school focused youth services, it needs to continue

At the last meeting of the Municipal Association of Victoria I was nominated to represent the Yarra Ranges Council.

I was pleased to be able to represent council as I had to speak to a matter very dear to my heart, the School Focused Youth Services program. Yarra Ranges had put a motion to MAV members to support advocacy to retain the service. I'm pleased that 97% of MAV members supported the motion.

First established in 1997, the School Focused Youth Service (SFYS) is an initiative that supports primary and secondary students in effective prevention and early intervention for vulnerable 10 - 18 year olds.

Of concern is the announcment that the future of the SFYS program beyond June 2013 will be dependent on the outcome of a review of services funded to support vulnerable children.

In the east the SFYS has been particularly effective to address:
- Making a positive transition from primary to secondary school
- Reducing bullying/cyber bullying and improving cyber safety
- Improving emotional health, well being and self esteem
- Building positive school cultures through restorative practices and relationship building
- Improving self discipline, anger management, building leadership skills
- Promoting community volunteering and inter generational/cultural connection
- Improving relationship and health choices associated with adolescence
- Providing mentoring
- Improving cultural understanding and communication skills
- Improving the inclusion of students with disabilites
- Providing information for parents.

In 2011/12 a total of 9,100 young people took part in 91 different SYFS funded programs.

The state government has advised that funding for SFYS beyond the current extension to June 2013 is subject to review. To date there has been minimal opportunity for dialogue in relation to this and no published timetable or further information about the review, casting doubt on the future of the program.

The SFYS relies entirely on state governent funding to operate and will cease if such funding is withdrawn. As a preventative program its loss will create higher costs to other state departments and agencies.

Let's hope that the state government heeds the calls to commit to the future of the program by providing long term funding agreements for local government and other SFYS providers. To do any less will be a great disservice to our young people. 

container deposit legislation gets support at mav

It was great to learn that the motion I put up for consideration at the MAV State Council was approved by the majority of local governments across Victoria.

Back in March this year, I moved a motion for Yarra Ranges to support Container Deposit Legislation (see blog) to let both the state and federal governments know about our support to see this scheme implemented.

Further to this, my motion also wanted us to forward a motion to the MAV to get the support of local councils across the state. The MAV is one of the peak bodies for local government in Victoria.

The motion:
That the MAV support the introduction of a broad based packaging/container recovery scheme supported by legislation; integrating initiatives such as Container Deposit Legislation.

There are enormous environmental and economic benefits to a container deposit scheme, it's pleasing that the MAV will now be advocating this on behalf of councils across Victoria.

better deal for pensioners

report from the roundtable – 14 sep

With the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) State Council Annual Meeting coming up it was time for the Yarra Ranges Councillors to consider what motion we might put forward to be supported by other municipalities across Victoria so it can be advocated by one of local government's peak bodies, the MAV.

This time round councillors unanimously voted "that the Municipal Association of Victoria continues to actively lobby the Minister for Local Government to conduct a review of the pensioner rebate concession with a view to increasing the concession amount".

It is very difficult for those on pensions with a fixed income, it is a real struggle as the cost of rates and utilities such as electricity, water and gas continue to increase and we see these people spending greater proportions of their incomes on these costs. A review of the current pension rebate is well overdue as increases to the rebate over the years have failed to maintain pace with the increase in costs.

I hope that councils across Victoria support the Yarra Ranges Council motion at the next MAV State Council Annual Meeting, the issue is critical and needs the full weight of the voice of local government pushing for a better deal.

mav working for weeds

report from the roundtable – 27^th Apr

This week I moved a motion about environmental weeds to try to garner support from the Municipal Association of Victoria (one of local government's peak bodies) to lobby state government. The MAV State Council meets twice a year to consider motions from councils across Victoria and it is another advocacy mechanism for local government.

The motion:

That the MAV seek a commitment from the State government for significant and ongoing funding for local government, effective from the State Government Budget of 2011/12, to allow a collaborative work effort in the management of environmental weeds.

Ivy is a big problem in the shire, found in 60% of the shire's high conservation reserves, it is not listed as noxious. It is in many private properties and I encourage landowners to remove it. Ivy has the ability to completely smother trees, destabilise them and cause them to fail.

In Yarra Ranges and other municipalities environmental weeds are a huge problem. One of the problems with environmental weeds is that they are not considered noxious. In the shire's top 20 list of weeds, only 3 of them are listed as noxious. Often when government announces funding to tackle weeds it is aimed at noxious weeds, which means councils who are tackling other weed nasties miss out on any funding.

Environmental weeds contribute to land degradation, impact on our biodiversity, create greater fire risks, effect water quality and quantity and impact heavily on the budgets of local councils. In Yarra Ranges most of the weeds are on private or crown land as the shire's landholdings amount to only 2% of the shire's 2,500 square kilometres.

We work very hard with Friends of and Landcare groups to assist with tackling environmental weeds. But the problem is explosive, the weeds are winning and the Dandenongs are fast becoming known as the Weedynongs. Local government needs the assistance of state government to continue to facilitate collaborate efforts to tackle the problem across all different land holdings.

Yarra Ranges councillors voted unanimously to support the motion, let's hope the majority of councils support the motion at the upcoming MAV State Council meeting. The State Government needs to put its hand in its pocket to help local councils with environmental weeds, alone we are losing the battle fast.

mav to oppose logging in catchments

Yesterday at the MAV (Municipal Association of Victoria) State Conference the Shire of Yarra Ranges put up a motion to oppose logging in Melbourne's Water Catchments. I'm pleased to say the motion was supported 53% for and 47% against. This was a flow on my motion at Yarra Ranges to oppose logging in November 2007 (see blog entry for more info).

It is not the first time Yarra Ranges has put up this motion to the MAV, in April the vote was unsuccessful with 51% against and 49% for. Clearly times are changing and the local government sector is starting to recognise the impact of logging on our water catchment areas.

The MAV is the peak representative and advocacy body for Victoria's 79 councils. Their role is to represent and advocate the interests of local government, lobby for a 'fairer deal' for councils, raise the sector's profile, ensure its long-term security and provide advice. Now that this motion has been passed, the MAV will advocate this position to state government on behalf of the local government sector.











The wording of the Yarra Ranges motion to put to The MAV (originally moved by me on 8th April, 2008 and supported unanimously) is:

That the following statement, adopted at the Council meeting held on 27 November, 2007, namely:

"The Shire of Yarra Ranges does not support logging in water catchments.
Council recognises that:
1. Logging has a dramatic and detrimental effect on water yield in catchments.
2. Young re-growth trees need more water to grow thus releasing less water into catchments.
3. Logging reduces stream flow and yields to water catchments.
4. It takes 150 years for water yields to return to their pre-logged status.
5. It is poor water policy to continue to log our catchments.
6. Logging of water catchments adversely affects water quality through increasing sediment as does road Construction through logging coupes.
We urge the government to consider a policy of no logging in water catchments."

be presented to the next meeting of the MAV State Council requesting its support in making representations to the State Government in opposition to logging in Melbourne's water catchments.

Given what we now know about the carbon carrying capacity of these Mountain Ash forests it is even more imperative that they are protected from logging (see blog entry for more info).
















This latest support from the local government sector is great news for those who want to protect and conserve our water catchments and given this was one of my election platforms from the last council election (2005) I’m proud that I’ve been able to deliver on behalf of my community.

Note: The photos used in this blog entry are all from the Armstrong Water Catchment up near Cambarville where logging commenced earlier this year.