General News
17 October, 2025
Lake residents at odds with GWM Water
GRAMPIANS Wimmera Mallee Water has bluntly shut down the idea of opening lines of communication with concerned long-term annual site holders at Lake Fyans Holiday Park. The Government-owned custodians of the lake this week issued a statement in response to a large group of annual site holders who congregated towards the end of August for a meeting to discuss how decisions affecting the lake are made and who makes them. “The Lake Fyans Holiday Park is the subject of a Crown lease that will expire on 22 December 2031,” read the GWM Water statement.
“Site occupants should direct any concerns to the caravan park operators as the lessee.”
Spokesperson for the annual site holders, Geoff Carr, reported a strong representation of affected people showed up for the meeting, which centred around ongoing concerns about park infrastructure and future planning.
“We had a good turnout, I’m not sure the exact number but a few of us estimated at about 50,” he said.
Mr Carr and fellow annual site holder Philip Gitsham addressed the crowd to talk about their efforts to communicate with both GWM Water and the Lake Fyans Recreation Area Committee of Management.
“It was a very positive meeting, Phil and I spoke about what we’ve done regarding the committee and the water board and so on,” said Mr Carr.
“He and I have been the main antagonists, I guess, towards the committee and GWM Water, we’ve both been at it for about 10 years and we’re getting tired, getting old.”
When asked to define what he has set out to achieve, Mr Carr didn’t hold back.
“Transparency, who’s the committee, what are they there for, when do they meet, who decides who it’s going to be and how are they representing the community and the park in what their decisions are,” he said.
Mr Carr said that since the meeting, he did manage to speak with GWM Water on the matter, though it appears the call did little to bring all parties together and simply reenforced the sentiments expressed in GWM Water’s media statement.
“They said if we’ve got any beef at all, we need to go to Darrin and Janine.”
Manager of the holiday park, Janine Palensky empathises with the site holders, because they come to her with concerns and then she finds herself stonewalled when it comes to raising the issues with the Lake Fyans committee.
“Obviously from their viewpoint, they’re trying to work out who is making these long-term decisions regarding the park because no-one is having any input other than a closed group,” she said.
Apart from answering whatever questions she can from the site holders, Ms Palensky and husband Darrin have stayed out of the way as they advocate for transparency regarding Lake Fyans operations, as her business has been in a courtroom dispute with the committee of management.
“We’re waiting for a determination from the court, we believe that’ll be six to eight weeks,” she said.
“From our viewpoint, it will resolve the issue that’s there at the moment but it’s not going to cover the long-term future of the park.”
Ms Palensky said she understands the frustrations of Lake Fyans site holders, as both the holiday park and the residents are equally as in the dark about who calls the shots, apart from knowing who Northern Grampians Shire Council’s representative is on the committee.
“Obviously from their viewpoint, they’re trying to work out who is making these long-term decisions regarding the park because no-one is having any input other than a closed group.
“I’m not even supposed to know who the committee is, apart from the Councillors which is strange, I’m flabbergasted at the way it is, it’s quite bizarre.”
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