The Politicians Who Have Run Roughshod Over Democracy
In 2019 we, in The City of Casey, were disenfranchised by the state government, then in 2024 they took it one stage further and ignored their own rules to silence the community.
On the 9th November 2024, seven, yes seven, state MP’s gathered at Berwick Springs Lake to hammer the final nail into democracy in Casey. The video, thanks to “Chani Dhanoa Vlogs”, confirms that those attending knew that this was a renaming. Residents did not recieve an invitation to the ceremony.
Jacinta Allan
Premier of Victoria
As if forcing the renaming of Berwick Springs Lake through ministerial direction was not enough, Allan further showed her lack of democratic credentials by inferring that anyone who disagreed was a “Neo-Nazi”. This is the same Premier, on record, as stating “People have a right to demonstrate, no one has a right to divide”.
Apparently it is acceptable for the state government to divide by introducing Sectarian politics into a multicultural, multifaith, inclusive community.
The Berwick Springs Community sent an open letter to Allan on 10th December 2024 – unsurprisingly she has not responded. Dealing with voters is. perhaps, just a little bit too democratic.
email: jacinta.allan@parliament.vic.gov.au – Phone: (03) 5443 2144
The Video is courtesy of South Asia Times and Victorian Parliment.
Ingrid Stitt
Minister for Multicultural Affairs
Stitt sent a letter to Kilkenny on 26th May 2024 requesting “Ministerial direction” to formally register the name Lake Guru Nanak.
The letter and the briefing were released as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and you can download it by clicking the link below.
Stitt in her speech to parliament declared that “Many locals loved the idea of naming the lake after the founder of the Sikh faith”. We are yet to find these “many locals”.
Answer us this Minister Stitt, “If the lake didn’t have a name why did the sign, press release, and Sikh attendees at the ceremony all call it a Renaming?”
We certainly don’t need Stitt’s brand of divisive, sectarian politics in our multicultural, multifaith, inclusive community.
email: ingrid.stitt@parliament.vic.gov.au – Phone: (03) 9363 1644
Sonya Kilkenny
Minister for Planning/Attorney General
“There’s a story, an identity, and a sense of belonging behind the name of every street, park, reserve, lake, mountain, creek, beach, and public space.” wrote Kilkenny a few months after she rubber stamped the renaming of Berwick Springs Lake, which already had a story, an identity and a sense of belonging and didn’t need new ones.
Did she read the ludicrous briefing behind Stitt’s request when at the stroke of a pen she ignored due process? She certainly ignored the recommendation, by Geographic Names Victoria, to seek broader community consultation.
Berwick Springs is now a divided community, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists. Hebrews, Catholics, Protestants and more wonder why the lake that gives the community its name and identity has been taken away by Kilkenny.
email: sonya.kilkenny@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 9773 2727
Gary Maas
MP for Narre Warren South
“Berwick Springs is a beautiful location for this mark of our celebration of Victoria’s Sikh communities.”
So said Gary Maas in Allan’s 9th Novemebr 2024 media release, within a week he, like Allan, was inferring that those who opposed the renaming and sought democratic due process were “Neo-Nazi’s” (sic), but he chose to do it in writing, online.
He wrote to residents “To be clear, the lake has never before had an official name. It is a lake in the Berwick Springs Estate.” This despite calling it Berwick Springs Lake in a Facebook post in September 2022.
Maas continued to support the renaming in parliament throughout November, and all but disappeared to the concerned residents of Berwick Springs.
We have yet to see an apology for his Neo Nazi remarks.
email: gary.maas@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 8783 6959
Emma Vulin
MP for Pakenham
Pauline Richards
MP for Cranbourne
Paul Mercurio
MP for Hastings
Lee Tarlamis
MP South Eastern Metropolitan
(Legislative Council)
The bit part players chipping in to undrmine democracy.
email: emma.vulin@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 9651 8254
email: Pauline.Richards@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 5996 2901
email: paul.mercurio@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 5977 5600
email: lee.tarlamis@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 9793 2000
Brad Battin
MP for Berwick
Leader of the Opposition
In November 2024 Brad Battin, as the Member for Berwick stood shoulder to shoulder with residents of Berwick Springs questioning the process followed by the Government to rename Berwick Springs Lake. He stood in parliament and tried to hold the government to account. (See video left). In February after becoming the leader of the opposition he advised community members to create a parliamentary petition in conjunction with Ann-Marie Hermans.
So why did the Liberal Party vote against the debate motion on October 15th 2025? (Ann-Marie Hermans demonstrated her convictions by voting in favour.) To the observer it appears that there is a mistaken belief that the Sikh community is a voting block that can be bought by renaming Berwick Springs Lake.
Battin has demonstrated that he has no convictions, he believes in sectarian politics, is weak and is a snake in the grass.
email: brad.battin@parliament.vic.gov.au – tel: (03) 5953 0216
David Davis
MP Southern Metropolitan
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council
David Davis gave what can only be described as a speech of weasel words when he stood to support the Victorian Labor Governments sectarian politics in opposition to the Liberal Party motion to reverse the renaming of Berwick Springs Lake.
It was a genuinely pathetic speech – remember his name when it comes to the next election.
email: david.davis@parliament.vic.gov.au tel: (03) 9827 6655
Evan Mulholland
MP Northern Metropolitan
Shadow Ministor for Multicultural Affairs
One can only wonder why Evan Mulholland, the shadow minister for multicultural affairs, stood up, in parliament, in front of the genuinely multicultural Berwick Springs Community and supported Allan’s sectarian politics.
Why this buffoon is a Liberal MP and not a Labor MP is anyone’s guess.
email: evan.mulholland@parliament.vic.gov.au tel: (03) 9651 8242