Wyndham council has knocked back a proposal to turn a Hoppers Crossing house into a community centre for the city’s tightknit Oromo population.
Councillors rejected a bid by the Oromo Islamic Resource Centre (OIRC) to use the property in Leatherwood Drive for a “community and resource centre” and as a permanent home for the not-for-profit group.
The Oromo people are an ethnic group of Ethiopia, northern Kenya, and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they are the largest ethnicity in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa.
Australian Oromo Community Association president Yadata Saba said the council’s decision was likely to be appealed to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In its application to the council, the OIRC said the centre would be used for programs, education or welfare assistance with shared space where members of the Oromo community could meet and socialise. A maximum of 50 people would be allowed inside at one time.
However, a council officer’s report recommended against the application on a number of grounds, including its siting in a low- density residential area and that it was likely to adversely impact on the neighbourhood character and amenity, particularly due to noise and increased traffic.
An alternative recommendation put forward by councillors Intaj Khan and Bob Fairclough to approve a permit for the centre was defeated.
Councillors Glenn Goodfellow and John Gibbons then supported refusing the permit on the grounds outlined in the council officer’s report.
The motion put forward by councillors Goodfellow and Gibbons, which included working with the OIRC to find a “more appropriate location”, was backed by all councillors except Khan and Fairclough.
Mr Saba said he was disappointed by the council’s decision.
“The centre would provide a permanent place where we could meet and teach our language and culture,” he said. “We’ve received supporting letters from the Victorian Multicultural Commission and [federal Greens MP] Adam Bandt, so something like this is upsetting for our community.”
Cr Khan said he believed the council had previously approved similar applications for places of assembly in residential areas, and added that the Oromo community needed its own place.
