There is no such place as Berwick Springs.
It has never been gazetted and is, in reality, Narre Warren South.
Everyone knows Berwick Springs though, the local MP calls it Berwick Springs as do government ministers, just as everyone including the local MP, knows that the lake at the heart of Berwick Springs is called Berwick Springs Lake.
It too was never gazetted.
The Berwick Springs community is multicultural and multifaith, yet the Victorian Premier and local MP have inferred that residents are Neo Nazis because they have called out the lack of consultation over the name change.
Local Jewish residents, as can be imagined, find that utterly disgusting and beyond contempt. All residents are appalled.
The whole process has been an unfunny comedy of errors, from Andrews unilaterally declaring that a landmark would be named after Guru Nanak, to ministers ignoring recommendations from Melbourne Water, Geographic Names Victoria and The City of Casey, through to civil servants failing to grasp that the “unnamed lake” is a much loved landmark, with a name, at the centre of an existing community, and a community that had a reputation for fighting for its rights.
Residents were not invited to the renaming ceremony – and renaming was the term used on the signage, press release and by Minister Stitt. (It took over a week for the various government bodies to make their stories match.)
The two main political parties have rushed to demonstrate their love of all things Sikh in what seems to be an embarrassing, unbecoming scramble to collect what they appear to believe is the “Sikh voting bloc”.
This imagined voting bloc does not exist and the Sikh community must surely find this approach insulting.
The residents of Berwick Springs (Narre Warren South) have only ever viewed this as an issue with the state government; it is the political parties that have turned it into an issue of race.
In the case of Labor, it might be assumed that they have no defence against the accusation that they failed to follow due process over the issue of consultation.
Was it much easier for them to call those opposed to the change “far right”, “white supremacists” etc., than to answer for their actions? (There are some amusing online videos of residents from Asian and African backgrounds giving their view on being labelled white supremacists.)
It is only sensible that names for new developments and landmarks reflect the excellent work done by people from all backgrounds, religion and culture. (More recent immigrants may be at a disadvantage in this regard, but the work done by the Sikh community has thrown many names into the ring.)
What is not appropriate is the naming of state and federal landmarks after religious founders, Australia is a secular society, and the renaming of Berwick Springs Lake has created significant religious division.
The Allan government is introducing sectarian politics, perhaps, without realising.
Why would a long-standing name be changed, without consultation, and based upon a technicality?
It is unfair to the local community, and it is a poisoned chalice for the Sikh community.
The only possible outcome is religious division.
Is this really what the government wants?
Malcolm Sharp
Berwick Springs
