Seymour locals Geoff Halpin and Carolynne Burgess-Blackwell were the only two community members to make presentations, and each delivered their final pleas for the bridge’s restoration to be reinstated into council’s budget.
“We are utterly gutted that you cancelled the project and defunded the bridge from the ’25-26 budget,” Ms Burgess-Blackwell said.
“You need to know that we do not accept your decision.
“By cancelling our contract and defunding our bridge, you have deliberately wasted almost $2 million just as the process of putting our bridge back together had finally begun.”
Mr Halpin emphasised his frustration that two decades of advocacy for the bridge’s restoration had seemingly gone to waste.
“I’m speaking on behalf of Friends of the Bridge, a group that has raised over $130,000 towards the bridge restoration, and also as president of the Seymour and District Historical Society, and, importantly, as a representative on your own Mitchell Shire Council Heritage Advisory Committee,” he said.
“All these groups have made numerous budget submissions for the bridge, some going back over 20 years ... And, here I am again.
“The majority of you were fresh councillors for only three months when you reversed the decision that the 20 years of consultation, work and money involved.”
The councillors responding to Ms Burgess-Blackwell and Mr Halpin seemed to unanimously agree that the cancellation of the project was in the community’s best interests.
Cr Riley Evans, who said he was “proud” to be “one of the big proponents in getting rid of the bridge”, said other concerns across the shire were more pressing than the bridge’s restoration.
“I’ve spoken to historical societies from Wallan, Kilmore and Broadford, who have all said that the bridge is a complete waste of money,” Cr Evans said.
“People are struggling within our shire and $6.5 million on a ‘bridge to nowhere’ I don’t think was a priority in the shire.
“I encourage state or federal stakeholders to invest in the bridge, but that should not fall on the shire when we have life or death situations that require urgent funding.”
Cr Andrea Pace said council’s stance was not against the bridge.
“I just wanted to say to you that we’re not against the bridge, at all, it was a purely financial decision,” Cr Pace said.
“As you know, we’ve got a limited amount of funds.
“At the moment, it just wasn’t financially viable, but it is still something I will continue to look into.”
With $858,484.97 spent on settling the contract for the bridge, Ms Burgess-Blackwell and Mr Halpin see the cancellation as a missed opportunity, which puts council’s wallet further out of pocket.
“You chose to pay nearly $859,000 from council’s cash reserves to cancel our contract, getting nothing in return for that money,” Ms Burgess-Blackwell said.
“You may as well have flushed it down the toilet.
“It is indefensible to argue that your decision to cancel the bridge contract was in any way informed or fiscally responsible.“
While he didn’t address the monetary concerns, Mayor John Dougall praised the advocacy efforts of the two, and encouraged them to continue to advocate for their town.
“I admire your passion for delivering projects for your town,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone doesn’t have an ambition for Seymour — I personally believe it’s a town that’s got huge opportunity.
“I can’t see why we can’t put your ideas, and your energy, and your ambition to good use for other initiatives as well.”
After the community presentations, the room heard from Brian O’Dwyer from Broadford Residents Action Group during question time.
“As a long-time employee in Seymour, I witnessed the passion, the hard work and the fundraising of the local community to preserve the development and use of the Old Goulburn River Bridge,” he said.
“I was disappointed to see it scrapped, too.”
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