private contractor, but to impose this on all 8 of the 9 districts polled where most of them only just scraped in due to non returned votes counted as a yes, which is wrong and is not only an un-democratic voting process but a blatant abuse of councillor’s powers.

Some residents like myself will be forced to wheel our bins 100s of meters down dirt roads which would be an OH&S issue, and I am relatively young and fit, how will the more senior residents manage this, then when it is windy or dogs knock our bins over and there is rubbish strewn everywhere, we will be required to pick it up, as pointed out by the council.

Not only was the voting process un-democratic but to my knowledge there was no community consultation prior to the vote, nor was there a feasibility study done i.e. to see if the bins lining either side of some of these narrow dirt roads with steep sides, can accommodate a truck as well as vehicles wanting to pass, this clearly was not thoroughly thought through.

Michael Sayn

Coomoora