By KATH GANNAWAY
THE State Government has appointed a new board to look at the future operation of Lake Mountain and Baw Baw alpine resorts.
The change to the board and management follows a Victorian Auditor-General’s Office Report on the 2014 operation of the resorts that found that the respective boards had not maintained adequate oversight, internal control and legislative compliance of the financial operations.
Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water Lisa Neville announced in December that outsourcing of management to Belgravia Leisure would finish in April and be replaced with a new board.
She said her office took the issues raised by the Auditor-General seriously and that the alpine boards had been advised that governance and risk management had to improve.
Among a number of concerns raised in the report, were breaches of the Financial Management Act, and deficiencies in the monthly reconciliation of key financial balances.
“The reconciliations prepared were not independently reviewed, not completed in a timely manner and not supported by adequate documentation,” the report said.
Belgravia has defended its operation of the resorts, however, with CEO Nick Cox saying Belgrave Leisure was proud of its achievements.
“Belgrave Leisure invested heavily to update and improve the financial systems and processes.
He said a number of the issues identified in the 2014 audit were ‘legacy issues’ that predated Belgravia’s involvement.
“The results can be seen in the most recent FY15 audits which were completed with no major non-compliance issues and will result in the on-time tabling in Parliament of the resorts’ annual reports in the coming month,” Mr Cox said.
Ms Neville said the new boards would now work with stakeholders to determine the preferred future of the small alpine resorts to address a future that must be environmentally and economically sustainable taking into consideration the likely impacts of climate change.
“These alpine resorts are significant to some of our regional economies and I want to make sure they remain viable and sustainable into the future,” she said.
Board chair for Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw Allan Bawden said it was now up to the board to come up with a long-term plan on how to build on what the resorts offered, particularly in the summer season.
“For the first time we are also seeing the government recognising that climate change could mean some changes to alpine resorts in the future, so the government will be funding some research to help boards understand what that means in the future,” Mr Bawden said.
In the meantime, he said it would be “business as usual” at the resorts with management and staff focused on being prepared for the next winter season.
