GORCAPA … Chained by its Creator

After GORCAPA released its latest iteration of the Point Grey UDF last week, it seems an appropriate moment for the Lorne community—injured, bruised, and trust-blasted—to extend a [carefully pruned] olive branch and a qualified thank-you for the recent steps the Authority has taken towards compromise. Now for a further extension of that ‘pruned branch’. It is also timely to remind our fed-up community of the limitations under which GORCAPA must ‘labor’ … spelling intended!

GORCAPA is a ‘quango’—a quasi-autonomous non-government organisation—established under The Great Ocean Road and Environs Protection Act 2020 … NB: keep an eye open for that ‘Environs’ word as it is likely to come back to bite us all, and soon.

In principle, quangos are staffed by civil servants yet snuggle up outside the civil service. They receive their funding directly from the government that appoints them—without election and without recourse from the public they purport to serve.

While a quango [think GORCAPA] is generally a power unto itself and is legislatively protected from and effectively unanswerable to the people, it inevitably ends up hide-bound by the very bureaucratic machinery that created it—and to which it intermittently [but scantily] reports.

Quango machinery is ever opaque: their budgets are either unpublished or impossible to trace, their committee processes are blurred or ‘in camera’, they love non-disclosure agreements, and their personnel changes occur so frequently [as with GORCAPA] that the ‘responsible administrator’ is magically moved or moved on … abracadabra! This constant morphing of staff ensures a corporate memory with as many holes as a Swiss cheese.

Herein lies the source of Lorne’s frustration—the quango quagmire—which exposes the horror [even evil] of ‘big government’.

Politicians and their gargantuan public service have long forgotten about one of life’s guiding ‘principles’—Occam’s Razor. Named after a 14th-century Franciscan friar and philosopher, William of Ockham [NB: the Surrey village of his birth is spelt differently to his name], Occam’s Razor states that when faced with multiple explanations for the same phenomenon, the simplest answer is usually the best.

Also known as the law of parsimony, Occam’s Razor favours theories, hypotheses, or designs that avoid unnecessary complexity. Medical students are taught to apply Occam’s principle to the art of diagnosis, with the simplest explanation for a constellation of symptoms usually being correct. I used to teach my students not to search for a golden oriole when the birds in your garden are clearly sparrows. Occam’s lesson is an invaluable one.

To be fair to the Authority, and while it has clearly been ignorant of Occam, it has been dudded at every turn by the blunted razor of competing government regulations. GORCAPA’s confusion, lack of focus, and absent continuity are likely not entirely its own fault. It has been so hide-bound by myriad parliamentary acts and legalities that, even if it wanted to break free, it couldn’t. Suffocated by process and micro-box ticking, GORCAPA [like other similar quangos established by bloated governments] has forgotten how to listen to the people they were set up to serve … us!

It appears GORCAPA’s key performance indicator, first and foremost, is to tick every regulatory box, regardless of its practicality or lack thereof. Many of these KPIs are created:

without thought to their practical workability,
in blind oblivion to any competing or contradictory regulations laid down by multiple government departments, and
without the grunt [or courage] to challenge the juggernaut departments of state or federal governments.

As government agencies have long since lost the art of speaking, one to the other, chaos and paralysis now reign supreme.

William of Ockham would turn in his grave if he could see the mess that big governments so commonly make of seemingly simple processes. Meanwhile, if George Orwell were seated by his graveside, he might mutter prophetically … ‘I warned you of this way back in 1984!’

Point Grey has been bedevilled by cross-departmental edicts, directives, acts, bylaws, statutes, rules, regulations, and limitations imposed by overarching departments. These include The Marine and Coastal Act 2018, the Fisheries Act 1995 [and its several updates], Department of Transport regulations, Parks Victoria, multiple environmental agencies and pressure groups, and the new and strangling bureaucracy fuelled by often irrational climate change theories … the list is endless. Finally, all must be acceptable to the Eastern Maar—a recent 2011 parliamentary Indigenous construct that [oddly] claims traditional ownership of the Otway ‘country’.

As our community seethes with discontent, GORCAPA—like ex-Councillor Clive on an Otway hinterland trip—has become almost irretrievably bogged in red tape and powerless to resolve the issue. For more than two decades, two coastal behemoths [first GORCC, then GORCAPA] were tasked with delivering a pretty simple upgrade to a much-loved community asset. Instead, they have taken the antithetical path to that proposed by Occam.

The community envisioned a simple project:

A renovated Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club in a like position and with a like footprint and design to the current loved local clubhouse.
A renovated or—if it must be—a rebuilt Co-Op building with a similar footprint and design to the current building.
A reinstated fish-themed restaurant with ample indoor seating and an alfresco exterior for balmy days and a reincarnated fish shop, both much wished for but regrettably omitted from the latest UDF.
Public facilities more accessibly-sited at the rear of a reimagined Co-Op—but please, don’t just replace the Co-Op with a public dunny and a kiosk!
A dedicated boat wash and fish cleaning facility.
Water access for small, trailer-floated fishing craft.
An imaginative historical display using up-to-date technology, created in cooperation with the Lorne Historical Society and showcasing the Otway’s ancient Gondwana links, the long history of the Gadubanud in Otway’s forests and along its shores, Lorne’s rich early settlement, timber, fishing, and tourism history, the challenges faced in building and maintaining]the Great Ocean Road and the hardy diggers who built the road with picks, shovels wheelbarrows and dynamite, and the 21^st-century hospitality and day-tourism boom.
Car-parking spaces similar in number to current patterns.
Sensitive replanning of the landscape to bind it all together.

Occam would have stood back, scratched his tonsure, and thought to himself … ‘that’s not too hard to do’. He may have even observed that a significant redesign was unnecessary. He may have concluded … ‘these simple renovations nicely match my razor’.

But no! … with tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man-hours wasted, and with every conceivable complex pathway concocted and rejected, Point Grey still stands untouched—old, rather dilapidated, but a friend of the town—still awaiting the low-key revitalisation first proposed in 1998.

The football adage ‘… lower your eyes for the best path to goal’ … is a saying with which good old Occam may well have agreed.

John Agar

Feature Writer

A word from the chairman

Hello

Last Saturday we joined the Lorne faithful in heading to Central Reserve, Colac to cheer on the Lorne Dolphins in three Grand Finals. First up was the netball, and with simultaneous games on adjacent courts, the neck muscles got a good workout. I have to confess it was the first time I had watched a game of netball (no daughters!) and I was impressed by the energy, athleticism and “attitude” of the Lorne Grand Dames (aka D Grade), no shrinking violets here! In a close–fought game they went down by one goal in the final seconds. Meanwhile on the adjacent court, the 15 and unders went down by 10 goals in a hard-fought contest. It was wonderful to hear that some mothers and daughters were playing in the two games. Congratulations to all our girls, to our Grand Dames in getting so close in their debut season, and a special mention to our Club President, Carly Enticott in leading from the front as captain of the Dames.

After a quick coffee break and enjoying the delights that Colac has to offer, we turned our attention to the main oval where the Dolphins Football Reserves took on Irrewarra Beeac. Having been undefeated throughout the year, the Dolphins went in warm favourites, but as they say “Anything can happen in finals”. In front all day, the Dolphins did not let their guard down and it was only in the closing minutes that smiles and celebrations took over, as they pulled away to win by 36 points. It was a fitting swansong for coach, Miah Atwell, who is handing in his whiteboard after 31 years involvement with the Lorne Football Club as player, coach and committee member. Congratulations Miah and thank you for your outstanding contribution to the Club and our community. It was also a special day for the Peillon family, picking up two premiership medals on the day.

Sport is an emotional experience not only for the players but also for the spectators. To hear the final siren in a Grand Final and see the different emotional responses of the players (especially in football) is something special. The victors find hidden reserves of energy to run and jump on each other, while the vanquished slump in disappointment. While the victory celebrations continue for some time, the runners-up review what happened and reset for next season. There are no losers, making finals is a wonderful achievement and a Grand Final even more so. Congratulations to all our players and support crew.

And as we head towards the big game on Saturday, I am sure Geelong will be the popular local favourites, apart from the few “Old Fitzroy” supporters. It will be a great contest and Lorne will come alive for the long weekend and celebrations at many of our venues. Enjoy the buzz that the school holidays will bring to our community, and bring on the weather!

Cheers

Lorne Ward Events Calendar

September

28 – Lorne Aquatic & Angling Club – Major Fishing Competition No 5, Weight cut off at 12.30pm, Free roast lunch for competitors, $10 non-fishing members.

October

15-19 – UCI 2025 Gran Fondo World Championship

19 – Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo, cycling event on the Great Ocean Road www.amysgranfondo.org.au

19 – Run the Marsh, 3km Walk, 2km and 5km fun run at 9am, Frogwood Arboretum, Deans Marsh

25 – Women of Troy, Anglesea Performing Arts group, 2 performances, 2pm & 7.30pm at Lorne Community Centre, www.trybooking.com/DCWRE