Elsie Lange
Bulla resident Jo Muldoon has been begging for public toilets to be made available in the town for years, but they won’t be considered until 2023.
A year ago, calls for a toilet block to be reinstated at Bulla Recreation Reserve made their way all the way into state Parliament – but not much has changed.
“I really want to get this finalised, I’ve been fighting this for three years and I think it’s just disgraceful that we don’t have a toilet,” Ms Muldoon said.
In response to a submission by Ms Muldoon last year, Hume council said putting toilets in at Bulla would be considered as part of the master planning process for the reserve, with funding allocated in “future years” to implement the plan “including the installation of a public toilet”.
Hume city planning and places acting director George Osborne said the toilets were demolished in 2019 because they were “beyond refurbishment, didn’t comply with access regulations” and their isolation led to “anti-social behaviour”.
“This anti-social behaviour made the toilets unsafe for council’s contractors to provide cleaning and maintenance services to the site,” Mr Osborne said.
“Preliminary investigations are under way to inform preparation of an updated Bulla Recreation Reserve masterplan.
“Pending the completion of flora and fauna, cultural heritage and geotechnical investigations, the masterplan is expected to be completed in 2023, and will consider the location of a public toilet at or close to the reserve.”
Though the town has a population of about 675 people, Ms Muldoon said it’s a thoroughfare for traffic moving through the area, especially since trucks began carrying spoil from the West Gate Tunnel Project to the waste management facility in Bulla.
“I’m an RV camper, we go to all these outback towns. There’s always a toilet, always, except for Bulla, there’s nothing for Bulla,” Ms Muldoon said.
