Today I sit here, after having vacated Brookland Greens, reading the newspaper articles like

"Cranbourne methane estate residents to share $17.5m"Cranbourne Jounral 25 Mar 11 by Michael Randall and Dimity Barber"

"Gas-leak residents win $23.5m payout" The Age 25 Mar 11 by Jason Dowling, Adrian Lowe"

and I ponder, what is a resident? Are renters a resident? Wikipedia defines a resident as " a person who maintains residency (domicile) in a particular place"

So am I included in this compensation payout? According to the media I am? However when I inquired about representation of renters, this was Gordon ans Slaters response. "we are unable to act for residents in the Brookland Greens Estate who are not home owners"

So is it possible that the media can discontinue adding insult to injury for renters and rectify the way they are reporting who is receiving this compensation.

It is really just another whiplash, that residents who rented were not affected, emotionally or financially. Which is just completely wrong.

Landfills have exploded

This is a letter I have sent via email to a DHS rep in response to this article.

Cranbourne Leader, Wednesday October 1st.

EPA chairman Mick Bourke says the Brookland Greens gas leak debacle could be the worst of its kind in the world.

On Thursday, Mr Bourke told the Leader EPA research had failed to uncover a landfill gas leak matching the scale of the Cranbourne crisis.

“We are searching Australia to see if there have been any other incidences, but we still haven’t found any at present,” he said.

“This sort of thing has occurred overseas, and the landfills have exploded, but we are still trying to find one of this scope and scale, to the extent of affecting up to 400 homes.”

Mr Bourke said an EPA safety probe into disused tips around the state would be completed this week.

“We’re still working solidly through the assessment across landfills around Victoria to ensure people have confidence that other sites aren’t having the same problems as Brookland Greens,” he said.

“We’ve had some enquiry and the general mood in the community is that people want to be confident they are safe. This is an added security.”

My email

Hi *****, ***** is not working today, she advised my husband yesterday to contact you if we needed anything. I arrived home late last night to read in my local paper, "This sort of thing has occurred overseas , and the landfills have exploded, but we are still trying to find one of this scope and scale , to the extent of affecting up to 400 homes" This was quoted as being said by the EPA Chairman Mr Mick Bourke.

***** what are the EPA saying, that there is a possibility it could explode? The CFA have said at the street meetings that that isn't a risk as there needs to be an ignition source and in the ground there isn't one. How did these other landfills explode.....I am really scared and upset, I am unsure if we are safe and being provided with all of the information. This is distressing, so I wanted to contact you to clarify if this information is correct. If it is and the EPA is saying their is a risk of an explosion, we want to leave now.

I want my brain to stop thinking

Today I contacted the manager at DHS by text message, asking for the number of the new case manager, no issues, I just realised I didn't have a contact number.

I have returned home from an 11 hour day of work to find a message written by my husband that contains the number for the case manager, that she is not back until Monday and the number for some trauma counselling.....I want my brain to have a day off too! Every second I get the chance I am searching www.realestate.com.au I don't know what this is going to achieve, but I feel so helpless. I have never felt like that before....oh ok, when the twins were born I did! Actually that was worse!

Sleeping is restless, I feel strung out, like I've had too many coffees, my concentration levels are low and my psoriasis has gone crazy. Some days I wake as if I never slept. The other day I tossed and turned so much in bed I whacked my head on the corner of the beside table....Geez it hurt.

But apparently there are no health effects from the methane, there will be no claim based upon trauma......so it doesn't matter, just another thing, along with the methane that we have to learn to live with.

Is there any humanity?

I am just disgusted at this article in the Herald Sun today.

"Dimity Barber

October 01, 2008 02:35pm

BUYERS trying to cash in on panicked home owners are making half-price offers to houses affected by a potentially explosive gas leak.

Real estate buyers are targeting the Brookland Greens estate in the hope of picking up a bargain in the wake of the methane gas fiasco.

But property experts are urging residents to sit tight and ride out the storm.

Cranbourne real estate agents last week said they had been receiving dozens of calls from investors and speculators in search of a steal.

Raine and Horne agent Andy White said the gas leak had killed genuine sales calls and brought the bargain hunters out of the woodwork.

“Some people think they can pay half price. Investors are looking for a bargain because of the situation,” he said.

Another estate agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said speculators were driving around the estate offering cash for houses.

“Some people seem to think this is a fire sale. We’re getting inquiries from people wanting to get a $400,000 house for $200,000. Absolute idiots,” the agent said.

Read more of the story in the Cranbourne Leader."

Begging....please landlord can I have a place to sleep?

This is the letter I have written to the agent who we have applied to for a rental property.

"I am writing in relation to our recent application for the above rental property. I have discussed our application with one of your property managers in some detail, but wanted to provide further information.

We currently rent at Brookland Greens in Cranbourne, where we are approx 15 metres from the landfill site. We obviously need to relocate to another area, particularly as my son is at greater risk due to having a condition called Chronic Lung Disease. Although if you were to meet him, you would never guess, however a simple cold can put him in hospital.

We also have some particular requirements, which are making it difficult to locate a property. We run a home based business where we sell children’s party supplies online. (http://www.blissfulkidsparties.com.au) This income pays for our children to attend ****** School. We don’t have any customers attend our home, but we store our stock in our 3 car garage.

Trying to locate a suitable property is a real difficulty in the current rental market, this is the only property that we have seen that is suitable. We understand from your property manager that you are currently undergoing a VCAT process to obtain possession, and that given these circumstances you are unable to provide any dates that the property will be available and are not processing applications

However in the interim, I am requesting, actually I am begging! That our application be processed, so that you can see we have a good rental history and potentially things will happen rather quickly when it becomes available. We are willing to wait, as it is unlikely another property will become available during that time.

Seen as we are relocating from out current property due to the methane leak, the Department of Human Services has agreed to pay *** per week towards our rent This would mean that our rent would not increase from what we are currently paying. We are confident after that period that we will be able to sustain that increase, we are good long term tenants who want some stability for our children.

Further to this we are willing to offer 2 months rent for the bond deposit. I am sure that after the current landlords experience they will be nervous, so we are willing to provide some added security. Although we are confident it will never be needed!

We just really need to know that we will have somewhere to live, even if there is a wait.

Sincerely '"

Do you think that will make any difference? I don't know what else we can do.....

I've left it too long...too much happening and not enough sleep

Well, I think I have lost weight from the stress. My jeans are falling down, seriously. Not a bad thing given I am overweight, but not a great reason to be loosing it either :-

I've left this posting too long, so am going to summarize what has been happening.

Wednesday 1st October
We looked at a house in Mornington, it was too small and the travel too far from my work, my husbands work and family. We would really be out on our own.

Craig from DHS rang regarding our case manager, we have a new one. Not sure how long this will last given what we negotiated below.

The shadow minister for housing rang to check that we were receiving the support we need. Not sure if we are, our lives are in the hands of rental investors at the moment.

Tuesday 31st September
We looked at 3 houses today, none suitable. We rang several agents, no suitable listings. I also finally posted the letter to our landlord requesting a rental reduction.

Chris from DHS rang to advise we had no case manager and to contact him in the interim.

We also lodged an application for a house in Langwarrin. We wont know for about a week though, if we are successful.

Monday 30th September
We had a meeting with the head manager of DHS managing the EMT, a manager from DHS Southern Region, the CISS manager and my husband, who walked in on the middle of it. It seems that my lobbying has made some waves and I received a reaction! I highlighted our issues in receiving no support looking for a property, the lack of flexibility with the relocation grant and concerns that the rental market was so high that we would be in the same situation in 6 months time when DHS stopped paying any gaps in rent from what we pay now. I managed to get that extended somewhat, however it is really just delaying the inevitable, unless I work more!! Groan!!!!!

DHS also agreed that a case manager who was allocated from Complex Care at DHS would assist in the looking for a property, not just sending text messages asking how the house hunting was going. We also provided some feedback on the current communications.

Today also the monitoring people came and took away the carbon dioxide monitor, saying there may be a replacement tomorrow. I informed CISS and DHS that we would be in a hotel overnight if there was no monitor. One was returned that afternoon. I don't understand why this keeps happening and why the communication is so poor.

Today I also contacted the State Ombudsman, the conversation went like this
Me: "can you please"advise what the terms of reference are for the investigation into the Brookland Greens Methane leak"
Investigation worker: "There are no terms of reference and they would be private and not be released to the public"
Me: "how do I know what information you may want then?"
Investigation worker: "That's a good question we are not sure what information we may need, is there anything you would like to advise us?"
Me: "I am concerned about how this crisis has been managed, for example City of Casey workers giving tenants incorrect information about breaking their leases, City of Casey workers taking information like our urgent need for a monitor on a list and then it not going anywhere til the next day...."
Investigation worker: "Would you like to put your concerns in writing?"
Me: "So you want me to put everything in writing, wasting my time when you may not want that type of information?"

We need an open public inquiry into this disaster........

Second call....to Counsellor Kevin Bradshaw, who works for a state govt MP. I tried to ascertain if his working position would influence his decision making on council. He advised it wouldn't, however I do think he should declare these interests more clearly.

Third Call....to Inga Peulich, South Eastern Metro Region MP. Advised of current issues.

Fourth Call....to Jude Perrera, State MP, advised of need for a public inquiry, informed about discussion with ombudsman's office. They were just defensive of their stance that the Ombudsman would be sufficient.

Call from Shadow housing minister, wanting to clarify current situation.

Exhausted..........just want somewhere to live so this can become a distant memory.

DHS and being a case!

We have had ongoing contact with DHS, seen as we are a sensitive one! Last week the worker returned to their region and we were advised to contact a worker from Cranbourne Information Support Service (CISS) as our central contact. Great to have a central contact and not hear people talking about us or be shuffled around and end up with reception trying to give our children's name to Child Protection!

CISS have been supportive, advocating for what we are needing and not taking over either (I am competent at some of this, I hope!?) Today they mentioned that DHS wanted a case plan.

I can feel the hairs raising on my arms and am holding my breathe! You see, I implemented person centred planning within Disability Services in Southern Metro Region, I am an expert on planning......but I don't want one. I don't want to be a client who has a case plan. Is that irrational?

I actually have a person centered plan, with goals for me and my family that we work towards, I am now adding this one

" I never ever ever want to be a client of DHS and have a case plan on their file"

Never thought I needed to add that really, but I have.

Instead I want to see the DHS case plan on how they will support us. On how they will make the grant process more accessable and flexible in it's uses for residents. On how they will find us some accommodation and manage our loss of income due to attending community meetings and searching for somewhere to live. Those are the plans that I think should be written, again this is not about me, I did nothing here. This is about how Govt are supporting residents.

Looking up an image to add to this post and I found this quote...

“our quality of life everyday is determined by the presence or absence of things that are important to us – our choices, our routines.” Michael Smull

Those things right now we have no control over, it is people in authority that do. We want our lives back, we want to be able to make sound choices for our future and enable the return of our routines, will the Govt support us in doing this? That is the question.

Methane Monitors Arrival!! Hip Hip Hooray!

We should be having a huge booze up tonight, finally after 15 days we have a monitor that measures Carbon Dioxide!!!! The misinformation about the monitors is tremendous, some of this has lead us to believe we were monitoring carbon dioxide and we weren't.

We based our decision to return to this house partly on the fact we thought we had a monitor that measures methane and carbon dioxide, apparently now we find out it measure methane and carbon monoxide.

Again I am reminded that their is really insufficient information for us to access the safety of our family and we are placing it in the hands of a disorganized management team. I hope they are prepared for the repercussions if it goes wrong....

City of Casey giving out incorrect advise to rental residents

I can't recall if I mentioned this in my first post, however when I sat the interview by the City of Casey for the grant to relocate, I was informed we could just break our lease. I advised the worker that that was incorrect and that there would be a process within the Residential Tenancies Act to follow and it would probably require an application to VCAT. I also suggested they check their information, rather then giving out incorrect information. It wasn't very well received, of course I was there in the capacity of a begging resident, not someone with over 10 years experience in the community welfare sector!!

So on the following Monday, I contacted the Victorian Tenants Union, seeking advice on the issue. I was advised it was complex and I needed to attend an interview at North Fitzroy, they couldn't assist me. I tried to explain that that was impossible, but it didn't really matter. I also explained about the incorrect info given out by the council and my concern that this would lead to rental residents getting into trouble with their lease. I asked if they could liaise with the City of Casey to ensure they were giving out the correct information. I was informed that that was not their responsibility. Nothing like everyone pitching in in a disaster! I requested to speak to a manager and was deferred to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

I then spoke with Consumer Affairs who provided me with the accurate information on the process I needed to take if I wanted to end my lease. again I asked that someone contact to council to ensure they were giving out correct information.

Last night I met a victim of this poor advise, a tenant who vacated their home, upon the advise of the EMT and the council. They thought they could just end their lease, when you have to apply through VCAT. Consequently they are now being taken to VCAT by their landlord for the bond, as they broke their lease. I am appalled, I am disgusted......if that resident looses her bond, the City of Casey should refund it to her, as it was their poor advice that lead to the situation. Working in this area, the first thing you NEVER EVER do is give information that you are not entirely sure about. I wonder how many more will be affected, I certainly informed the Major and an MP about the incorrect information provided....however i am certain nothing will come of that..

House Hunting take 4.5

Ok we have driven past 4 houses today, with the twins in the back seat bickering....oh what fun!!

We think one is suitable, but it is not available until the 22.10.08 That;s ok, at least we know where we are going. But.....the rent is $450 per week, $70 per week more than we pay now. The grant will pay that difference for 6 months, but what happens after that? Do we have to move for the 3rd time in 12 months? Do we incur that expense...this is not simple, as I have said before. We need some certainty. If anything I feel that difference should be covered indefinitely, we are talking about over $4000 per year, we can't find that within our budget..

I also tried to do some creative thinking on how we could address our storage issues. One was to locate a property with a double garage and use the grant to erect a garden shed for storage of our bikes and gardening equipment. That would increase the residential options available to us.

The response from DHS was "Why would we pay for that for a rental property"....the answer "because we have no f***in place to live!!!"

The DHS grant is entangles in so much red tape it is unworkable. Stop this, give the residents the total grant and let them find somewhere to live....the residents are not responsible for this, they are victims and they certainly are not money grabbers, which is how they perceive they are being treated as. (Sure i purposely rented a property with methane leaking into the house so I could scam some money from the government!)

House Hunting take 4

Okay today I have spent my only day off ringing real estate agents, leaving my details and information about the type of property we need.
I have rang
Buxton
Glenn Ryan
Wilson Pride
Barry Plant
Dawes 1st National
Wentworth Crowders
LJ Hooker
Andrew Milne
Austin Professionals
Abel Real Estate

nothing suitable.......

There were a couple of properties that may be suitable if we put in a garden shed, so we are doing drive by this afternoon. You see the rental market is very different from the sales market. We are not shown through 1 by 1, we have to wait for open for inspection times, tuff luck if you are not able to attend at that time! (There are 2 tomorrow that I can't see as I work all day)

Having said that there were also a few agents who said they would get us through quicker. It is relieving to see some humanity in all of this.

So today's real estate hunting effort will take approximately 6 hours!!

Community Meeting

I am distressed, i have been crying at the meeting and all the way home. I feel like one of the three little pigs who has had their house blown down! I can't even begin to explain how I feel right now, I think I need some time to figure that out and some sleeping tablets, as I didn't sleep well last night and have been up since 4am this morning.

All I can say is that while all of the politicians, City of Casey counselors and staff have gone home to their comfortable home, I am scowling realestate.com for properties to look at tomorrow. I am alone.

Addition to this blog....

Ok I needed a bit of time to think about last nights meeting. I am angry, so angry at the political grandstanding, that achieves nothing for residents. Where was the Emergency Management Team, who should have updated us upon our safety at the estate. They were gone, they gave their warning....does it still stand...has it changed...who knows!

The way the council planned to run the evening was condescending. I felt like we were rabble that they were trying to control, and doing it poorly. This estate has a wide variation in socio-economic backgrounds, there are tradies, professional, stay at home mums, business owners.....we should be treated with some respect.

It was really apparent that the purpose was for the council to defend themselves. I am unclear about how that was meant to address the concerns residents currently have. This was meant to be a community meeting, it wasn't.

It also concerned me that the council now feel that they can move along in the cycle and look at repairing the community, to enable that to happen residents must be certain they are safe, you can't repair things when they are not sure about this and no information from the meeting improved residents perspective about their safety.

So 1st of all, we need to get to a stage where it is ABSOLUTELY CLEAR we are safe in our homes and estate.......(a suggestion would be to send every resident the methane reading outcomes for each time they do it, maybe some residents can observe the process as well, to install more confidence and transparency)...then and only then can we look at community renewal.

Another reflection, I spoke to as many politicians and counselors as I could, I was clear that we needed help to locate another property. I passed on my mobile number many times.....was there a call from anyone today.....no, nothing. The behavior of the counselors and politicians present is appalling, there are no concrete steps on how we can be assisted in this crisis, I doubt they comprehend the impact it has upon families.

I have also been able to reflect upon how we can have a community meeting without the grandstanding and achieve some good outcomes. This needs to be handed over to residents, not managed by council. They can supply resources for it to occur, but not be in control. There may be times when the residents want information and pressure the council, they will cope some flack, however at least it will be residents working together and clarifying the outcomes they want to achieve. I am suspicious of the residents group the council want to gather, as it has council members. Let us invite who we think are helpful at the time.....give us some control and power back in our estate, right now we have none.....

house hunting take 3

More calls to rental agencies, properties leased already, others not available to view, some just not suitable. How many do you inquire about? I think I am allocating about 1.5 hours a day, is that enough? It's enough to make me feel like we will get NOTHING!!!!

Contact wih WAYSS

Well this morning I decided to check on a suggestion by the council and PCLS last night That was to contact WAYSS for emergency accommodation. I thought the suggestion was ridiculous, they have a shortage of accommodation for their regular clients, let alone two people in good incomes. Upon contacting them they advised we would need to attend for an appointment with a housing worker. They sounded like they may be able to assist in looking for a property.

But here is my issue...more time away from the business or off work to attend meetings, from the info last night, we wont get any of that loss back. So we loose out again.....

"The steam is going to kill you"

When I arrived home tonight Nathan told me that he was taking the kids outside to play and there was a horrible smell in the air. Jaiden said, "It's the steam, it's going to kill you!" Nathan tried to let him know that it was the rubbish, but both of them were adamant that it was the steam and decided they wanted to stay inside!

Request for rental reduction

Here is a copy of the letter requesting a reduction in our rental costs.

"As you are aware we (tenants of the above mentioned property) have been involved in the methane leak from the Stevensons Rd Landfill. Since the notification that the property we were renting was at risk of being exposed to methane and carbon dioxide we have spent time vacating the property and returned only due to the distress of our children and being unable to locate more suitable accommodation.

The current situation prevents us from experiencing quite enjoyment of the property. We have 2 methane monitors in the house, one that beeps every 30 seconds, CFA entering to check for methane levels and alarm monitoring people attending to download data on at least a weekly basis, along with regular community safety meetings to enable us to assess if the safety of our family.

Given the changes in which we find ourselves, we are requesting a reduction in the rental costs for the above property. We understand that you were unaware of this situation when renting the property to us, however we have no other means of recompense available to us.

If you could advise your consideration of our request, that would be greatly appreciated."

Methane Monitors & DHS case management

Yesterday the Methane monitoring company arrived with a new monitor, after DHS requested we had two and at least 1 that measures for carbon dioxide. They arrived with one that didn't measure carbon dioxide, so they said they would return today with one ta ht did, but it would be an older model and beep every 30 seconds. The lovely worker also informed me that there could be carbon dioxide without the methane, so here we are with a methane monitor that doesn't measure carbon dioxide thinking we are slightly safer.....how fooled we were.

We also had a call from DHS yesterday, advising that the person we were dealing with has to return to their region, they were brought in to assist and were given a contact at Cranbourne Information Support Service as a central contact person. However we are still stuck not being able to apply for the grant without being able to find somewhere to live first.

can't sleep. feel like we are sinking in quicksand alone!

Ok, it's early in the morning, anyone who knows me knows I am NEVER a morning person, so to be up this early, there is something wrong.

Last night there was a community meeting facilitated by the Peninsula Community Legal Centre. There were a range of people there from Consumer Affairs Victoria to Slater and Gordon Solicitors. At least 300 residents were there for the meeting. This is a photo of all the cars arriving.

The meeting was about our legal rights, particularly in relation to compensation. I had previously thought this would include us as we are living through this nightmare, however was quickly corrected, it is ONLY ABOUT PROPERTY OWNERS. The only assistance to people renting is in relation to their lease and assistance to get out of it!

So where do we stand, no where, are our costs of this disaster covered? No. Are we able to receive compensation in relation to the stress and trauma? No (There is not enough money in that to make it viable) It is just about property losses. I feel betrayed, like we are the dirt on the pile that is being swept away. Funny how renters often feel like that.

I got the message loud and clear that no-one was looking at our interests in relation to compensation and that our best option was to get out before we incur more trauma and stress and financial loss. (Apparently our financial loss isn't enough)

I did highlight to the Peninsula Community Legal Service that there were costs not covered in the long term, like if we are forced to take a higher rental property, by the grant. They said they would see if PILTHS (not sure of spelling) but that is a legal clearing house I think! Would take it on.....not positive at all though.

As for our business losses, I have to speak to consumer affairs about that, but I doubt it will be covered! Never mind that I also didn't work tonight so I could attend and wont work tomorrow night so i can attend the safety meeting, there goes $600 in pay, but who cares?

So back to the property searches, no option to put our head in the sand as I do think our rear ends may be set alight (Perhaps then we will receive some compensation? Hah!)

I know I am being funny here, but to be honest I am in tears. I feel so lost and let down and have no where to go. I cant even protect my own family at the moment.....

Methane Conduits

Well the house hunting went bad, it was raining heavily! We (Thankyou to friends who minded the kids) looked at 3 houses, one was too far away and bungalow too small, one was too run down and storage area let water in (Glad it was raining so we could see that!) and third one was just plain weird! So nothing so far.

I ended up texting the DHS worker asking for confirmation of their advise in writing. I then received an email stating that they would only pay the difference in rent if we were not also having to pay for our current property. I knew it had to be wrong! They also confirmed they requested another Methane monitor that also monitors carbon dioxide for the bathroom cabinet, which is a shared wall with Jaidens' bedroom.

Nathan is pushing that we become ostriches and stick our head in the sand, like a few residents here........and not move.
Our landlord asked me, "How I would feel about that?". I replied, "I would be an ostrich with an ulcer!"

So tonight I was looking up images for you of ostriches with their head in the sand and gave myself a little chuckle.....you see we would end up inhaling methane and it would escape through our ar**es! lol We might be able to blow them up if we try hard enough! (Oh ghee it's good to have a laugh for a change!)

The kids have been really trying today. Not following any instructions, doing things they know they shouldn't....Jaiden kept kicking the back of my car seat while I was driving.....I was so frustrated, I grabbed his leg and yelled at him.......what happened to that lovely parenting?

So now we have to really think about prioritising things. The kids need their routine back, I go back to my part time job on Wednesday. The business is also suffering and we just cant look at houses for several hours each day. So I think we are stuck here, against our will.